Unbelievable...in more than one way.

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2003)

The Return of the King is undoubtedly the most magnificent movie to ever grace the silver screen. It always helps when you have a great story, and being a fan of Tolkiens work for over 20 years I can safely say that Peter Jackson has turned my dreams of a trilogy on film to match the trilogy on paper into a wonderful, visually visceral reality. The special effects serve the story, not overwhelm it. The acting from the ensemble cast is perfect and the inaccuracies in the story can be forgiven as the right amount of emphasis has been placed on each scene to captivate and exhilarate the audience. I am quietly confident that all of cinemas most loved trilogies have now been eclipsed. The original Star Wars trilogy, the Godfather trilogy, the Back to the Future trilogy, the Indiana Jones trilogy or indeed any noted trilogy cannot compete with Peter Jacksons superb realisation of Tolkiens masterpiece. I was simply blown away by the entire movie, the laughter, the tears, the rollercoaster of emotions that I was subjected to was immense and no movie in history has ever made me feel, literally feel, with the characters and the story to such an extent. Hopefully the Academy Awards will pay some form of testament to this tremendous movie and adorn it with numerous awards, but should it fail to win a single Oscar, suffice to say, I award it Best Picture, not just of 2003, but of the entire age of cinema.