[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

If we're talking purely about the actors' performances ignoring things such as poor writing (at times) in dialogue and PJ's choices to change the story, I have to stand up for some "low-rated" characters and toss my opinion of some others.

First and foremost I'd give Viggo Mortensen 10/10. Despite he has some stupid lines he delivers them with an appropriate tone for his character. Not only is he a perfect ranger but when time comes, also an authoritative king. He has such a versatile voice. His way to express irony is subtle yet effective and his grief and anger feel very real...

...unlike Sean Astin's. Every article seem to be praising his performance as Sam. I liked him, yes, and I don't know anyone else who would have fitted for that role. But he was the only character that popped me out of the movie and made me think about Astin's acting. Hence this grade 9.2/10.

Liv Tyler...well, I don't think that she was a bad choice for Arwen, on the contrary. She is independent and a sweet girl at the same time. Her dialogue with Elrond in RotK "whether by your will or not, there is no ship now that can bear me hence" makes me cry every time. To me many of the cons came from vacant writing. I'd give her 8/10 because her voice is a bit too monotonous.

I agree with Boromir88 about Marton Csokas. His performance makes me think what on earth Galadriel did ever see in him. FotR EE makes his appearance a little better but stil, phew! Maybe 7.2/10 is all he deserves.

When I read LotR for the first time, I had terrible difficulties to picture the elves in my head. Then I saw FotR. To me Orlando Bloom did fill the void concerning elves perfectly. His posture and gestures are lofty enough and he moves very smoothly. Bloom has a quite interesting voice, though. One could say that it's a bit monotonous (as Boromir88 mentioned) but I think it gives the feeling that he's living in his own world (check up the chapter in TTT about how elves don't necessarily sleep but their thoughts wander like in another world) and only partially cares about common things that are going on. His character speaks very much with his eyes and I think he handles that well. Much because of my first argument, I give him 9/10.

My least favourite was the Mouth of Sauron (played by Bruce Spence) who looked good only because his magnificent costume but his gestures were clumsy and I didn't even like his voice. From sheer acting I'd give him only 4.5/10.