Wonderful movie!

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2003)

TTT had a different feel than FOTR. Gone was the magic which accompanied the first movie. Yet, TTT was just as good in its own way. Of course, the movie didn't adhere strictly to the book, but that wasn't a concern for me. What was a concern was the quality of the movie itself. It didn't disappoint me in the least.
*** Spoilers *** Among my favorate parts were Gandalf's battle with the Balrog at the beginning, Gollum's appearance (who could forget him?), the king's transformation when Gandalf expelled the "curse" on him, the look of disbelief on Wormtongue's face when he found out how massive the army was that Suraman intended to launch against the people at Helm's Deep to exterminate them, the Battle at Helm's Deep, the ents' reactions then they saw the cut-down trees at Isengard, the ents' wasting of Isengard...I could go on and on.
Of course, there were flaws which kept this from being a perfect movie, but what movie has ever been perfect?
I consider this, along with the first movie, by far he best I have ever seen in the fantasy genre. Maybe not the best of all time, but very good. Peter Jackson deserves a lot of kudos for creating these movies from what was once considered an unfilmable story.
There's a lot to pack into the final movie, as the second movie ended at a point before the second book did. Perhaps the regulators won't allow the final movie to go beyond the length of the previous two. In view of that, PJ and New Line Cinema might benefit by breaking the final movie into two parts, each two hours or so long, in order to get everything in so as to not to rush the final part of the trilogy. One could be shown near the end of 2003, the other near the end of 2004. But, as that's unlikely to happen, I'll just wait a year in anticipation for the final movie, which should complete the trilogy. If the final movie as as good as the previous two, it will likely be the top or among the top trilogies ever to be put on film. Certainly the most popular.