Return of excellence *spoilers*

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2003)

Wow! I'm completely overwhelmed by this movie. There was so much to it that one viewing is simply not enough. Emotionally, it was intense and sad. Spiders and ghosts and Nazguls - it was gripping. The battle scenes here really did raise the bar for any epic battles put to film in the future. And in the past - Gladiator, Ran, Saving Private Ryan - those were realistic battles, but ROTK had a greater challenge - how to make the extraordinary feel real, to put a viewer in the middle of this truly epic fantasy battle. Nothing compares to the beautiful pagentry of swords, battering rams, spears, winged beasts, and oliphants. The oliphants! They were amazing. I can't stop thinking about how great they looked. Now, to address so griping...The Faramir/Eowyn love story will be on the DVD, as will Saruman, which makes me excited already. The "multiple ending" people keep talking about: the book continues after Mount Doom, simple as that. Also, the Eye of Sauron: How else can you show a disembodied eye focusing on other events surrounding it? It was an awkward device of Tolkien's, for such a climax. It's hard to portray your main baddie WITHOUT A BODY!
Also, I'm sick of hearing fanboy griping about how much better the original Star Wars trilogy is over LOTR. It's pathetic. Simply recognize both films as achievements for their times and move on. It does nothing to lessen the sterotypical "geek" image. (Though I'd be the first to say, if pressed, that Lord of the Rings is more epic in scope, better acted by far, and features more impressive FX.)