Not Perfect, But Brilliant None The Less

Rating: 10/10 (15 January 2004)

With choppy moments and a few drawn out pauses at the beginning, The Return of the King is not a perfect film, but it is nothing short of a brilliant and entertaining film. And I will admit, I had to see this film twice before making an overall evaluation of it.
King loses the pacing and flow that the first and most notably the second film had. What stops it from living up to its predecessor, The Two Towers, is climax. That film built up slowly, but surely, to its epic battle sequence, and finished it off beautifully. This film zips from scene to scene and rushes into not one, but two battle sequences without much of a breather in between. The film also lacks a beautiful, triumphant moment, such as when Gandalf led the Rohirrim down the hill to defeat Saruman's band of orcs in TTT.
Yes, the film has faults, but the film makes up for it in many ways. This film had more elements of suspense and was creepier than any horror film I have seen in ages. The giant spider scene, which had to be one of my favorite parts, was thoroughly eerie, and definetly not for the squimish!
And despite its many endings, which could have been tied up a bit neater, the film ended on just the right note. It is an ending that would give even the most emotionally detached person the sniffles. 8/10