Excellent movie from an excellent book

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2007)

The movie is all what i expect and imagine from the book, excellent effects, actors, direction, photography (is amazing!)..the music!... i have no words...
The movie has a amazing develop from the first movie, so this is the most involving, but the end, although the length is ... well..
From USA today:
"The three-part story of courage, friendship, honor and duty Â— spanning The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King, which comes to theaters tonight Â— is ideally suited to epic film-making. It is steeped in fast-paced action and grand adventure, yet still grounded in humanity Â— a rare combination among large-scale film extravaganzas.
It isn't until now that director Peter Jackson's efforts can be fully and fairly judged, notwithstanding the monumental box office success of the first two films, which have grossed $1.8 billion worldwide. As good as each individual movie is, the third film vaults the work into the stratosphere of classic movies. Key characters are enhanced, new civilizations visited and battles fought more intensely, while feelings and motivations are plumbed more deeply and movingly.
After the release of the first and second films, one wondered how the trilogy, as a nine-hour film fest, might compare with other cinematic watermarks. In its entirety, The Lord of the Rings surpasses other multi-part sagas such as Star Wars or even The Godfather. Both Star Wars and The Godfather had weak links, whole movies that didn't work as well as the best of the series. Rings maintains the same standard of excellence with each film and grows more assured with each installment. Of course, some of that escalating power is attributable to the storytelling prowess of J.R.R. Tolkien, upon whose classic novels the trilogy is based.
The books depict the odyssey of the humble hobbit Frodo, whose quest is to destroy a powerful ring that could enslave all the inhabitants of the fictional land of Middle-earth. Helping him accomplish his mission is a heroic cadre of creatures: Gandalf the wizard; Legolas the elf; Gimli the dwarf; Aragorn and Boromir, both men; and three other hobbits, Sam, Merry and Pippin. This unlikely alliance comes together in a spirit of acceptance and tolerance to fight the satanic Sauron and his devilish henchmen.
Those of us who do not consider ourselves fans of fantasy initially may have thought to dismiss the movies as far-fetched, overblown silliness. It was hard to imagine the films as relevant or transcending their genre.
But many of us have come around to another point of view: The films tell a classic story that espouses the virtues of love, hard work and compassion and decries greed, deceit and abuse of power in a mighty struggle against temptation and the corrupting forces of power. The story's message about conserving natural resources has profound significance for our times, as does the notion of taking up arms against an evil tyrant and the importance of overcoming prejudice to work toward a common goal of peace.
Ironically, these simple messages were massively complicated to pull off, requiring a budget of nearly $300 million, a crew of 26,000 extras and a production team of 2,400, which included medieval weapons designers, stone sculptors, linguists, blacksmiths and model builders. Bringing to life such a wide-ranging story with technical proficiency and visual dazzle is an unprecedented achievement, one that likely will define Jackson, much as George Lucas is forever linked to the Star Wars movies he directed.
Though the acting ensemble is strong, the movie does not belong to any one of them. While Elijah Wood capably carries off Frodo's transition from boy to man, his is not the most indelible performance.
Gollum, voiced by and physically patterned after the movements of British actor Andy Serkis, is the most realistic other-worldly character since E.T. and similarly will remain etched in moviegoers' collective memories.
Ian McKellen's Gandalf has a larger role in the third film, morphing from wizard/prophet to army general, and one cannot imagine the role played by anyone else. Viggo Mortensen's principled Aragorn is the king to whom the third film's title refers.
A key character is the landscape of Middle-earth. The movies feel mythical but look historical. In the third installment, for example, Minas Tirith, a seven-tiered city of kings, looks European, Byzantine and fantastical at the same time.
There is a bittersweet quality in the trilogy's coming to an end Â— even if The Return of the King seems ready to conclude at least three times before the movie finally comes to a rather anticlimactic close. Many moviegoers, like Jackson and the cast Â— who grew quite close during filming Â— may understand, and even appreciate, the lingering goodbye. And while scores of film goers clamor to see the final installment, no one is eager for the journey to end.
Jackson's masterpiece will no doubt have a long life on DVD and be the subject of countless revivals over the years. The director's next project is a remake of King Kong, which seems a bit like hiring Michelangelo to paint an office building. Though if anyone can make something out of that tired vehicle, Jackson can.
Should Jackson sign on to make The Hobbit, the Rings finale might feel more like a temporary "till we meet again" than a formal goodbye."