I love this, but it desperately needs to be two movies. There are two all-timers in here, and instead we got a great movie that often feels like a collection of scenes without connective tissue. This is a war movie and a love story. Show me more of the background on each. These battle sequences are meaningless without having some sort of pre-battle planning sequence explaining the odds. The stakes are simply too low in the first half of this film.
I wanted more! Give me The Two Towers and set the stage for The Return of the King. My body was ready.