A perfect ending to the greatest movie series of all time

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2003)

One truly amazing thing about The Lord of the Rings is the consistency and quality of all three films. There are no weak links in the series. The Return of the King completes the legacy in wonderful fashion. Every critical scene (save "the scouring of the Shire") is included, and even that intentional omission makes total sense in the film adaptation.
RotK kept my family and me in a constant state of wonder and suspension of disbelief. Even though we had read the books many times, the film kept surprising us with clever timing and subtle twists on the action of the story. Every member of the Fellowship has multiple moments to shine. The character development is expanded, and the battle scenes are awesome. Peter Jackson and his co-writers have managed a fantastic balance between the three entwined storylines of the novel.
We watched Return of the King as part of the special "trilogy showing" of all three films. This is the first time we saw the extended version of The Two Towers. This was equally amazing -- Almost every flaw of the original film has been addressed and more than adequately fixed. While I originally thought Fellowship was a much better film, The Two Towers has now caught up with, and possibly surpassed, the first film. The Lord of the Rings has now become the greatest "series" film of all time.