I love Lord of the Rings as well, my second favorite movie series after Aliens. I really like the first one, it had an adventure feeling in it the others didnt really have and the battles where more personal. I also think the battle at helms deep was better then the one at Minas Tirith. The one At minas Tirith was too big to really get a emotional feel for the soldiers and since half of the main characters werent even there till need the end of it, it just didnt feel the same.