This film soared way beyond my expectations

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2003)

I have never been a diehard fan of the Lord of the Rings series. I attempted reading the novels but did not have the time to finish them. When the first of these three movies arrived in theaters I was told how amazing these films would be. When i discovered "Fellowship" was over three hours I was ready for a painful experience. I will be honest: I fell asleep. The next week I was talked into giving it another chance. I absolutely loved it. I eagerly awaited the extended edition which I watched in one sitting. When "The Two Towers" arrived my expectations were unfortunately too high. I enjoyed TTT, but it felt to me like it was missing something that was in the first film. I still remained excited for "The Return of the King" to arrive, but I figured it could never beat "Fellowship". Boy was I wrong. I heard many reviews and people said what a great film it was, so I began to get excited for the release. I saw it last night with higher expectations that i had for the second film. The expectations I had for this film were higher that what I have had for probably any film I have seen in recent years. This movie blew my expectations away. I was shocked by how well this trilogy wound down and concluded. Peter Jackson's directing really shined through in this one and the acting was superb. This film had BETTER win best picture or I will lose all respect for the Academy Awards (not that i had a whole lot). Even non-LOTR fans can thoroughly enjoy this film. This trilogy FAR outdoes the Matrix trilogy and makes Matrix Revolutions look like one of the worst films ever made (not that it took a lot to do that). Granted, this film was extremely long, but it is destined to become a classic and I know I will be getting that extended edition in November 2004. A+