Sublime On Every Level...With a Smidgeon of Forgiveable Excess

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2003)

What a spectacular conclusion to a trilogy that is at the same time groundbreaking, jawdropping, heartstopping, audience-winning and heartwarming. If you were blown away by the first two films, you ain't seen nothing yet. Yes, it's long at three and a half hours, but it delivers so copiously in both action and emotion that you let it wind down at the end. Because after so much battle and drama you'll need it. At the conclusion of "Schindler's List," we let Spielberg show the families in the long flower dedication, and we'll likewise allow director Peter Jackson a long denoument that is a fitting bow for an extraordinary adventure -- both off-screen and on. Can't wait for next year's DVD, so I can see the hour and a half that they actually cut!