So, Best and Worst Characters?

[Lalwendë]

One thing I will say for the film is that they do seem to have made an effort to make the families have a plausable resemblance although I am surprised they didn't make sean Bean lose the accent that blew the whole thing... but then he kept it even to play Macbeth on stage in London....

He does keep his accent seemingly with every part he plays, but I think this stems from a particular 'school' of acting in Britain. If you listen to Bernard Hill, he too retains vestiges of his accent, and they allowed Billy Boyd to use his own accent too. I like this - there is nothing to say what accent various characters might have had, only guidance on pronunciation, and it is entirely feasible that characters might sound slightly different. If they allowed such large regional variations within Hobbits of The Shire, then why should there not be some variation within Gondor. And it did sound good, anyway.

Now, I thought Denethor was eating not cherries, but cherry tomatoes (the work of the devil). I found a lot of the other instances of poor table manners slightly in poor taste, especially where they seem to demean the character of Gimli a bit too much, but when Denethor is seen eating in such a manner I found it underlined his character as portrayed in the films (not his book character), as we see him gorging while his son is sent out to battle needlessly.

As for Gollum, Andy Serkis turned in a vocal performance not to be forgotten, which is all the more brilliant considering that he based it on the sound of a cat coughing.