An astonishing achievement

Rating: 10/10 (13 May 2005)

What can you say about the third movie in the trilogy. Bloody marvelous for one. Peter Jackson takes the credit for the trilogy but let's not forget the contributions of Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens. Jackson is good at the blood and guts and the spectacle but Walsh and Boyens are obviously the heart behind the quieter, yet no less emotional scenes. There's Richard Taylor's almost impossible monumental undertaking of every detail behind the scenes. There's Howard Shore, Andrew Lesnie, John Howe and Alan Lee, Grant Major and numerous others. Too many to name here.
The flaws I saw with this film were it's final twenty or so minutes that seemed to drag on for too long. That's pretty minor though considering the tripe that usually ends up on movie screens.
Although Return is the least of the three movies it still has some of the most emotional. Sam and Frodo's moments at Mount Doom are some of the best in recent cinema. Also when Aragorn tells the four Hobbits that they bow to no one. It still brings a tear to my eye.
The trilogy is probably best viewed as one whole movie but will always be seen as three parts due to the fact that it took us two years to view them.
The best reason in years to go to the movies.