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Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2003)

I was one of the few thousand dorks that was lucky enough to attend the "Trilogy Tuesday" screenings yesterday where they showed the first two in their extended format followed by the national debut of the third. I went into the finale knowing that Return of the King had much to live up to. The first two are cemented pieces of film history. Does the third installment live up to the expectations? I would say for the most yes.

There were definitely some issues that I had with it. The post-coronation scenes in the Shire and beyond were too drawn out. I'm not sure if my feelings around that are genuine or just because I had sat through nearly twelve hours of Lord of the Rings, but never the less last night I felt like the ending could have been shortened. My other problem with it was I felt the battle sequences at the end were too broad and left little room for small, detailed character moments minus the women's rights moment of course.

As for positives, the part that I loved the most and still gives me chills to this moment was the way Gollum was brought up from being the third wheel to the prominent villain. Absolutely fantastic. Jackson made some great directorial decisions about how to make him such a creep, and just plain nuts. Kudos to him for that. One other thing I noticed was nearing the end I really discovered how much I cared for these characters, some of whom were introduced only in the second movie. I shared every emotion with them and that is not a common event these days when referring to the movies.

My final thought is about a statement I heard before this movie came out about who really shined in the three films. I heard that Fellowship was Gandalf's movie, which I agree with. The Two Towers was Gollum's movie which I definitely agree with. The Return of the King was supposed to be Aragorn's movie... I disagree. This was Sam's movie. Out of all of the characters that shined in this movie (and they all did, cameo or not) Sam was the true star, he overcame so many obstacles and personal defeats in the film that it made him one of the true heroes. Overall I think it has elements to be the best in the series, but until I see again with a fresh mind (as opposed to seeing the previous two immediately beforehand) I have to give the trophy to the Two Towers.