Sure, could be criticized, but there'd be no point.

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2003)

-**BIG SPOILERS**- only intended for people who have seen ROTK.
I actually wasn't as excited for the release of Return of the King as I have been for Lord of the Rings movies past. I'm not sure why. Teenage maturation? Perhaps Lord of the Rings has begun to settle in my mind, eliminating some excitement and freshness of it? I was hesitant to see this movie as it is the end of Lord of the Rings to me, in a way. I first read Lord of the Rings shortly before the release of the films. I have also read the Silmarillion and some of the Histories of Middle-Earth. At any rate, for whatever reason, I wasnt nervously anticipating this one as much as the previous two Lord of the Rings films. But when I sat down I was totally carried away by the emotion and atmosphere of this film. The humanity. The internal conflict. The drama. And now I am sad, sad in the same way I was sad at the end of my first reading of Lord of the Rings. Sad because these characters that have come to life in my heart and mind are gone forever, and there is nothing more to read or see. No more sweet words from their lips. Nothing more to get lost in, no more exploring Middle-Earth with Sam and Frodo. I now wish it were two years ago, at the beginning, on the day Fellowship of the Ring was released. Or better yet, when I first picked up a copy of Lord of the Rings and began to read.
I see a lot of critics on here bashing ROTK. I don't know what the deal is. Sure, there were parts of it in which the word 'cheesy' flashed through my mind briefly... for the record here are the things that I wasn't too big on:
When Daegol got pulled underwater by the fish looked pretty stupid/fake: when Smeagol was choking Daegol: Gollum looked kinda odd falling in to the crevice in Mt. Doom: Eowyn's feminist line while battling the Witchking: Sauron looks kinda dumb/ inadequate especially when his tower is falling over: the Armies of the Dead: the hobbits jumping on Frodo in his bed: Gollum on Frodo's shoulders while Frodo is invisible in Mt. Doom: Bilbo is kinda idiotic: Gandalf seemingly pushing Denethor into the pyre: Legolas's incredibly unrealistic physical feats in the battles-that's all the dingbats I wasn't too fond of that I can think of right now. Now to get the the meat of this review- Despite these things, I still give this lovely movie a 10/10. Other parts were so beautiful they pulled me in and any criticisms that managed to surface to my mind were subdued and thrown aside. Many other movies don't have any affect on me at all, and therefor for those I don't care enough to even process any criticisms. The emotion on this is magnificent, more emotional than the others in my opinion(although that may just be because I have seen the others so much).
The movie never really dragged for me like parts of the previous two have... A lot of stuff happens. The end is long, and I guess you could say it drags, if 'always thinking the end of the scene is the end of the film... until the next scene comes' would be considered dragging- but then the next scene would come and I was thinking, 'hey alright I'm glad it isn't over' heh- Personally I think the Grey havens would have been more effective for the very ending. Anyways, concerning the length of the ending, if you think about it, the Lord of the Rings was written as one book, and the movies were filmed together as one movie, and the 10-or-so hour long movie requires a long ending, to go in ratio to the rest of the film. Also, the ROTK *is* Lord of the Ring's climax (both emotionally and otherwise).

But those are but tiny little unimportant things that do not balance the scales weighed against the beauty and power of this film. Pippin's song to Denethor was extremely breathtakingly beautiful and bittersweet (thats the highlight of the movie to me - I'm going to see ROTK again soon, if only to see that wonderful sequence again); the wars in Return of the King are, I think, better than those in Two Towers; The melodramatic suicide of Denethor and the rescue of Faramir; The drama between Faramir and his father over Boromir (including that lovely line delivered by Gandalf, something along the lines of 'Your father does love you. I only hope that he soon remembers it'). FOTR and TTT have been praised as wonderful films... and they are terrific films... but I love ROTK the most at this point because it seems to me it is never just action crammed in there for the sake of empty action (i.e. the Warg Riders in TTT). There is always emotion running BEHIND everything, not just having the camera jumping from one action scene to another.
Some changes made from the book I think benefited the movie (I would like to remind you that I did read the Lord of the Rings before the release of the films). Some of the changes I think made the movie more powerful/better flow was the removal of the scouring of the Shire and the death of Saruman (although some conclusion for Saruman, even a mention, would have been nice). I also liked the conflict between Sam and Gollum over Frodo, as it strengthens the emotion of Frodo, struggling and scared in Shelob's tunnel alone, realizing the evil intent of Gollum and his own trust in him. It also strengthens the emotion of Sam coming back to find Mr. Frodo, and his saving him from the tower of the orcs.
I know the little gripes I listed in this review are numerous, however, the emotional effect is so intense and the film is so exciting and so engaging that almost anything is entirely forgiven. One of the best movies, if not the best, that I have seen in my brief 14 years of life. And I'm sure the film will grow on me and the little gripes will be nonexistant to me with more viewings. Bottom line: THIS MOVIE IS GORGEOUS BEYOND CRITICISM. 10/10