[HCIsland]

Although not the kind of blow away openning that we got in Fellowship or Towers, I thought it worked well. Remember what Jackson is trying to do. He's trying to thrust people back into the story and provide a sequa to Frodo (every theatrical films starts with Frodo after the introduction).<P>We have to keep in mind that most people seeing this film are not the ringnuts we are. Many folks would have seen Towers once a year ago and this is their reintroduction to what is going on. The sequence powerfully re-establishes the power and corruptive nature of the Ring while showing us a lot of the nature of Gollum's character. Both of which are important to understanding the key events in this story.<P>I love the way that after we see this heart wrenching transformation of Gollum, we cut straight to Frodo holding the Ring and the audience begins to understand a bit of what Frodo is dealing with. It allows the audience to understand much more fully the momment when Frodo is incapable of throwing the Ring into the Crack of Doom.<P>H.C.