Simply the best

Rating: 10/10 (16 December 2003)

I first read LOTR in 1975. At the time (and after subsequent readings) my one disappointment was that there was no way anyone could possibly do justice to such a fantastic literary work on the big screen. 28 years on and it is such a wonderful feeling to have been proven wrong.
I was priviledged to attend the world premier in Wellington, and feel it isn't really within my ability to express in words how truly great ROTK is - suffice to say this film benchmarks "epic" for the next decade and will be the yardstick by which all others of this scale are measured.
Whether you are a long standing Tolkien fan, or a recent convert with the release of the previous two episodes, this film will not disappoint - on the contrary, it will take you to places few other (if any) films have. Peter Jackson and his crew have remained faithful to the storyline (probably more so than with the original releases of FOTR and TTT) and I would implore that the malcontent who are critical of the omissions set aside their misgivings to make the viewing of this film as enjoyable for themselves as it most assuredly will be for the vast majority. There is always the extended version to look forward to for the hardcore Tolkienites.
I only hope for their sakes that when the Oscars come around the Academy members reward Jackson the outsider and his team appropriately for one of the greatest productions in cinema history - failure to do so would leave the voters appearing ridiculous, and the awards ceremony itself an irrelevant sham.