The best of the trilogy ,watch the extended DVDs or you miss out.

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2006)

The best , better than the three films ranked above it in the IMDb. Sorry godfather fans but I hated the godfather and do not think it belongs in the top 10 let alone the farce of being number one.Anyways,I got my hands on the extended edition DVDs of ROTK and there is so much extra stuff.The main thing left out of the theatrical release that I wanted to see was the final fate of Saruman.It is included in the extended edition but it doesn't follow the books version. In the book after the ring was destroyed,Saruman had fled out of Isengard and came to the Shire with Grima Wormtongue ,there they tried to take over the Shire with the help of some ruffians and orcs , they were defeated by hobbits led by Merry and Pippin in what was called The Battle Of Bywater.Frodo confronted the defeated Saruman who was brought to BagEnd and banished him from the Shire .However as Saruman was leaving he berated Grima one last time which sent Grima over the edge with hatred, he came up behind Saruman and slit his throat and before Frodo could stop them ,some other hobbits shot Grima dead with arrows.
In the extended edition of the movie, Gandalf,Aragorn,Gimli,Legolas and King Theoden arrive at Isengard where they are greeted by Merry and Pippin ,there is some small talk and then a conversation between Gandalf and Treebeard.Saruman then appears from the top of his tower with Grima behind him. He sends fire down at Gandalf who repels it and breaks Sarumans staff, King Theoden then tells Grima that he can come back to Rohan and all is forgiven ,to start a new life. Saruman then berates Grima as useless fodder and shoves him to the ground. Grima then gets angry and stabs Saruman in the back,he falls off the tower and gets impaled on a waterwheel that drags him under the water. Legolas shoots Grima with an arrow killing him. I liked the books ending better ,Peter Jackson evidently thought a major battle at the end of the movie would have been too much excess so he left out the Battle of Bywater much to the chagrin of fans and changed Sarumans death scene,Christoper Lee was majorly po'ed when it was cut out of the theatrical release-I would have been too as he was also cut from the ending credits in the theatrical release,he does however get credit in t he extended edition credits. That scene being cut out was one thing I didn't understand,the scene was no more than ten minutes long but Peter Jackson said that the scene was cut out due to time constraints and pacing, I don't buy that B/S - Saruman was a major player in the books and that scene should have been included in the theatrical release. I think some Hollywood politics were going on and someone just didn't like Mr Lee being in the third movie- there were rumors that Peter Jackson did not get along with Mr Lee and so he decided to cut Mr Lee out of ROTKs theatrical release,Brad Dourif also got the snub from the theatrical release. Oh well, the film is just pure wonder,top notch acting and incredible special effects,the battle scenes alone are worth watching the 4 plus hrs of extras. If you haven't already, go buy the extended edition ,its filled with goodies and extras including the Wellington parade and world premiere event , with clips and video of the stars walking down the street signing autographs.Enjoy LOTR fans