[Horatio]

I saw the film Friday night with some friends. It was totally brilliant. Better than the Fellowship (while excellent in its own way, I felt that the first really just set the scene). An unexpected amount of comedy was welcomed with open arms, as was Gollum.

SLIGHT SPOILER
However, I really did begin to despise Frodo. During the battle of Helm's Deep, the action was totally ripe. The audience was totally captivated, and nearly everyone was sitting forward in their chairs. Aragorn slices his way through an army of orcs, Legolas uses a metal sheet to skate down some stairs, and Gimli is counting the kills. THen it switches to Frodo and Sam walking through a city, and you could hear the sighs of frustration in the room and the sound of 60 people settling back into their chairs. It then struck me that Frodo is a pansy . In the Fellowship, on Weathertop (s/p?) when the Nazgul are attacking, Sam goes forwards and gets sliced away. Then Merry and Pippin step together, and are each put to one side. the Nazgul gets to Frodo, and he doesn't even ready himself. He falls backwards and then goes invisible. Now, I know that its not every day that you get confronted by some dude with a REALLY bad throat problem and a fetish for black, but still, it left me with the impression that yes, while the putting-on of the ring HAD to be worked in there somewhere, Frodo could have done more.