This is a surprisingly good adaptation of about half of the LotR trilogy and, believe it or not, it's very close to the Jackson's adaptation that followed it almost 25 years later. Sure, it has some issues (some of the stuff was cut/rushed, since the plan was to tell the whole trilogy through 2 movies, as well as the clash of visual styles that needs getting used to at the beginning), but, all in all, I don't get the hate this movie regularly receives. Would especially recommend it to everyone that watched the Jackson's trilogy, as some scenes are perhaps even better in this adaptation. Shame the movie bombed and we never got to see the second part.