When 3 and a half hours pass by in a flash...

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2003)

...and not because you are asleep. I have already seen this movie twice now. Although I admit to being something of a Tolkien fan and perhaps even more of a movie buff, I think the best testimony I can give to this film is the quickness in which time flows while watching it. And I intend to see it at least once more before the end of the year.
Peter Jackson's crowning triumph to this trilogy has elevated the mark for fantasy film making so high, that it will be decades (probably closer to a century) before it can be bested. The blood, sweat, tears, and yes, love that went into the making of this epic has reached its inevitable climax in this film.
If you have any sort of emotional investment in the two films leading up to this one, you will not be disappointed. Mr. Jackson, along with the help of so many others, has crafted a masterpiece that will stand the test of time. Even after it is released on DVD's, it could be re-released in theatres every generation and capture a whole new audience.
Our children and our children's children will benefit from this work of art as much or more than we will. Mr. Jackson certainly feels that way because of a certain liberty he has taken with all three films. Some filmmakers are renown for injecting themselves into their films, as Mr. Jackson did when he burped his derision at the critics during the first film. But he has taken this one step further by giving his children their own cameos in all of the films (they are noticeably older in this one). Only an artist supremely confident in his skill and the skill of his aides would do this. I think they will grow to be proud of their father's acheivement and appreciate that they have been immortalized in so special a way.