Just saw The Two Towers this past weekend. It was a pretty good movie, even though some of the script changes affected the story's core in important (and negative) ways. The characters of Theoden, Faramir, and hence Boromir were robbed almost entirely of their moral role in the story.

On the bright side, the action/effects were tremendous. Gollum was spectacularly done, a watershed in movie-making as the first digital character to convincingly convey emotion. The methods by which the Ents dealt with Isengard was an outstanding improvisation, deeply true to Tolkien the author despite their status as an embellishment. I confess that I also liked the way they handled Arwen, creating a romantic sub-plot that added depth to the movie without getting in the way.

Two thoughts still stick in my mind:

#1: Given how crappy human generals seem to be, it's no wonder the elves hadn't showed up to fight with them for several centuries.

#2: Granted, his questionable tactical commands got most of the elven contingent killed... but if you were Aragorn, wouldn't you have thrown Theoden over the battlement walls after he sent you to charge the enemy, then hung you out to dry for about the 3rd time?

"Kill the Dark Lord and become King." Hold off the orc army while we close the gate behind you." Sheesh. Some guys will do anything to keep you from bonking their daughters.