Extended version is a Masterpiece! LOTR series extended versions together vie as the best films ever made.

Rating: 10/10 (7 September 2014)

This review is of the BluRay extended version (263 minutes, not 201 minutes). The theatrical version and the extended version are 2 different films - and this applies to all 3 of the LOTR films. I saw the theatrical version twice, and felt dissatisfied. After seeing the extended version I understand why. The extended version is coherent, flows seamlessly, is genuinely moving & involving, is true to Tolkien's original, and is a complete and enthralling story. It is long, but never flags and captured my interest for every single minute. I've read Tolkien's story about 80 times since I first purchased it in 1962. Tolkien has an extraordinary ability to evoke visual images in the reader. I have very strong visual images of Tolkien's world, and I was amazed at the uncanny resemblance between my images and what Peter Jackson has produced on screen. That's a tribute to Tolkien as much as Jackson, and Jackson and his team deserve full credit for doing the impossible - making Tolkien real. There were 2 notable omissions in the series of LOTR films - 1. The Old Forest & Tom Bombadil (The Fellowship of The Ring) 2. The Scouring Of The Shire (The Return of The King). I understand why these may have been omitted. For me, the strongest visual imagery I have is of Bombadil. It also captures the real spiritual essence of why these guys are fighting to destroy the ring. The Scouring Of The Shire represents to my mind an essential counterpoint to the very first scene in The Fellowship of The Ring 'A Long Expected Party'. These 2 scenes are like bookends to the whole thing. No doubt including these scenes would have required another 60+ minutes. That said, this film and the other 2 (extended versions only) do stand as a complete and satisfying whole as they are.
I rate this film and the other 2 as masterpieces in their extended versions. The three together in extended versions must vie as the best films ever made - an extraordinary achievement.
PostScript: .IMDb should separate out reviews of the theatrical and extended versions. They are clearly different films.