But for the last half hour, I would give it a ten...

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2004)

The last 30 or 40 minutes of this film were abominable. Jackson had made so many alterations to the story throughout the trilogy that were unnecessary, that I can't believe he didn't make the necessary alteration of editing out the last two chapters of the novel. That's a bit extreme, but as a film the logical post-climax conclusion of the movie would have been the coronation of Aragorn. From here he could have had a brief montage of Shire events, then a nice visually stunning ending of Elven ships sailing away at the very end. 5 minutes, not 30.
If he was going to cut something it should have been the painfully boring ending, and
NOT
TOM
BOMBADIL
!!!!
-Other than that, best movie of the year, best trilogy ever, best fantasy film ever, best story to film adaptation ever, best use of CGI yet, great performances, etc. etc. etc.