Better than the first or second!

Rating: 10/10 (12 December 2003)

I was one of the few fortunate souls who's company does business with New Line Cinema, and we were treated to a sneak peak at Return of the King five days before its release. I'm a huge fan of both the first and second movies. And I think the third outdoes them both. Visually, I sat for three hours twenty stunned. The third movie remained as faithful to the book as I could possibly imagine. The only complaint I can think of, ***SPOILER ALERT*** is that I didn't like Legolas sliding down the trunk of the Oliphant. (Much like I didn't like him riding a shield down the stairs in The Two Towers.) But that is so minor that it wouldn't even scratch the perfect 10 that I give this movie. I could already see the parts that were left out for the extended version and I can't wait to see that. All that's left to say is, thank you to Peter Jackson and everyone else involved in this movie for giving us everything we could possibly imagine.
One last note: Make sure the theater you see it at plays this movie LOUD. When we watched the walls shook. And the screams of the Nazgul made our eyes water and skin run cold. :)