"One does not simply vote this film a ten" Its much better than that!

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2012)

*This will be a completely spoiler-filled review.*
'The Fellowship of the Ring' and 'The Two Towers' are my 2nd and 3rd favorite movies of all time simply because of the plot, the great characters the way it was all adapted, the score, the acting and the cinematography but 'The Return of the King' has everything of everything that any film needs to have.
The film starts off in an extremely dark manner with a flashback of the Gollum's finding of the One Ring. That entire scene served great purpose as you still feel pity for the character, even though he intends to kill the Hobbits. Its for this same reason that you love Gollum so much, its because of Andy Serkis' Oscar-worthy performance.
Then the film's highlight of the first 30 minutes easily goes to the scene 'The Voice of Saruman' which is found in the extended edition where Saruman exchange words with Gandalf and Theoden whilst on top of the Tower of Orthanc. This scene was superbly done and who wouldn't like to listen to Christopher Lee's voice. It was like GOD! The magic ends with Grima showing up and stabbing Saruman, causing him to fall to his death. The cinematography and score in this entire scene was amazing. It adds more and more interest to the scene.
Then for a short while, we stay at Edoras farewelling those who died at Helm's Deep. Its got both grief and sadness and a nice little moment between Legolas and Gimli, which clearly proves that their friendship grows by the day, much like Sauron's. Then, Pippin decides to open the Palantir and Gandalf realizes that Minas Tirith, capital of Gondor, is targeted by Sauron, so he rides with Pippin to Minas Tirith to warn them.
Frodo and Sam continue venturing alone, through Minas Morgul to the staircase and into Mt.Doom, and the whole time Sam still doesn't place his trust in Gollum. Eventually, Gollum lays a trap on Sam and frames Sam for the crime and after offering to carry the Ring for Frodo, Frodo believes that Sam wants it for himself. It becomes highly emotional when Sam is left behind and told to go home.
Eventually, the battle of Minas Tirith starts and Rohan are called to war. However, Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn venture through another road to get to Minas Tirith, attempting to bring with them the cursed Gondorian army. I loved how this entire movie focused heavily on the great battle. The fight scenes looked superbly filmed, the cinematography was easy to follow keeping the fight scenes watchable. Gandalf was awesome during the fight scenes and the score was breath-taking. Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings soundtracks were beyond epic.
Sam returns to Frodo's aid after realizing the trap laid by Gollum. In that time, Gollum leads Frodo to the predator, Shelob, a giant spider. She stings her and Sam comes to the RESCUE! He fights the spider and he wins it, but not without a defeat as the orcs take Frodo to the tower. This film heavily builds on Samwise Gamgee's character, showing that he will always be there for Frodo, through thick and thin. Sam really was the highlight of this whole film simply due to the number of times he saved Frodo
After that battle comes to an abrupt end, the men of Middle Earth must ONCE more join up and rally to the Black Gate as a way to give time for Frodo and Sam to destroy the Ring, as 10,000 orcs were blocking their path. The idea of that was great as all the men agreed to go to war and to their deaths just to give Frodo a chance to destroy the Ring.
Eventually, Sam frees Frodo and the two move off closer to Mordor as the orcs are called to war. Whilst the men engaged a heavily outnumbered battles, we had the greatest Gimli-Legolas moment of the trilogy with the 'Stand side by side with a friend' clip. It really was an absolute great and emotional scene.
Whilst standing just on top of the fire, Frodo becomes unable to destroy the Ring as he has succumbed to its power. He puts the Ring on and Sauron and the Nazgul now know where it is. Gollum comes back and just bites the finger the Ring was in and Frodo becomes visible. Just as Gollum has his precious, Frodo attempts to grab it off him and Gollum falls to his death with the Ring.
Just as the men seemed completely hopeless, evil was destroyed forever. In my opinion, the entire last 1 hr was absolutely amazing building up to yet another epic battle, but what was interesting in this battle was that it doesn't focus on the battle itself but more on Frodo and Sam which is a very clever technique.
Now comes the part that everyone hates with 'Return of the King' but the part I love, and that is the 10 different ending scenes to the movie. However I loved it and was willing for more at the end, in particular a scene with Gimli and Legolas as well as another with Aragorn and Arwen.
The greatest trilogy ends with everything. This film had everything: darkness, comedy, friendship, betrayal, treachery, emotion, loyalty, courage, determination, bravery and pretty much any other theme. At the end, that was what made Lord of the Rings great.