Much that is beautiful is passing away (NO spoilers...promise)

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2003)

I was sure that this movie was not capable of "getting me there" as much as FOTR did that first magical time I went in and saw Middle Earth on the big screen. I mean let's face it. when I went in to the theater for FOTR that opening night, I had been waiting for more than half my life to see realized on screen what I think is one of the greatest 2 or 3 works of fiction ever written, and the "funnest to read", ever.
I was wrong.
There is a sublime sadness at the end of reading the ROTK book, both in the storyline and in the fact that, as you are reading it, you realize with shock and disbelief that you are running out or pages. (Thank God for Appendices and The Silmarillion - which could be made into several movies, btw...) This sadness creeps into the movie with the same basic characteristics. Much that was noble and beautiful in Middle Earth is passing away with the defeat of Sauron, and much that was beautiful in going to the movies is passing away minute by minute, because there won't be another movie next Christmas.
In that regards, Peter Jackson has succeeded so well that whatever they are paying him for these, they oughtta double it. Don't get me wrong. It's not "too short". It's length is perfect. (although I secretly hope they add like 2 or 3 hours to the Extended Edition next November...) We can guess which scenes might be extended next November from time to time, but that's a good thing too. We can almost get one more year out of this sublime magic.
Yes, the FX are awesome, the music great, the cinematography and editing and "look" are first rate. But the great news is that the star of this movie is the story, the script, and the characters. Andy Serkis, Sean Astin, and especially Bernard Hill give the performances of a lifetime. Unlike TTT, which although wonderful, was dominated by the character of Gollum (in terms of acting performance) there's plenty of great character development and unforgettable performances to go around. And unlike FOTR, which tried to spread that character development as evenly as possible, Jackson here focuses in on some more than others... in a GREAT way. Some characters, you realize as you watch, are "done" enough that you don't need much more on them. Others, who we want to see grow into the heroes we remember from the book, we watch grow to our delight and astonishment.
Delightfully, we get occasional bouts of "book-fan" moments, where a detail that we hoped would make it to the screen jumps out at us, and almost more delightfully (no doubt to the consternation of so-called purists* who are still upset that we haven't seen Tom Bombadil and Glorfindel, and that we haven't heard names of everybody in 3 or 4 different languages - get a clue), Jackson takes the perfect amount of liberties with the story to make the characters interesting for those of us who know it. Let's face it, when we go to the movies, we want to be surprised. We want to approach moments not knowing exactly what is going to happen, even though, from the text's perspective, we do.
In short, FOTR was perfect, and TTT, although great, was, as a middle chapter is doomed to be, not quite the same experience (although necessary to get to this point). But if FOTR was perfect, I need a new word to describe this film. Years ago I watched, over four nights, the entire Cycle of "The Ring of the Niebelung" by Richard Wagner. It's a long and ponderous opera (15 or 16 hours!) but when you get to the end, the musical, theatrical, and emotional payoff is HUGE! That cycle basically, in a mythological framework, starts with the beginning of the world, and ends with the end of it. This film is like that. I'm afraid I've been ruined for movies...
*By the same token, a "purist" for apples might bet upset that oranges taste... not apple-ish enough. Attention "Purists": A movie and a book are two different things! Go ye and findeth a life!