MY experience of this film...

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2003)

I was on of the thousands of avid fans to queue up at an ungodly hour of this morning (the 17th December - a GREAT day!) to watch the final installment of LOTR! With my dad and several dozens of other fans we waited for the cinema shutters to be pulled up and we ducked under them in a backwards Indiana Jones style move to be at the front of the queue at the bottom of the escalators to go up to the screen!!!
Despite the fact that we were all desperate to be first in the cinema there was a certain amount of comradely joy shared by us with this mob excitement climaxing with a whoop of joy as the screen showing the category certificate came on screen stating those beautiful words: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King... This whoop from an excitable fellow in the back row was followed by an hysterically excited laugh from the rest of the audience who remained wonderfully and respectfully quite through the film other than the occasional uncontrollable whoop or sob or cheer!! (I personally found it hard to contain my sobs of both joy and utter despair during...many stages of the film! The first being...ooh...about 4 minutes in!!)

I don't want to spend this comment telling you what happens in this film (as I'm sure you will see it at which I don't want to spoil it for you OR (more likely) you have seen it and don't need to be told!!!) I want to just mention the profound effect that this film had on me, even after applauding the closing credits and going to have a moment to calm down I was still crying when I left the cinema! Not sure whether it was because of the content of the film or whether it was just the uncontrollable near hysteria that I felt as I wondered round Manchester in a COMPLETE daze banging into irate Christmas shoppers and soap stars (from Corrie!!)

I came out of the cinema 6 hours ago but still can't put into words how I felt about this film...I've just spent the last few hours alternately smiling and crying!!! (Yes, I am THAT sad!!!) I just want to finish by saying to any fans out there who are sad that it's all over, that its not! By a long way! I personally am going to see it twice in the next two days with various friends and then I get to enjoy talking and reading and watching it for months and years and decades to come...that's the great thing about these films - they'll be around forever and they'll be loved for longer than that!! :)
(If that doesn't help then just think about the DVDs and special showings and box sets that you've got to look forward to! Trust me...these films aren't going anywhere...)