Middle-earth movies (The Hobbit and LOTR)

Now that all the planned films in the Middle-earth saga have finally been released, I suppose it might be time to see how everyone on the forum is feeling about the whole matter...

Which film holds the top spot for you, and what makes it so?

(Though I wouldn't rule out an entire trilogy; personally, I tend to view the LOTR trilogy as one singular cinematic experience)

For me, the LOTR trilogy is the preferred choice.
My absolute favorite would have to be The Two Towers. Why? Well, I suppose it’s because the narrative setup is already established, allowing the story to dive straight into the action without stumbling over certain issues found in RotK—such as, for instance, that rather drawn-out forty-five-minute finale.

Honestly, this poll just doesn't make sense. Running separate polls for the LOTR Trilogy and The Hobbit might work, but if even one vote goes to the Hobbits in this setup... I've said too much.

Bradley Ramos11 said:Honestly, this poll just doesn't make sense. Running separate polls for the LOTR Trilogy and The Hobbit might work, but if even one vote goes to the Hobbits in this setup... I've said too much.

There are certainly people out there. Personally, I know of... 🤦

Here is one such example.

"The Fellowship of the Ring" is still absolutely perfect to me. Peter Jackson actually stuck closest to the books here, before he started all those ridiculous cuts and changes you see in "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King." To be honest, the first two movies in "The Hobbit" trilogy felt pretty lukewarm to me—I definitely need to do a rewatch just to refresh my memory... but that last one actually surprised me in a good way. It was better than I expected, though still not quite enough to take the top spot.

Andrew Roberts3 said:"The Fellowship of the Ring" is still absolutely perfect to me. Peter Jackson actually stuck closest to the books here, before he started all those ridiculous cuts and changes you see in "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King." To be honest, the first two movies in "The Hobbit" trilogy felt pretty lukewarm to me—I definitely need to do a rewatch just to refresh my memory... but that last one actually surprised me in a good way. It was better than I expected, though still not quite enough to take the top spot.

I suspect that, given enough time, RotK might eventually emerge as the favorite in this poll. That said, I can certainly see where you're coming from.
On a slightly different note—what specifically did you find so pleasantly surprising about the third film in "The Hobbit" series? Personally, I found it to be rather disappointing.

I’ll stick to English here, if that’s cool—and I'm just going to lead with the fact that Return of the King is my absolute favorite.
It’s this massive, epic masterpiece (the Extended Edition, obviously) filled with actual human characters you can actually relate to. The first two are top-tier too, they just don't quite hit the heights of the third one.
As for The Hobbit, it kind of falls flat for me; I've never really been a fan of Martin Freeman's acting style, and while Armitage is alright, the portrayal of Thorin isn't really for everyone—plus, the whole plot feels diluted and occasionally a bit too silly.

Man, it’s tough picking just one from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy—I’m basically spinning my wheels here—but I guess I'll go with Return of the King... no real reason, just a gut feeling. Though honestly? My favorite part of the whole thing is still that stretch where they're trekking through Moria.

analoggull6 said:There are certainly people out there. Personally, I know of... 🤦

Here is one such example.

Look, seriously. 😁
OT: voted for The Fellowship of the Ring.

To be blunt: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is my absolute favorite cinematic achievement. I’m talking about perfection—though maybe RotK slips by a hair's breadth depending on whether I'm feeling more like watching the epic scale of the Return of the King or the tension in The Two Towers 🙂. Honestly, those three films sit in a league of their own; in my personal universe, they don't even compete with any other movies ever made.

As for The Hobbit, look, I don't care what kind of nonsense comes out of Middle-earth, they just don't belong in the same universe as LOTR. To me, putting them in the same sentence feels like pure blasphemy. 😁

This is a solid poll...

Look, it’s not even that the Hobbits don't fit on the same page as LOTR—it’s more that they don't feel like they belong in the same universe. It’s almost as if we’ve stumbled into some parallel dimension where Peter Jackson was working with a much better version of the Hobbits, but I won't get sidetracked by that right now. Don't get me wrong—these aren't total disasters (The Hobbit)—especially not the third installment, which, in my opinion, is far from a failure. They just aren't on the same level as LOTR. Period. 🙂

When it comes to the LOTR films—though, let’s be honest, I absolutely adore all three of them—my absolute favorite has always been the first installment: LOTR The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 👍 While I consider every single entry in the LOTR Trilogy to be top-tier, there is something about that first installment—something truly special—that I just can't quite put my finger on. It’s hard to articulate; you know how it is when something hits you so deeply that words feel insufficient? You just have to experience it. Honestly, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve sat through all three films—I’ve probably watched them hundreds of times at this point. Whenever I have the chance to host a dedicated LOTR night or finally find a block of free time to run a full marathon, it’s always that opening sequence that does it for me. That initial immersion into the world through the intro... man, it’s an experience you just can't put a price tag on. LOTR The Fellowship of the Ring

Here’s how I’d rate all of these films:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 7/10
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - 7.5/10
The Battle of the Five Armies: 8/10
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - 10/10
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - 9.5/10
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - 10/10

I haven't actually sat down to watch the Battle of the Five Armies yet, but even without seeing it, I suspect I'd still find myself gravitating toward The Fellowship.

My vote also goes to The Fellowship, without a second thought. 🙏
The Two Towers is close, but not quite there.
As for Return of the King... it's hit or miss. If it didn't rely on repetitive beats and some (frequent) weird creative choices, it might stand alongside the first film. As it is, I'd put it in third place, I guess.

And unfortunately, much further down the list... 😢

The Hobbits. At least the first two, though I haven't seen the third yet—I've just lost interest. I watch the trailer and... nothing. 😢 It doesn't appeal to me at all. A disaster... especially when I remember how I scrambled for premiere tickets when LOTR came out. I'd probably need some serious incentive to actually see this while it's still in theaters.

analoggull6 said:I suspect that, given enough time, RotK might eventually emerge as the favorite in this poll. That said, I can certainly see where you're coming from.
On a slightly different note—what specifically did you find so pleasantly surprising about the third film in "The Hobbit" series? Personally, I found it to be rather disappointing.

Why would it be off-topic? We’re sticking to the subject and talking about the movies listed in the title. Period. 😉

To be honest, I don't even know how to answer that myself. I walked into the theater with basically zero expectations because those first two films left me feeling pretty indifferent... but then I walked out totally hyped up! Now that I've had some time to cool off and read through all the reviews, I actually agree with most of them. So, I have a feeling that when I watch it a second time, it might feel a lot worse (though that probably depends on how good the Extended Edition ends up being, which I'm definitely buying). Look, the movie has its flaws, both as a standalone film and as an adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien. But the fact remains: the first time around, it blew me away, and I'll admit, I actually teared up during Thorin's death scene. As for whether the movie will "age" well... that's a whole other story, and I'll let you know what I think in a few years...

The Two Towers, hands down 👍.

It’s a movie that doesn't stick to the source material as strictly as the first part, though it doesn't veer off quite as much as the third one does either. It's packed with those standalone, epic scenes (like where is the horse and the rider 🙏, the charge from the fortress, Sam's speech about heroes, the battle itself, etc.). Peter Jackson really put in the work here, and the dramatic tension is several steps above the rest. The war sequences are depicted very realistically and actually hit you in the gut, unlike, say, the spectacle of The Return of the King, while the battle itself is something pretty much unseen in film history. And even though the focus shifts to the war, we don't lose any of the character development or the plot, which branches out into multiple threads. So, we get Frodo's internal struggle and the redemption and subsequent fall of Smeagol. Some characters are actually better executed for me than they were in the book, specifically Theoden. And when I think about the set design and the overall production value, which feels richer than the other two installments... the film is simply perfection 😁.

If I were ranking the other parts, The Fellowship of the Ring is right up there with The Two Towers. Sometimes it even takes the top spot. In third place comes the Battle of the Five Armies, with The Return of the King and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey breathing down its neck (I can't decide which of those two is better), while the bottom spot goes to Smaug's desolation.

Keep in mind I'm talking about the extended editions (except for the Battle of the Five Armies, obviously 😁); I've already forgotten the theatrical versions.

Andrew Roberts3 said:"The Fellowship of the Ring" is still absolutely perfect to me. Peter Jackson actually stuck closest to the books here, before he started all those ridiculous cuts and changes you see in "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King." To be honest, the first two movies in "The Hobbit" trilogy felt pretty lukewarm to me—I definitely need to do a rewatch just to refresh my memory... but that last one actually surprised me in a good way. It was better than I expected, though still not quite enough to take the top spot.

I'm right there with you. In the first part of LOTR, they didn't go overboard with those fuzzy plot changes, and Frodo didn't seem like he was wandering around in a complete daze. That said, the movie isn't without its flaws; for instance, the depiction of the Nazgûl felt off, and that council scene in Rivendell was handled pretty poorly. On the bright side, I loved Arwen and those romantic moments with Aragorn, plus the portrayal of Lothlórien and Galadriel was spot on. Though, I have to say, the take on Saruman and Orthanc was a bit of a disaster.

What’s actually wrong with the Nazgûl in the movie? They are exactly how I pictured them in my head...

Andrew Roberts3 said:What’s actually wrong with the Nazgûl in the movie? They are exactly how I pictured them in my head...

If you've read the books, they can't be portrayed like that.

One of the beauties of the book version of LOTR is how J.R.R. Tolkien masterfully paces everything—the revelations, the level of fantasy, and the sheer terror.

Tolkien takes the Hobbits out of their cozy, 19th-century rural American countryside and slowly, carefully, introduces them to a strange, new, supernatural world where an apocalyptic war is unfolding. Then, at the end, he gently leads them back to their peaceful, pastoral life.

In the film, though, that first encounter with the Nazgûl feels like a total jump scare. You immediately see the iron boots, the swords, the horses with glowing red eyes, all the creepy creatures getting agitated while that "Mordor music" kicks in. In contrast, Tolkien presents them initially as almost unimpressive—almost like sacks falling off horses, just sniffing around.

He builds that tension gradually until it hits its peak when the Wizard on horseback enters Minas Tirith as the absolute embodiment of dread.

Like I mentioned before, I don't think Peter Jackson quite captures that sense of gradation or knows what truly matters, so we completely miss out on that incredibly significant build-up in the movie.

The Fellowship is everything. 👍
If they had actually filmed those scenes at the Barrow Downs and included Tom Bombadil, the movie would have been absolutely perfect.

To me, The Fellowship of the Ring is just a flawless piece of filmmaking—I could honestly watch it over and over again, time after time, and I don't think I'd ever get tired of it.

Out of the hundreds of tracks from all three movies that I hold dear, this one holds a special place in my heart... and honestly, these are my favorite 10 minutes of cinema because of it 🙂
the breaking of the fellowship


And if you’re listening to the complete recordings, you simply cannot listen to the trio of "the road goes ever on...pt1" - "may it be" - "The road goes ever on... pt2" out of order. It just doesn't work. You have to hear them in sequence... pure perfection.