The Trilogy Lives!

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2003)

When I first read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I was somewhere at the end of my fifth grade year. Almost immediately I was engrossed, and began to dream of one day making the film version of the epic. Sadly, it wasn't realized, but never did I truly expect its fulfillment. Peter Jackson and his enormous group of dedicated, passionate, and talented coworkers have somehow lived up to this dream.
The Fellowship blew me away completely. I must have seen it at least eight times in the theaters (each with a different group of friends), and on only the last viewing did I tire of it in the least. Here was my imagination of the screen, all its power and beauty forever ensconced on film. Now I could only pray that it would continue in the same glorious vein.
The Two Towers continued the unbelievable. I was perhaps not as astonished by it as Fellowship, but in no wise was this due to a failing on a part of the movie, only a change in my perception. I had actually experienced Jackson's Tolkien before (or at least a third of it), and therefore the original shock was missing, but all that was beloved from my memories and the books remained.
And now comes, finally, the Return of the King. Not even in my wildest childhood fantasy could I have concluded this beloved tale to this degree of perfection. The Return of the King and its predecessors are by no means flawless, but each deliver the powerful essence of Tolkien's work, refined and heightened. Truly, the Trilogy Lives!