I saw it last night with my brother, my sister and a friend of hers. I yielded to my sister's urging and wore the Nazgul costume I'd made for Elena's LotR Halloween party. My sister and her friend were Merry and Sam, respectively. We were the only people there in costume, but the audience seemed pretty evenly enthused. There was talking, but it was almost all of the "OH! Sam just [whatever Sam did]" which I didn't mind.

I really really enjoyed it, although I did find that I really noticed places where there will be scenes added for the EE. Still lots of fun.

A thing that made me laugh: when Arwen has the vision of Aragorn and the child, what I imagined as her thoughts was "I can't leave! I may have gotten him pregnant!"

I laughed inappropriately after Aragorn gets crowned, when he sees Legolas before he sees Arwen and it sooooo looked like *they* were the ones about to get married

Many reviewers have loved the subtlety of the crowning scene. At first I was a little sad that 1) it really meant the end of dirty stanky nummy Strider and 2) they didn't have Frodo hand Gandalf the crown.

But on afterthought, I have to agree with the reviews - a more elaborate scene in its place would have just drawn out the multiple endings things.

Any Legolas/Aragorn slash is mostly Bloom or the director's fault. He says things to him with such intimacy. And is answered back with such fondness. Boys don't do that, so much.

As for the Sam/Frodo -- hell, the text had more than the movies.

I wasn't feeling any Legolas/Gimli, or Merry/Pippin. Those came across as very het interactions, although I've been accused of wanting to slash anyone that share (un)kind words.

He says things to him with such intimacy. And is answered back with such fondness.

And there is a metric ton of "we are so about to make out" to their constant mutual shoulder grabbing.

I'm with you on the rest slashwise. The movie has never come close to the slash-fest of the books re: Sam/Frodo. Not even Frodo's sadness at Sam mentioning Rosie on the rock.

eta: going from the movie almost straight to work this morning has made my already really bad spelling much worse FTR.

there is a metric ton of "we are so about to make out" to their constant mutual shoulder grabbing

Oh, yeah.

I still maintain that if the "You're late. You look awful" necklace handover had been a guy/girl thing, people who don't see the L/A would have thought there was a spark, if it were played note for note.

He does an eye scrinchy thing and everything.

Question that spans TTT and RotK -- does Aragorn lead Eowyn on? I think he was a bit of a tease, until he found out Arwen hadn't sailed.

I feel like he was being a *bit* of a tease. Especially the look back he gives her as he goes to fight the wargs in TTT. But even that, I don't think, reached the level of actually leading her on. This is why I really missed the Eowyn/Faramir story - because she deserves a happy ending damnit (as does Faramir) - and Tolkien gave them one.

I would be very curious what a non-book reader thought of how Eowyn's story ended.

But what about him drinking from her cup when they said something in another language? Theoden seemed to think something was up from watching it.

First response lost due to board wonkiness. Another try:

Oh yeah - that (the drinking out of the cup). I saw that as heavy heavy flirting mixed with a real desire to show her respect. I think he liked her and didn't want to be a big jerk - at that point.

I also thought Theoden was reacting a lot to the look on her face after the drink - or at least that's what the shot sequence suggested to me. But again, I have to go with not leading her on because 1) she knows that he is still in love with another woman, whether she has sailed or not 2) she is just so tough and smart that I would think it would take more than heavy flirting to convince her that he was in love with her.

The "I cannot give you what you want" exchange was pretty brutal after all that though.

He does an eye scrinchy thing and everything.

And Aragorn clasps his fingers over Legolas' as Legolas slides them out of Aragorn's palm. And the reaction from Eowyn as she realizes "Oh! THAT elf!" In fact, not until yesterday did I see any other possible read on that scene.

The biggest crowd cheer was when Eowyn snatches up Merry to go fight.

My biggest crypoints: Theoden's death and everyone bowing to the hobbits

Most inappropriate laughs from my crowd: Frodo and Sam lying like spent cartridges on the battlefield of love after the intimate "I'm glad you're here with me" exchange. Also, Denethor running out of the crypts and throwing himself off the helipad.

One thing that really struck me seeing FOTR again was how much the addition of the Brothers Mir scene to TTT enhanced Boromir's scenes in FOTR. Every single scene was 10 times more poignant for me, and I cried when he died, which I haven't done since the first viewing.

I saw it this afternoon. I cried and cried. I have tickets to go again with another friend on Friday. My main reaction is that it is like the first movie except more so, in that they brought so many of my favourite, vital, moments from the book to life but in this case on the epic scale of the third book.

I skipped to the end of this new thread, now to go back and see more reactions.