An end to the best fantasy trilogy of all time(?)

Rating: 9/10 (29 June 2018)

With the four hour conclusion that is The Return of the King, the Lord of the Rings trilogy comes to a close. When it comes to film franchises, this fantasy series easily takes the cake for being the best one out there. The visual effects aren't the best, nor is the acting, but the story makes for such an experience that is so easy to become emotionally invested in. Part of the success that the story achieves comes from its execution as the writing caters to the whimsical side of adventuring as well as the more darker themes that involve Sauron and the One Ring. Another aspect of the story's successful execution has to do with how much care is given into each of the characters. There's obviously one overarching plot that involves everyone, but that itself is not the sole focus of the story. In the end, the LOTR trilogy feels like a big journey due to the audience gradually learning more and more about all the relevant characters and their motives.
With their long runtimes, each film in the trilogy takes its time to fully establish the setting and flesh out its characters, as they should for being epics. I honestly can't imagine watching the theatrical versions now, seeing as the extended versions put in the much needed additional time to develop secondary characters. Though the more I think about it, I'm not too sure exactly how much this particular film benefits from having an extra 30 minutes in its runtime. Where Fellowship of the Ring benefited from the extra minutes in world building and the extended version of Two Towers slightly faltered in its pacing, The Return of the King is already going to be charged with wrapping everything up so I don't know what scenes the filmmakers would have prioritized over others. Either way, the tone of this film is so fitting for this grand adventure that I won't think about it too much.
There's a lot of closure in the film, the character arcs that have been developed throughout the three films all come to a close and I can safely say that every minute I spent watching these movies were worth it. I really enjoyed Aragorn's (Viggo Mortensen) arc; seeing him develop as a leader and a reliable person made him my favorite character overall. Besides Frodo and Sam, I think Aragorn also has the most screen time out of all the films.
Anyone who reveres the LOTR trilogy for its masterful storytelling and world-building is right to do so. It's probably the only set of films to tell such a story in all the right ways. Experiencing this trilogy in the theaters must have been a life changing point in many people's lives; I'm sure that if I was part of the fandom back then, my love for movies would have grown much sooner.