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Well hullo Penny!

I have to get the first shock view out of the way before I can enjoy it too.

Look at Faramir again... He was responding as a man of Gondor would... Deciding that the prisoners, and the ring, should be taken to his father. He did not take Frodo because of weakness, but duty. I did like the explaination by Phillipa, that it would seem illogical for Faramir to have no weakness at all, when everyone else clearly has to wrestle with their conscience.

The midnight audience laughed at Gollum's first big scene... and I had to admit it must seem funny.... but then half of them were drunk! - In a sense, I think PJ put him too close, and so exaggerated that I forgave them for laughing a bit. There was less laughing the second night... with the 8:00 crowd.

If you are like me, you will like it better the second time... It won't seem as choppy, and you will be able to notice the moments, the "spots in time", that made you love the first one.

I am not disappointed with it, so much as I just don't like this part of the story as much as the other two.... and I think the editing that cut back and forth a little bit too often, felt like sitting with someone else changing the channel on me right at the wrong time.

LOL, we had almost the same reaction. ;) I think my issues with Faramir can be resolved if I can just separate book-Faramir from movie-Faramir. And I definitely need to re-read TTT to be able to evaluate better. I think movie-Faramir makes sense within the context of the movie, it's just that he's painted differently from the Faramir in the book.

And to be honest, I really wanted the Frodo-fainting scene from the book "I don't think we shall ever get there" and when that was taken out, everything else seemed all wrong, lol. I'm sure I'll get over all of it, it's just that initial shock.

I also find that TTT is the least interesting portion of the story to me, so I fully expected to feel that this movie would be my least favorite of the three. But that's okay, and I DEFINITELY know I will love it the seond time. Even FOTR, which I ADORED on first viewing, I loved that much more the second time. So I am looking forward to that.

It probably also didn't help that I was an emotional wreck from what's been going on at work (have you ever been forced to work with a psycho before and then found out later that she really was diagnosed with a mental disorder?) Sheesh! So I wasn't in a good frame of mind to really enjoy it.

BTW, did you miss Frodo's extreme weariness from the book? It seemed a little odd to me to have the "insane" moments without the extreme progression of weariness that we see as they get closer to Mordor.

You know what else? I think I am going to notice A LOT of the things I "missed" when I see it again and can evaluate the acting a little more. Someone here mentioned that much of the character stuff, such as Faramir changing his mind, might be conveyed just in the acting itself, rather than anything overtly stated. When I watch it on subsequent viewings, I have a feeling I will be able to pick up on that more and more.

BTW, I absolutely LOVED the elven-cloak scene with Frodo and Sam, that was so cool, and I had been afraid that they wouldn't be showing the usefulness of those cloaks.