<< Visually the movie is stuning. >> It certainly is. As a friend of mine said online, it's going to make everyone who sees it want to go to New Zealand.
I thought the cinematography & SFX were magnificent. The scenes of Saruman's mines outside Isengaard were overwhelming. The swooping photography was dizzying and exhilarating. I've read the books & enjoyed them, but I'm not a huge fantasy or mythology fan, so I don't gush over them the way some people do. That's not to say I don't recognize their quality. I think the film does a very good job of making the story accessible; on its own terms, I think it succeeds as a very good entertainment. I wonder, though, how people who know little or nothing about the story will feel at the end, given the 12 months until the second film. Tom Beck "I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I didn't realize I'd also see the last." - Jerry Pournelle
