it's hard to do justice to this film.

Rating: Null/10 (20 March 2004)

As a middle aged movie goer with extremely catholic taste I sat for over three hours in an overheated cinema and did not move a muscle during Return of the King. At the end I was in tears because it dawned on me what a phenomenal achievement I had witnessed. This is the best film that I have ever watched and there have been hundreds of all genres. The ensemble cast was perfect. All so well matched and brought together coherently for this final part of the trilogy. Sean Astin was superb as Sam Wise and I am quite annoyed that he did not get an Oscar nomination for best actor in a supporting role; perhaps others too were well deserving. Not one individual overacted nor usurped the role of another. Visually the film is stunning and without getting into the techniques of CGI I doubt if we will see its like for many, many years. Peter Jackson is a master craftsman - he is also a perfectionist and throughly deserves all the accolades and praise bestowed upon him.
I am not going to be picky and criticize the minor omissions that could not be brought to the big screen from the book because in no way does it detract from the final production. I would urge people who have not seen the first 2 films to watch then in order to appreciate the enormity of the enterprise, seen in isolation ROTK would lose a little of its impact because the characters' motivations and values have been built up throughout the other two films. Films like this do a great deal of good for the industry because they create so many jobs, encourage the fee paying public to actually go to the movies and the trilogy will become part of the great history of a wonderful art form.
The awarding of 11 Oscars for every category nominated might seem to some a little over the top and I read that many people felt that it was not worthy of so much praise, to them I say this: J.R.Tolkien himself would have been proud of the dedication and care that Jackson et al put into this amazing film. I give it 10 out of 10 unreservedly.