This sequence in the Mines of Moria, before they encounter the Balrog. This was the only thing that bothered me at the time about FOTR, it seemed like excessive CGI to me for the sake of it. I honestly doubt Tolkien wrote it that way.
Allowing for a movie to take some liberties with the source material, the orc attack was much shorter in the book, as was the fight with the Balrog. Tolkien was good at creating the world of Middle Earth and writing dialogue. He was not as good as writing battle scenes. They do not last very long in the books. That being said, however, you should read the books.
shareA fewinutes later you're seeing Aragorn control the movements of a million tons of rock by shifting his stance, and you're worried about a few climbing orcs?
It's Fantasy with a capital F, dude, and in a world where magic exists, it's possible that some creatures whose abilities are never clearly defined in the book might be able to climb like geckoes.
A million tons? I severely doubt that, no more than a few thousand at most. And yes, I do believe that, as tipsy and unsteady as that damaged stone staircase was, it would've been enough for someone, maybe two people, to determine how it toppled. I have no problem with that scene, except that maybe Aragorn might've ripped off Gimli's facial hair. :D
I'm sure dwarvish facial hair is more firmly attached than human facial hair.
And I'm willing to forgive a few violations of the laws of physics in Fantasy films, such as Gollum's loinclith staying in place even when he was crawling upside&down. I'm even grateful for that one.