I'm a harsh grader.
Men:
Sean Bean (Boromir)- 8.5/10. Good performance, I guess. I don't know why I didn't give him anything higher, but he somehow never reached out to my heart.
Bernard Hill (Theoden)- 9.5/10, Not bad. He had a very commanding air about him, as he's supposed to.
John Noble (Denethor)- 6/10. As somebody mentioned above, he overacts. You don't quiver with hate like he does, normally, no matter how much you may not like that person. I don't think Denethor ever wanted to actually strangle Gandalf to death, but John Noble makes it seem like that. The script de-characterized Denethor enough, but I believe the actor took it even further. He also shouts too much. When he's hallucinating, his acting looks like it could have been done by anybody. Not the greatest performance here. But of course, if PJ made him act that way, then it's not his fault, I guess. But the same could be said for every actor
Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn)- 7/10, He did a good job as a warrior, but as a king, I don't think he had the nobility and majestic air that he should have had. Viggo the Ranger was the best, followed by Viggo the warrior. King Viggo just didn't seem good to me. Anyway, that isn't to say that Viggo the Ranger didn't have faults. He mumbled too much, and I had a hard time understanding him many times.
Karl Urban (Eomer)- 9/10 - He did a good job as Eomer, but there wasn't enough scenes with him in it for me to judge properly. From the little that we did see of him, I have no complaints.
Brad Dourif (Grima)- 7.5/10, He does a fairly decent job of acting the vileness that he's meant to, but not anything superb. He would have got an 8.5 or so if it weren't for two little scenes that really make me think "What a bad actor". When Gimli steps on him saying "I would stay still if I were you", his look of "fear" and his shudder is too fake. The other scene is where he says "Send me not from your side" to Theoden, which also sounds fake and memorised.
David Wenham (Faramir)- 8/10, Not bad, but not outstanding either.
Women
Miranda Otto (Eowyn)- 8.5/10,
Cate Blanchett (Galadriel)- 8/10 I never minded her. She just feels like Galadriel...but she didn't have anything outstanding either, so no 9 for her.
Liv Tyler (Arwen)- 6/10, Talks, no
whispers in the same annoying tone throughout 99% of the movies.
Elves
Hugo Weaving (Elrond)- 7/10. I personally think they chose the wrong person for Elrond. Not only because the script made him out to be just a plain Elf-father who doesn't like Men, but he never striked me as Elrond. His face is not ageless. He doesn't seem calm and serene as I always imagined Elrond to be. He gives absolutely no sense of wisdom in the movie. This is half due to the script, which is why I gave him at least a 7, but the other half of the reason lies with him, I fear...
Craig Parker (Haldir)- 6/10. Also not good.
Martin Czoskas (Celeborn) 4/10, Worst actor in the entire movies, IMO. I don't think anybody felt that Celeborn was "wise" here. His voice is even more annoying than the other Elves. Every single one of his lines sounds memorised.
Orlando Bloom (Legolas) 7/10. Gah...does he ever say sentences more than 6 words? (Okay, he does, but too occasionally) His portrayal of Legolas makes him seem like a portable arrow-shooting machine: one that is handy and useful, but nothing more.
Dwarves
John Rhys-davies (Gimli)- 8.5/10, He plays out well the roles that were given to him. Can't blame him for the idiocy of the script. Yet, as he had no particularily memorable moments, whether due to the script or not, he can't get anything higher than this, m'afraid.
Hobbits
Andy Serkis (Gollum)- 8.5/10. I don't know...sometimes he striked me as the perfect Gollum. Sometimes, he overdid it. His "gollum" noise also sounds fake. Tolkien describes it as trying to make the "g" sound while swallowing. Serkis just coughs "gollum", which doesn't sound realistic at all.
Sean Astin (Sam)- 9/10 Meh...running out of time. I'll just give a detailed analysis on characters I have something to say about.
Ian Holm (Bilbo)- 9/10 Great job as Bilbo.
Billy Boyd (Pippin)- 8/10.
Dom Monaghan (Merry)- 8/10,
Elijah Wood (Frodo)- 6/10, Rates hardly better than Celeborn. His whimperings make me want to just reach out and choke him. I never sensed any wisdom out of him. He does the same scared acting throughout the movies, without any change. I think he's one of the actors of LotR that should've been replaced.
Wizards
Christopher Lee (Saruman)- 10/10 - I was just stunned by him. Notice how he's the only one that got a 10/10 on my scale. His look of pride as he looks at his new Uruk Hai is priceless. His voice just has a commanding air. I often wonder whether he and Ian McKellen should've swapped roles. In the books, Gandalf has the more commanding presence, and is stronger (as Gandalf the White at least), while Saruman is just this coward who isn't supposed to have as much charisma as Lee shows.
Ian Mckellan (Gandalf)- 9/10 - He seems to be the perfect choice for Gandalf the Grey. But as Gandalf the White, his quality falls quite a bit.