I Almost Gave It A Nine (9)...

Rating: 10/10 (19 July 2002)

...but gave it a 10 because the stunning visuals (and I don't just mean "FX" I mean actual retinal intake at the utter aesthetic level) made up for the tiny bit of creeping out I got from looking directly into Elijah Wood's face all movie (not kidding). Short of that, I am almost excited and giddy such a new movie has climbed to #4 all time (on IMDb at least) but frankly it earned it. Any movie almost as good as Rain Man (but in polar-opposite ways) deserves to be #4...(I too loved Godfather and especially The Shawshank Redemption, but Rain Man is arguably the greatest film ever for many, vastly different reasons). I digress, no one should miss Lord of the Rings and I'm just glad I caught it at the Blue Ridge in Raleigh 8mos after it premiered (seeing this for the 1st time on video/at home would have been my loss).