Great Movie, But Will Not Be On Any "Top Movie" Lists in the Future

Rating: 8/10 (16 June 2003)

The Fellowship has been broken. Boromir (Sean Bean) is dead, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) have gone to Mordor alone to destroy the One Ring, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) have been captured by the Uruk-hai, and Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) have made friends of the Rohan, a race of humans that are in the path of the upcoming war, led by its aging king, Théoden (Bernard Hill). The two towers between Mordor and Isengard, Barad-dúr and Orthanc, have united in their lust for destruction. The corrupt wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee), under the power of the Dark Lord Sauron, and his slimy assistant, Gríma Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), have created a grand Uruk-hai army bent on the destruction of Man and Middle-earth. The rebellion against Sauron is building up and will be led by Gandalf the White (Sir Ian McKellen), who was thought to be dead after the Balrog captured him. One of the Ring's original bearers, the creature Gollum (Andy Serkis), has tracked Frodo and Sam down in search of his 'precious', but is captured by the Hobbits and used as a way to lead them to Mt. Doom. The War of the Ring has now begun...
The above is the plot in a nutshell. This 3-hour (3.7 for the Extended version) movie has gone beyond the imaginable. Trees that talk and pick up humans, to this Gollum character who's downright annoying. What is in store for the Return of the King?
Don't misunderstand me, I liked the film, and after seeing the original I was anxious to see this one, as I had heard that it would be coming out in the upcoming months. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. well that would be a like. I enjoyed the movie as a whole, but it was way too long. I will definitely see Return of the King in the theater next year but SOMEONE TELL PETER JACKSON TO INCLUDE AN INTERMISSION!
While the movie is very visually impressive, I believe that the film is not up to the hype that it was given. I should have known however that it was LOTR worshipers who gave it 26269 ratings of 10. Did it disserve a best picture award? It absolutely did not. I was glad that it got the special effects Oscar, however. But nonetheless, I was able to hold my urine for to hours, for I was intrigued to find out what happened in the end.

The Battle of Helms Deep was probably one of the best battle scenes done since Braveheart and I thought it was an excellent adaptation of Tokien. However, it lingered for too long. I think Tokien would have liked these movies, but disliked at how bored you sometimes you get sitting in the chair.
This movie was very good. However, the American Film Institute need not revise its 100 greatest movies of all time for Fellowship or Two Towers. Like many series films, I thought that the first film, The Fellowship, was far superior.
MPAA Rating: PG 13
My Rating: 12 and up for epic battle sequences and scary images
My * Rating 8.8