Another thing: We need more Eomer.

This movie has a ton of good stuff in it; the real problem is mostly in the editing.

We need to get the hell rid of that flashback sequence. We don’t need Aragorn going off the cliff. We can cut back on some of the Ent stuff.

Then we can add in more Frodo development. Add in more of Gandalf, as he searches for Eomer’s men. Hell, Eomer was so well-defined and such an interesting character. Why was he ignored for the whole center portion of the movie? I wanted to see more of him, but all we got was the light brigade at the end.

And once we’ve got the substitutions all set, then reorganize. This movie feels like a rough cut, honestly. All of the material just seems thrown together, with no real attention to pacing. There’s very little of a sense of setup and payoff. There’s no natural flow. That stupid dream sequence helps to set up what happens to Aragorn after he falls off the cliff, but neither is needed in the slightest. They add absolutely nothing. I can’t see a single positive aspect to these changes. Not one. It’s just not good judgement, so far as I can see.

Again, with as rough as this movie seems to be — I hope that’s just what the case is. Peter Jackson didn’t have the time to think things through and to edit as carefully as he’d have liked. With another year to work on the DVD, he’d sure as hell better rethink how he wants this movie to flow. He’s got all of the right material. (Well, he’s got most of it; and I somehow expect he did film the other bits I’ve mentioned are needed.) He just needs to do something else with it.

Or I suppose he could just edit it down to the intro sequence. Nothing else is really needed.