Frustration here - we went some distance to go to one of the better houses in KC (Westglen in lenexa) and the damned thing cut out THREE TIMES during the movie. Abd at some pretty inpoortune times, I might add. Imagine scaling ladders rising up to Helm's Deep's walls, Uruk-Hai screaming - and then the picture goes blank and the lights come on.
So it is difficult for me to really evaluate what I saw just now.
Idle observations:
The missus found Gollum annoying - she actually used the dread term "Jar Jar Binks." Personally I found him dead on in terms of what I visualized from the books.
On the other hand she found Aragon/Viggo hotter than ever. She nearly fainted during the mash session with Arwen on the divan.
Battle scenes were...well, simply brilliant.
If there are any preliminary kocks on the movie, I think I had some difficulty buying the Ents. I think also the lack of a beginning or end make it an odd experience, even if it was an expected one.
Otherwise, the only real complaint I have is that I cannot see Return of the King RIGHT NOW.
If Helm's Deep was this good, I can only imagine what the siege of Minas Tirith will be like.
The switching between stories was a bit noisome (cutting to the Ents during the Helm's Deep battle is like switching to the Ewoks during the Luke/Vader duel! argh...) and the narration by Galadriel seemed unnecessary.
These objections will likely fade with repeat viewings.
I imagine that will be the biggest complaint from all of us.
So when are you going to see it again?