Great Filmaking, but not a masterpiece.

Rating: 6/10 (12 April 2005)

First, what was great about the film. Peter Jackson has created a lush, realistic world for moviegoers. One can not help being caught up in his creation. The cinematography, effects, costumes, score landscaping, etc... all of it was great, brilliant. A true example of what a good director with a huge budget and great staff can do with a movie.
Now what was wrong. I know I am going to catch flak from the Ringies outthere. I have not read the books, and, try as I might,I couldn't help but feel like someone on the outside looking in while watching this film.
Most of my the fans I talked to made this abundantly clear-- unless you knew and loved the books, you couldn't possibly appreciate the brilliance of Jackson's's adaptation of Tolkien, and the greatest books EVER written. I understand that, I really do, BUT.... in order for a film to be a masterpiece, it needs to stand on it's own. If it can't be appreciated fully except by the already initiated, then it has problems. For instance, I haven't read Puzo's Godfather books, but I am still captivated by the film. I don't feel like I can't understand it fully just because I have not read the books.
Also, pure fantasy, in my mind, just doesn't have the ability to get too much beyond escapism. For instance, in Mystic River, viewers can really identify with the characters. Although fiction, the film is still all to real, touches too close to home. At the end of the day, though, the LOTR stuff is still all make believe, like unicorns and dragons. That is why science-fiction or fantasy writers are never mentioned in the same breath as authors who write about real world characters and problems.
All things considered, the ROTK, and other LOTR films, are great escapism, and nothing more. They are like the LOTR books-- masterfully written/ directed, engaging, interesting, fun . . . . but still just pretend, and are unable to connect on a meaningful level because of it. That's why IO give ROTK six stars.