Haven't read the novel or seen any of the other adaptations but I'll take your word for it. As a movie on its own though it just felt too long and poorly paced to keep my interest.When you compare it to the other shifty attempts at making a movie of that book it's outstanding. Agree the lighting could have been better and some of the lines were drowned out by "background" music, but I (and my Dad who's been waiting for a decent movie version for ~40 years) was blown away by it. Some people might complain about it being two films, but frankly we're talking about a book the size of Lord of the Rings, trying to fit it all into 2 1/2 hours is ridiculous.
It's a competent movie, but not a very good one imo.