[Elladan and Elrohir]

The appearance of the Black Rider is terrific, till Merry tosses the veggies -- just a tad unbelievable for my tastes, and my extensive knowledge of the inner working of Nazgul minds.

Love the Howard Shore score throughout this scene. Not sure that I like Merry and Pippin's dumbing down, but it is almost the sole source of comic relief in this film, plus they do grow spiritually in TT and ROTK, so all in all I'm not mad at PJ.

Bree is significantly more menacing and forboding than in the books. No hobbits to be seen besides our fearsome foursome (the only indication that there are any hobbits in Bree comes with the two peepholes at the gate), it's pouring down rain, everyone seems to be wearing black clothing, and PJ's belching in your face as you walk down the street. Yep, sounds like a jolly place. But I guess it serves its purpose in the film.

Strider was awesome. That was THE moment, first watching the film, when I thought, "This is going to be awesome." They absolutely nailed his first appearance. I took one look and was like, "Now THAT is Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elessar Telcontar, Envinyatar the Renewer, Estel the Hope of the Dunedain, Captain of the Rangers of the North, Heir of Isildur, etc., etc."

The setting out on the next stage of the Quest is rather abrupt -- the long drawn-out conversation and argument from the book, where Frodo finally decides to trust Strider, is completely absent. Apparently, we're going with this foul-looking dude because he knows something about them black horse-riding thingies, and oh yeah, because a spy of the Enemy would look fairer and feel fouler. Frodo said it in the book, so it must apply to this dude.

And I thought the Lay of Leithian quote was a cool touch. I think they do a fantastic job with Elvish in the movies!