Rating: 
Summary: wow
Review: This is the first time I've sat still for 3 1/2 hours and not wanted a movie to end. Admittedly I'm a long time Tolkien fan, so my opinion is biased. The only weakness in this film is that unless you are a Tolkien fan, the motivation for what happens in a few cases is not absolutely clear. In the book we know Denethor was mildly telepathic and had peered into his seeing stone, thus being overcome with despair and driven to madness by Sauron. So as a result in the movie he comes across in a much less sympathetic light. In the book we know that the army of the dead not only betrayed the Numenorian men in the past, they actually served Sauron. Also, I believe it was Arwen who sewed the King's magical banner which forced them to follow. And the final battle sequence which I won't spoil, never unfolded that way in the book... These are just minor quibbles, though. The movie more than carries the spirit of story, fitting a vast amount of material into its limited duration. Bring the kleenix and settle in for an exciting 3+ hours. It's well worth the price of admission.
Rating:
Summary: Return of the King is a MUST-SEE!
Review: Ok, to the anonymous Customer from NYC: sorry you didn't like the plot turns but THAT'S HOW TOLKIEN WROTE IT!!!!!!!!! Also, too bad you didn't care for Eowyn; she was a major k-a warrior in this installment... brilliant feminist fun! Won't give any plot points away, yes there are a few changes here and there (mostly side developments that were left out, and the ending was, umm, abridged) but on the whole it stayed amazingly true to the book and was a joy to watch from start to finish. If you love the books and/or the other film installments, you will absolutely LOVE this movie! (Note to teenyboppers: if you're planning on watching this for Orlando Bloom, you might be a little disappointed, he features very little in this.) Peter Jackson, you're a genius!
Rating:
Summary: Floored me
Review: Unlike some people here, i was a fan of the books since childhood. They were my treasure, my obsession, my madness, my sanctuary. when i first heard that they were to be made into movies, i was furious, certain that they wouldn't get it right. I liked the first movie very much, except for the ending (everyone abandoning frodo, that was -so- wrong, it was out of character) the second movie, while it still had many worthwhile things about it, and was a fair sight better than most movies, incensed me, i found it against the spirit of the books. But this... Absolutely the best out of the trilogy, i actually had no complaints, which for me is a first. It is heartrending and beautiful, and those who say otherwise (too long, too mushy, didn't understand, etc) have the hearts of orcs. It saddens me to see these people, bereft of human compassion or the most simple virtues. This isn't Bond, this is something with meaning and depth, get that through your heads. I could easily dissect this movie, telling in great length why it was so perfect. But you should have the joy of seeing for yourselves. If this movie leaves you nonplussed and unaffected, it is not the fault of the film, but rather something lacking in the viewer. The Return of the King is like a note that finds stronger resonance in a deeper receptacle. There are worlds and worlds of beauty here for those who care to look.
Rating:
Summary: The best ending triology of all time.
Review: The Return of the King is simply a fantastic journey back through time courtesy of Mr. Tolken. The battles are epic on paper and the movie does them no shame. There are a few parts of the movie that do sway from the book and the ending is totally different than the book. The ending is justified I do believe in this case though and I'm sure everyone will have a difference of opinion on this. A must see and an easy motion picture awards sweeper if there ever was one. Bravo Mr. Jackson for a job well done, bravo!
Rating:
Summary: PETER JACKSON IS GOD!!!
Review: Bravo!!! Un-freaking-believable!! Went to the 12:01am premiere lastnight. Probably the greatest movie I have ever seen in my entire life, so tense at moments, so emotional at moments and... (don't read on if you haven't seen it) oh so wonderful to see the shire once again. This is not the end... although I fear it will be a long while, Peter Jackson will pickup where he left off, with Christopher Tolkiens books, as he did his father.
Rating:
Summary: Flawless, Beautiful, Breathtaking & Intense
Review: There is not one scene in this movie where there isn't a valid reason to cry. This movie is a landmark of the movies, and this trilogy is a testament to the will to survive and surviving against impossible odds. No one could've made a better live action film adaptation of these incredible books than Peter Jackson. And no one could possibly improve on this movie -it is utterly breathtaking and flawless. It is beautiful, it is dark, it is intense, and there are uncountable moments that absolutely astonish you. If you do not like this movie, than you do not know what good filmmaking is, or you are hopelessy cynical and I pity you. This movie is magic, it's movie magic, and every frame is wonderful and sweeping and I'm not sure how anyone could not like this movie. Even if you're not a fan, you haven't read the books, and you haven't seen either of the two movies, the sheer visual spectacle can't help but amaze you. This movie deserves every tiny bit of praise it's getting, and will get, and If you don't go to see this movie, you are missing out on the film of this century, of this milennium, of all time.
Rating:
Summary: TO SAY GOODBYE IS TO DIE A LITTLE
Review: McKellen seemed to be hinting on a recent television appearance that we are not saying goodbye to our hobbits and their friend Mr Jackson. If I heard him aright we may yet expect The Hobbit and maybe more than that. What I am referring to is the end of the film which is a restrained tear-jerker as Frodo, Bilbo aged eleventy-five, Gandalf and the rest of them set off from the Grey Havens. The wind-up, post the downfall of Sauron, is kept commendably short. The events of the Field of Cormallen in the book seemed to me interminable, but Jackson avoids this. This is basically an action-and-effects movie, really just as Independence Day and the Indiana Jones films were that, and I commend it for both.
Newcomers to the story, supposing there still are any, are given a quick enacted synopsis of how the ring was first found and how it got into the hands of Smeagol while he was still a regular hobbit. The action then takes up from where The Two Towers left off, with Treebeard and the ents left restoring the ruined surroundings of Isengard as an arboreal environment It was nice to see him again for a moment before the divided Fellowship moves on to the defence of MinasTirith and Osgiliath on the one hand, and the ascent of the stairs of Cirith Ungol and the encounter with Shelob on the other. The battle scenes seemed to me every bit as good as in The Two Towers, indeed better because this time we have the army of the dead on top of the already familiar orcs, trolls,oliphaunts and nazgul. Shelob is brilliantly done, the part of Denethor Steward of Gondor almost amounts to a piece of acting, the various towers are beautifully designed and differentiated, and of course nature herself has made rather a distinguished contribution by way of background, served by the superb camera work that we have now come to take for granted. McKellen lends the casting a much-needed touch of distinction as before, and the rest of the cast need no more comment by this stage. Those who like vertiginous effects, as I do, will get a feast of them this time, and if I have one minor disappointment it is that the wrathful but impotent giant relic of Sauron could have been more impressively done simply by following the description in the book. I tried to see whether Sam's hobbit-wife Rosie had hairy feet like the males of the species but was unable to determine this one way or the other. It's unlikely that anyone reading this review will not have seen the previous two episodes, and even more unlikely that anyone who does not like the story will be reading it anyway. For any and all others, it will live up to your expectations. There is a real touch of directorial brilliance in the final tussle between Frodo and Gollum in the Cracks of Doom, and I shall not spoil that for you.
Rating: 
Summary: This film will leave you wanting Mordor!
Review: I have to say. Like many viewers are eluding to...it was very good and nail biting until...THE END!! Oh my god did that suck. I mean through the whole movie you're on the edge of your seat wondering who is going to die - what happens to Frodo at the end - who was Eomer weeping over in the trailer (I, personally, was hoping it was Eowyn - she is a totally useless character in the movies) etc etc. So here's several reasons why it didn't work as well as it might have. First - you know how Episode 1 (and 2) came out and us true Star Wars fans were like "whoa cool, here it comes" and then it was way over done visually and under acted? Well, there was part of that in the Return of the King. The acting was excellent but, first, two to four new types of species were shown (yet not introduced) in middle earth that were "mad-max" meets "episode 1", for example the squishy faced Orc that suddenly runs things and leads the attack on Osgilliath and Minas Tirith. Who is he? Why is he being highlighted and then not explained? What happened to the Uruk Kai (were they all killed off by the trees at the end of the Two Towers?- can't breed anymore after the Ents trashed Isengard?.. Ok this is possible I guess) So there's the squishy face Orc. Then there is the hell raiser/mad max dude that's leading the Oliphant soldiers.. they make this big deal of him getting killed when it's like.. so? Who was he except just another dark servant of Sauron? Then there was the people that came off the boats at Osgilliath.. is this some new army? Were are they from the city of the dead, or mordor or what? Who knows. So that's that part. So you're biting your nails most of the movie cuz you figure someone's gonna die and it's going to be bad... (if you haven't read all the books - which I have not) you're thinking does Frodo die? Does Sam? Does Eowyn (I wish) Does Arwen? Will Frodo make it to Mt. Doom - will he survive it. What happens to Gollum....etc. And thru most of the movie Jackson keeps this suspense in full force. And then things start to change, just when everything looks really bad and Minas Tirith is overrun and Frodo is near death etc.. some heroic thing happens. I mean it's cool if it happens once on a few important occassions but not EVERY freakin time - you just start to expect it... ok Minas Tirith is almost taken..here comes Aragorn with the dead army dudes, Frodo is almost dead, ok here comes Sam to rescue him, Ok Faramir is about to be burned, here comes Gandlaf to save the day, ok Aragorn is about to be killed...etc..etc. And let's talk about the "return" of the king (Aragorn) They made this big to do about Aragorn having to go and "become who he was born to be" (the king) and all he does is go into the mountain (and not even alone) and talk some dead dudes into fighting and honoring their pledge to the Nemenor line of Kings, and that's it...boom alls well, we win the war and he is king. I just didn't buy it I guess. You get sick of Frodo nearly dying every 5 seconds and of Aragorn and Gandalf saving everyone, everytime. I was hugely disappointed with the Return of the King. It gets soooooo mushy and the end goes on forever!!! And it gets mushier and mushier. Then at the end Frodo and Gandalf and Galadriel and Elrond go to the "undying lands" on this boat which I guess means they elect to die but you're not really sure what it means!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic movie!!
Review: I have been hearing for months that "The Return of the King" was supposed to just blow away its two predecessors. Unfortunately, this is not true. The only thing more impressive was the battle at Minis Tirrith (as opposed to Helm's Deep). Other than the enormous undertaking of this fantastic battle, there is nothing more fantastic about this movie. Which does not make this movie bad. This movie is truly wonderful and a fantastic ending to this epic trilogy. My only complaint is this... the last half an hour was very, very slow. Of all the things they COULD cut out of the book, they could have reduced the amount of time it took to wrap up the story. At the theater, movie goers were literally moaning, asking, "What, another scene!!", and even a few just stood up and left. But BRAVO to the special effects and a great story. Thank goodness it did not divert from the original story as The Two Towers. I truly loved this movie and will be back to watch it over and over again!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: THE ELVISH HAVE LEFT THE BUILDING
Review: First off, this IS a GREAT Movie, a terrific cinematic accomplishment that even in this truncated theatre release (the extended, better film will be out for next holiday's shopping) will leave you breathless, wonderstruck and amazed. Jackson did a great job in a lot of the details. The actors were really convincing all the way through, the cinematography awe-inspiring and the effects set altogether new standards. Howard Shore's score is beautiful, one of the best for any movie ever.
However, did the finale here really get Tolkien's point. Well, kinda. In the clutch, what holds this back from 5 stars and what ultimately settles the quality of the series is that Jackson seems caught in the crosshairs of the effects of geeky computerism, and the affectations of Ranaissance Faire speech patterns. Tolkien did not write that way. Who would have guessed that a Kiwi would have been time warped and trapped by the images of an Anglo-Saxony that never was, and lives only in places like Reading, Pa? What happens repeatedly throughout this film is that High Pronouncements are uttered to telegraph major upheavals in emotional and ethical terrain. It is an act of extraordinary hubris by Boyens and Walsh to think they could have written better development and dialogue than Tolkien. Tolkien was after the question of why there was evil in the world (especially in the context of 2 world wars) and what happened to the innocent when they had to come to terms with it. The Philosophical and Ethical issues were also tied in with the dilemmas confronting environments of all sorts: inspite of Jackson's Disney-fication of the Ents, in his own way Tolkien was posing Heidegger's question concerning technology, which at the time, and perhaps even more so in this age of "smart bombs" and stupid presidents, was made manifest in the fascist directive to conquer the natural as well as the political world. In the course of the books, tragedy drives the drama and the metaphysics, real tragedy. In the scope of Tolkien's tremendous gifts, it was his unique power to make fantastical creatures convey on a very human level the dilemmas that their world crises were presenting. That's not really what comes across in the films, although they are in fact really entertaining movies.
The end of the books deal with death and the prospect of the spiritual tradition of an afterlife that was central to Scandinavian and Christian cultures. Metaphorically it was a sort of reward for the sacrifice innocence made for blood it spilled in coming to terms with the knowledge of evil. In the film, it is quite sentimental, and you'd be hardened bugger not to get misty-eyed.
For my part, a little less special effects and a bit more of the grist of the story would have made it a categorical triumph. It is, for all my quibbling, an astounding achievement. Truth is, I'll watch this film over and over, especially when the real version comes out next November, gleaning ever morsel I can out of it.
Best Actor? McKellan. Best supporting actor? Any Serkis (there would be nothing to the computer stuff if Serkis had not gotten it perfect). Best movie? Clint Eastwood's MYSTIC RIVER. By a very long shot, it got all the points right.
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