Unbelievable

Rating: 3/10 (1 January 2008)

It had taken me quite a while to see the last part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I must say I wish I'd never seen it at all. I started watching, thinking I would have myself a nice evening watching a good film. I had this feeling, because I had seen the first two parts several times each and both films had a good impact on me. The Return of the King however vanished those good thoughts of me regarding the first two films rapidly. I will now explain to you people why this film is the worst of the three and, in my opinion, the most overrated film in film history (it is assumed to be the #11 of all time).
First of all I would like to point out that it is not the story I dislike. I've read the three books two times and that's quite unique considering the fact I've read about 10 books the last 10 years. And I'm not going to bring up the fact that the film doesn't really match the story told in the books. That doesn't bother me at all. I prefer films over books and I believe there's nothing wrong with bending the storyline a little bit to cut it short or make it possible to get on camera.
Now let me get to the film. This has to be one of the most corny, fake and unnecessarily dramatic films ever. The acting was just too much and because of that not real. The music just made me laugh even harder. The way the film was brought to the viewer is another thing the makers shouldn't be too proud about. Almost every shot had that corny white glow over it, that made me just want to press STOP on my remote control. I didn't, because I liked the book so much and I wanted to see what Jackson did to the rest of the book. And last but not least the 'great' special effects and visual delight everybody seems to love. Really, put on some glasses, and if you already have them; buy better ones. Because your overwhelmed by the great story you're not paying attention to the crappy work with the blue screen. This especially comes forward when Frodo comes into play in the film (for example on mount doom).
There are however, although very little, some things that I can't complain about. The battles are well made and Ian McKellen put on a good performance (because he didn't have to put on some sentimental scene). That however, is it.
I don't think I'll ever watch the first two parts again, since I might be disappointed. And even though this film has a great story(/book) at its foundations, IMDb is a site for films and not books. And for a film, LOTR III did really bad...