Perfect way to finish the trilogy

Rating: 10/10 (19 August 2016)

Finally, the last movie in the series. Finally, Peter Jackson makes his intentions clear. Now we realise that the first two movies in this series were just the build up to this epic of a film. A masterful masterpiece, a flawless work of cinema whose only fault is that it seems too short. I don't have much to say about this; I don't want to spoil anything. But this is the big one. It completely blows the other two great movies out of the water. Suddenly, everything is more adult, more dramatic, and ten times the emotion. You could call it an emotional roller-coaster ride; certainly Jackson touches the nerves and heart-strings on more than one occasion.
The centrepiece of the film is the battle for Minas Tirith, a huge war scene which features amazing special effects unlike anything ever seen before. An army of 300,000 riders on the heroes who defend their city with courage and spirit. Dragons fly down from the sky, huge boulders are tossed back and forth, and an army of trolls and oliphants are sent in to obliterate the heroes. Everything is dark and gruesome; Jackson reveals his origins by including many graphic and gruesome deaths which somehow make the 12A certificate a bit of a joke. Men are decapitated, crushed, impaled, and burnt. Heads fly over city walls and the viewer just sits and gapes at the magnificence of it all.
The casting is excellent. Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen come into their own. Billy Boyd is given serious stuff to deal with now, not just comic relief: his singing over the death of the soldiers is extremely moving and a stand against all generals who sit back and send their men to certain death. Miranda Otto comes into her own. The new character of Denethor is great, just as in the book. Legolas and Gimli are still there, although on the sidelines as always. But the real emotion comes from Elijah Wood and Sean Astin: this pair are brilliant, and their final journey to Mount Doom will bring tears to anybody's eyes through the heartache involved. Gollum is a force to be reckoned with this time and cannot be forgotten.
After the slow build-up of the initial hour, things explode in cinematic heaven. The battles are amazing, topped by the arrival of the ghost army, sheer brilliance. Shelob is a wonderful special effect and extremely frightening. There is so much to love and thankfully the powerhouse ending doesn't disappoint. The only problem with this film is that it properly ends about 30 minutes before the credits, and Jackson fills the final 30 minutes with endless mawkish sentimentality which becomes truly sickening. Sadly, it doesn't spoil what's come before; I just tune out at this part.