A hugely satisfying movie, but the greatest? come on

Rating: 7/10 (26 December 2003)

As a HUGE fan of the books of JRR Tolkien (IMHO some of the best pieces of literature to grace the world), I was immensely satisfied by the LotR trilogy in general as well as with the finale (Return of the King). It was a journey to Middle-Earth that lasted three years and now that's over I have to say I'm a little sad :(
However, as much as I enjoyed the trilogy, I will NOT fall into the trap of irresponsibly naming this "the greatest movie ever", as many other have done. Come on people, you truly believe that ROTK is better than Citizen kane, Casablanca or Gone with the Wind? Why is that? Cause it has awesome effects and large battles?
There was a time when I truly believed that if some brillant director (like Oliver Stone) filmed LotR and sticked to the book, making only the changes he had to while remaining TRUE to its spirit, the LotR trilogy could be in fact the greatest movies ever cause the background and story between them are simply legendary and classic. As it is however, Peter Jackson didn't avoid falling into the trap of commercialism, introducing cheesy or cheap scenes where he shouldn't. You know what I'm talking about... Legolas shieldboarding Helms Deep like a power ranger... how can a movie with an elven power ranger be the greatest? Batallions of elves showing up on Helms Deep to fight along with the Rohirrim, negating everything Tolkien had thought about the retreat of the elves and the age of men. Faramir and Theoden protrayed as weak and selfish, instead of the noble characters they were. Etc, etc.
I did enjoy all the films as much as I could, despite being a little annoyed by the liberties the director and/or scriptwriters took with the books, liberties that were at times excessive.
I think I can count the trilogy as one of my ten favourite films (since it's essentially one large film rather than three), but certainly not the GREATEST film ever made. Lets not confuse some things.