Hooked

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2003)

After watching this movie last night, I now regret not seeing the first two movies while they were in the theatres! I have never read the books so I have no idea how true to the book the Return of the King is. Others in the theatre mentioned that there were gratuitous small changes.
Sam and Boromis are two of the characters that were mostly neglected in the previous movies and are developed massively in this last chapter of the epic: the acting and emoting were so real that I wanted to cry at times. Frodo, Aragon, et. al are wonderful as usual.
Battle scenes were, as usual, spectacular: seeming hundreds of thousands of orcs and humans clash in the most fantastic war scene I can imagine. Remember that in this battle (spoiler if you haven't read the book), the dead come to fight, as do war elephants, and giant orc-like things! These seemed so very real.
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Slight spoiler if you haven't read the book: the giant spider thing is very realistic. As an arachnaphobe, I was freaked out. On the other hand, it was shot so that I could hold my hand up and cover my eyes enough to miss seeing it but not Frodo most of the time.
Other spoiler: Remember Legolas's gorgeous horse scene and rampart surfing scene from the previous films? One of the scenes from this movie trumps even those!
Final spoiler (large): The ending, in remaining true to the novel, seems to never end...