No Question: Superb

Rating: 10/10 (22 December 2003)

Undeniably, one of the greatest film achievements ever - perhaps the greatest.
Who would have thought that the film-going public would subject itself to three movies that all last more than 3 hours each? I can't forget watching the full 5-1/4 hours of "1900" back in 1977 - luckily with a 15 minute intermission! It was completely absorbing. Trust me.
If 'Return of the King' had been 5 hours, I would have watched the whole thing. I remember walking away at the end of "Kings" last week and wanting more! I must be nuts?! But, I'm not. And I'm not alone.
How does this film/film series get away with this? Quite simply, there are legions of reading fans and viewing fans which find this movie absorbing.
It takes a special brand of filmmaking to pull this off. Like "Gone With The Wind", "Spartacus", "Dr. Zhivago", "Lawrence of Arabia"...and several others that test our limits quite nicely.
And - Peter Jackson has pulled it off. AND - I am still amazed at the whole. Such mastery, focus and continuity...are rare. Even in more modest length movies.
I'm not going to repeat all of these spoiler reviews I've seen here. I find this rather cruel...don't you think? I'm even going to make paragraphs out of what I write and not these annoyingly long ONE paragraph treatises - that seem to go on and on. :)
I shall simply say that if you like movies, adventure, love, mystery, wonder, honorable values and characters with which you can really love and feel a kinship, this is it. This is THE movie.
Instead of just reading these reviews, just go and see this movie. It will stay with you forever.
One a side note: Let's campaign for Sean Astin to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. He almost stole the whole movie with his heart-tugging admiration and loyalty to Frodo. Sorry, rest of cast, I loved you all - but this is a stand-out performance to remember.
Thank you, Peter Jackson.