[Lush]

Flashback scenes in movies can be tricky, because if not handled properly they can either seriously disrupt the flow of the storyline, or just appear gratuitous and heavy-handed. For example, the director of an action film attempts to give his main character some depth by using flashback scenes to give us some insight into what makes this guy tick; is it just me, or do pretty much all of those scenes feel melodramatic, overblown, and out of place? Or is this just a commentary on bad directing in general?

Keeping the above in mind, I thought the flashback scenes at the beginning of each movie were done with exceptional grace. We become submerged into the story via these introductions, they provide not only clarity, but set the mood and tempo of a complex story populated by many, many characters.

Per the Aragorn and Arwen flashbacks in TTT, I can't say I enjoyed them all that much. I felt they lacked chemistry, especially when compared to the way A & A were shown interacting in FotR. Furthermore, I felt these flashbacks were guilty of the sins I described above, they broke up my mood by attempting to tug at my heartstrings, but doing it in a rather clumsy way. It was as if the director thought, 'Oh wait, there are too many limbs getting hacked off, we need to insert some FEELINGS into the story,' and did it in a manner than didn't particularly jive with the film's overall mood.

I'm not saying that the A & A flashbacks were unnecessary, but I feel they could have been done better.

Having said that, I thought the flashforward bits, particularly Aragorn's death, were excellent, as a few people have already mentioned.