Okay, after some confusion with connecting with my friends, we all went down and saw it... and it was awesome. Some parts dragged a bit, especially the end, but you just can't beat a great fight scene. And there were a few great fight scenes.
My friends were complaining about how they didn't show Sauramon at the end... the way they described it, I think this is a better cinematic ending for short-attention-span, happy-ending-craving audiences.
My friend James said that David Aston is now his hero. (He apparently played "Gondorian Soldier #3.") So he started going on and on about how great David Aston was, how he's going to start a fan site, how he made the movie great, etc. The ironic part is that we don't even know which guy he was; we were speculating he might have been the guy the orc skewered in the town (after the fighting, those who have seen it should know what I mean), but we have no idea. It was hilarious, though.