So many people have done an extensive analysis of the movie, that I will refrain. I will just say that it is dark, threatening, and there are long moments in which one suddenly realizes that one has forgotten to breathe for a while. Even on the 6th showing. Yes, there are variations from the book - yes that bothers me as a die hard Tolkein fan (one who has read the series once a year since the 70's, on average) - but I have never before seen a movie 6 times. Nuff said?