Breathtaking

Rating: 10/10 (25 July 2005)

This movie is phenomenal. The depth and substance that is conveyed in this film immerses you so deep into Middle-Earth, both visually and emotionally, that the viewer cannot help but feel some sense of attachment to this place, as if it had once truly existed.
The most genius moment of the entire trilogy of movies is the scene "The Finding of the Ring." Played out as a sort of prologue to The Return of the King, it's a bold move on Peter Jackson's part that he should start his 3rd movie by telling back-story, rather than re-hashing what has already been established in the previous films. It shows not only Jackson's confidence in the continuity of his story and the substance of the character of Sméagol/Gollum, but it also shows his confidence that the audience will allow him liberties with the structure of the plot, that a flashback doesn't necessarily have to be placed into context before it appears to be fully comprehended.
One production element of these three movies that makes Middle-Earth seem so tangible is Peter Jackson's apprehension towards using CGI models except where truly necessary. Scale models and half-sets were used in places where most director would simply shoot 100% computer generated sets with bluescreens. And while it doesn't afford the technicians the absolute freedom and ease that a complete virtual world provides, the time and effort spent doing miniatures is rewarded ten-fold on screen. I know it's cliché, but if you compare LOTR to Star Wars in terms of how special effects were shot, you can see that 100% CGI shots would have likely ruined the enchantment of the films: The original Star Wars trilogy was shot using miniatures for effects shots as there were no rendering computers in existence during its production. And while computers would have been nice to smooth over some of the bluescreening and stop-action issues, in the end everything appears very fluid, organic, and real. But once the pre-quils were shot, the technology was there to do almost all effects production on computers. However, Lucas continually abuses the technology and the effects ultimately convey very rigid lighting against only semi-realistic elements and ultimately the visuals subtract from the story because they stand out so substantially. LOTR's effects blend seamlessly into all the other elements of the movie because they don't scream "fake" like Lucas's, but rather whisper "this is no less real than your mind will make it." Miniatures and partial sets may seem like a step backward in terms of technology, cost, and time, but it can be argued that this was one of the many decisions that ultimately gave the films their pristine artistic quality.
This is only a segment of a much larger essay that I wrote in the process of writing this review. There is so much more to say about this movie and it's predecessors that could never fit in this context. Just trust me when I say that this is the most impressive, memorable, and ultimately rewarding movies that I've seen.