A brilliant masterpiece of modern film

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2003)

After three long years of anticipation, it was finally over. Peter Jackson's nine hour trilogy had come to it's finale, and it was spectacular.
Personally, the story needs to be emotionally compelling. FOTR was completely character driven (with the exception of a few well placed action sequences) but I felt that TTT did not deal with the character development as well as FOTR had done (Eowyn was my favourite character in the book, and I felt kind of like I had been cheated :( ). Beautiful to look at, however. The effects in both were amazing.
Now to ROTK.
It broke my heart. That doesn't sound good, but it was. This was the most emotionally heart-wrenching, tear-jerking piece of cinema I had ever seen. I couldn't watch Frodo and Sam without tearing up (if you haven't seen it yet, I won't give anything away, don't worry; but watch it with your best friend. It means so much more then). And yes, I cried. And yes, more than once. And no, I'm not the type of girl to cry, so to get me to was quite a feat, PJ ;) .
The effects were spectacular. Gollum really comes to life when you see the eviller side of him more clearly (those glares at Sam? classic), and Shelob looked FANTASTIC! i was really disappointed when they cut her out of TTT and was wondering how effective her presence would be in ROTK, but she was effective indeed (good god, arachnophobia is NOT a good thing to have while watching that scene...). Props to Viggo for being the best damn leader I've ever seen, and to Elijah. Seeing the crumble of Frodo killed me in the best possible way.
Pippin really comes into his own in this film. I loved seeing the cute little "fool of a Took" from the Shire maturing... (although I do lament for the old Pippin... :') bittersweet I guess). And props again to Viggo and Billy Boyd for singing. LOVED it.
and I'm sorry to only focus on the acting, but it's what I focus on in the film. But the effects and the scenes were beautiful (even if the harbour at the end seemed a little TOO perfect... I guess it was supposed to be... gateway to Elysian Fields in a sense, no? ;) ) even mordor was beautiful in a twisted, evil sort of way... if that makes any sense :S
anyways, decide for yourselves. I have a feeling that this will go down in history, if not as one of the best films ever made, then certainly as one of the most heart-felt and ambitious attempts ever. congratulations to all of the cast and crew, and you deserve every bit of praise you get.