[HairOfTheDog]

The portrayal of hopelessness to hope to joy to the dismay when the mountain blows and it seems sure that Frodo and Sam are now lost is magnificent. An emotional meatgrinder.

[discostu]

And I like the fact that it's done without dialog. Real people would be in too much shock at each stage of that to speak. Too many movies are over reliant on dialog when simply letting your actors ACT will get the job done. There's a number of points throughout the series where you can almost hear PJ saying "wait I hired some of the best actors in the world for a reason, I think I'll let them act". Sam's reaction to being banished by Frodo is another of those points, there's plenty. All throughout ROTK Ian does something great, every time Gandalf doesn't have anything pressing he gets the same look on his face he had when first discussing Frodo's survival with Aragorn, you can really see that it's weighing heavily on Gandalf it shows that whenever Gandalf doesn't have something else to think he's thinking "I killed Frodo", and again that's supported with almost no dialog.

[Corin Stormhands]

The portrayal of hopelessness to hope to joy to the dismay when the mountain blows and it seems sure that Frodo and Sam are now lost is magnificent.

I think it's all summed up quite nicely in those moments. From Farmir's acknowledgement that he'd seen Frodo only days before to the riding into the battle for the sole purpose of distracting the eye from Frodo's quest.

Then there is a moment of joy as they realize the ring is gone which fades with the recognition that they believe Frodo made the ultimate sacrifice.

I think it's all there. The EE will only make it better.