Entended disappointment

Rating: 2/10 (19 December 2003)

How can a well-made adventure like RETURN OF THE KING be
so numbingly dull?
It's hard to fault the production design and special effects -- every
inch of the widescreen palate is filled with colorful imagery. In
addition, the cast acquits itself well, even though they're stuck with
stilted and annoying faux Middle English dialog. Ultimately, the
whole thing is so stiff and scripted that it comes off as lifeless,
even as castles fall to the ground and thousands of creatures die.
Maybe its least forgiving fault is the ending. Well, it's not quite an
ending, because it never ends; it's one coda after another, and
snickers could be heard from my otherwise reverent first day
audience as the film refused to die.
A great cinematic achievement? Peter Jackson's achievement is
only technical, and I'm relieved that there aren't any more volumes
in the trilogy.