The Greatest Trilogy Of All Time

Rating: 10/10 (14 April 2004)

Extremely Minor Spoilers
Wow and wow. 2003 has seen the endings of two very successful trilogies, The Matrix Revolutions and The Return Of The King. However where as the Matrix ended in dissapointing fashion, The Lord Of The Rings brings it's story to an exciting and satisfying close, crowning itself one of the greatest endings to a trilogy ever. Of course you probably already knew that. The main reason that the last two movies in the trilogy didn't slip into mediocrity would be the fact that this was one entire story broken into three parts. Not the usual trilogy where one is written and then others are made after to capitalize on it's success. This is one movie, one story, broken into three parts. And since Tolkien has created such an amazing world and array of characters these films virtually couldn't and shouldn't have dissappointed. Never has such an amazing story been shown in films, an imagination so great and a vision so fully realized.The third installment in the saga, The Return Of The King, brings the long journey to an end. Frodo and Sam are on the verge of reaching Mount Doom and Aragorn will fullfill his destiny in becoming king. The acting in this movie is simply wonderful. You've all seen the first two unless you've been living in a hole, and the same quality, same character is evident in ROTK. The visuals themselves are unbelievable. The battles in ROTK make Helms Deep seem as though it was a minor bar brawl. Peter Jackson is an amazing director who knows how to blend the wonderful computer effects with the live actors. Seeing the Riders Of Rohan flank the army of Sauron and then do battle with the monstrous Elephonts is quite a site, and the visuals manage to make everything real and convincing and bear no sense of looking fake. Scenes such as Gandalf riding through Minas Tirith beautifully blend the CG and the real as I mentioned above. Considering Peter Jackson only really directed comedic horror movies before taking the the helm in directing LOTR makes him that much more impressive. The landscapes continue to be visually stunning, the great city of Minas Tirith is extremely impressive. And even the real landscapes are beautiful, a tribute to New Zealand. Never has a movie before made me want to travel to the place where it was filmed as ROTK has. Some may say with a running time of 3 hours and 30 minutes that you'll be squirming in your seat, but that's false. This movie needed to be that length and none of it's sequences ever slip into boredom. Even with it's long running time I found myself wishing it would never end. Of course fans of the book will be a little dissapointed about some aspects that have been changed. Such as Sauramon not even being in the movie, but all this can and should be forgiven. The final fact is that the Return of The King and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy are a cinematic acheivement that brings a classic story to the screen with satisfying results. I myself will not choose a favorite of the trilogy because I enjoyed them all and like to think of them as part of the story more then individual films. But I will say this The Return of the King is unmatched by any other films that have come out this year, and The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy is possibly the greatest of all time.
Verdict: *****
Can't wait for the 4 hour + extended edition