Final installment a 10

Rating: 10/10 (31 March 2004)

I suppose I'd better preface this by saying that, in my opinion, The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the best ever made (yes, better than The Godfather or Star Wars) and the three films as a whole combine to be what is probably one of the top ten movies of all time. And Peter Jackson is a god.
That being said, I was fully satisfied with the third installment of this brilliant trilogy. I cried not only with emotion brought on by the many beautiful endings of the film, but just because the movie was over at all. No more Lord of the Rings to look forward to every year. *Sigh* Moviegoing will never be the same - at least, not for a long time.
Peter Jackson has, visually and cinematically, outdone himself. ROTK is the biggest and grandest film of the three, with beautiful cinematography and seamless special effects. You can totally suspend disbelief and believe that these armies are really that big, that these fantastical creatures were once real, even that the dead people inside the mountain, in all their green-glowing glory, were real. Bravo. This movie had spectacle that surpassed any other film I've ever seen, and yes, even The Two Towers. Bravo, I say!
The actors. Could Peter Jackson have chosen a more perfect cast? Viggo Mortensen continues to be perfect as the rugged, determined Aragorn who has finally taken the full weight of his destiny upon his shoulders and is ready to claim the throne of Gondor. The man, quite simply, rocks. Ian McKellen is totally bad-ass as Gandalf, and in this movie he does the most fighting and ass-kicking of the three, and to a T, I might add. You've never seen a staff put to better use.
Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan were brilliant as Pippin and Merry, still bringing us some comic relief but moreover showing us new facets of the hobbits' personalities. There are some very, very touching scenes with Billy Boyd, which were wonderful, especially when he sings - beautiful little voice on that one. And Dominic Monaghan has a wonderful moment with Eowyn, kicking some serious Middle Earth buttocks. Eowyn (Miranda Otto) is completely cool in this film too. We finally get to see her take up the sword and save the day a little, which, as she promised in The Two Towers, is something she completely rocked at. Legolas and Gimli continued to rock the bow, arrow, sword and axe, and provided more cheers and grins. The new characters (Denethor, mainly) and returning scenes with Faramir were fantastic and welcome.
And what to say about Elijah Wood and Sean Astin? They were perfect. Both of them. Their scenes with each other and the stunning, creepy and tragic Gollum are absolutely perfect.
I could rave about this movie forever. Lots of people bitched about it being too long, about there being too many endings. Shut up, I say, because Pete did the best he could have with the ending, which in the book went on far, far longer, and he paid wonderful farewell tributes to each character - in fact, I would have even liked to see more.
All in all...I love this movie. I am so glad that it won the Best Picture Oscar, along with the other 10, and DEFINITELY that Pete won Best Director. I feel that it completely deserved the awards, it was the best film of the year, even if you don't like the movie you can't tell me that any other film achieved as much as well. Stunning filmmaking that will live on in history.
10/10