My hot take (assuming one can have a hot take for a 20+ year old trilogy) is that they're better than the books because they cut out extraneous stuff (suck it Bombadil and Glorfindel, lol jk) and do a better job of making the Ring scary. That's why I like that Faramir is initially tempted, even Aragorn has a moment. Sean Bean kinda rewrites Boromir and it works, the chemistry between the cast is so good. There's a few moments of ... cinematic excess, but overall I really would rather rewatch the trilogy over rereading the books.