Brilliant, and yet not so brilliant...

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2004)

In short, a very, very good film which would have been the trilogy's best and have gained a 10, had not it not gone on so long. I get the feeling Peter Jackson didn't want to end the series, and so made the final film last as long as humanly possible. In the end it just gets tiring.
I really will not be watching the extended version, which may well stretch to five hours. Why couldn't they just do a Kill Bill on it?
Oh well, I don't want to try to put you off, at 7/10 it is still well worth a watch, just don't try to watch the whole trilogy at once. Not without a family-sized KFC bucket, at least.