When celluloid can make you cry (minor spoilers ahead)

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2003)

I just got home from watching The Return of the King, and during my way back home I started to think about writing a small comment in this web for my very first time. After all, if this movie didn't make me do it, which one would do?
So here I am, and... Wow!!! Just can't think of a way to start. Sometimes a certain film can have the ability of making you cry. Or feel sad. Or smile for pure joy. Or fall in love with the actors/actresses. Well, this one has it all, plus it made me feel fortunate enough for having been able to watch the three installments as they came out each year. The Return of the King has made me a truly believer that The Lord of the Rings is the greatest movie trilogy of all time (far better than Star Wars double trilogy and The Godfather one) because it tells you a story so pure, so fond that reaches the deepest corners of your heart.
There is love, fear, happiness... thrills abound (actually they never stop) making the movie a gift to human senses. While The Fellowship of the Ring was so intimist and heart touching (with so many samples of love and friendship in The Shire and beyond) and The Two Towers was filled with wild encounters and war (Helm's Deep, Isengard's trashing by the Ents...), ROTK is a fine mix of both; with the Battle for Minas Tirith being astonishing and some other moments full of fondness, camaraderie and friendship (thanks in large part to Samwise and Eowyn, although everybody contributes).
The acting is wonderful. Kudos to Sean Astin, his interpretation of Samwise is sublime. This character is so strong and self determined he almost ends up leading Frodo and the ring to meet its destiny. He is courage personified. Also, Mortensen's Aragorn is so powerful that one tends to think nobody on earth could have done a better job. Wood is great as Frodo, and Merry & Pippin are also portrayed with mastery. By the way McKellen is just Gandalf as we all thought he was while reading the books.
Filming is great, photograph incredible, special effects awesome. And I would like to say that the so called "flaw" of having five or six different finals doesn't seem even a flaw to me. There could not be a different ending for such a mastery of an epic that this trilogy is than having six different finals. Plus, they're no different... they just unleash into each other and, oh man, how nice and touching they are!
I just hope for two things right now. The first one being to go again to watch this masterpiece as soon as I can. The second one, pray for Peter Jackson to make The Hobbit's big screen version. Thank you PJ for such a gem!!
My verdict: 10 out of 10 (**********)