A film of the unfilmable

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2003)

As a big fan of the book and a major critic of the compromises Peter Jackson et al. made in The Two Towers they still need to be commended for completing a film of one of the hardest books ever to imagine filming.
This is definitely a film of it's time, the first close up shot in ROTK of Gollum is flawless, a full screen of Gollum's face and you can see skin texture and every detail you would see from a real actor.
The changes made from the book to the film in this case (and Fellowship) are very much in the spirit of Tolkien as is the ending of the film that manages to preserve the mythology of the books without (hopefully) confusing those who have not read them.
10/10 for the film and 10/10 for the trilogy, hopefully the Oscars will follow and not be too concerned that this came from New Zealand and not Hollywood.