<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Return of the King was an excellent ending to the trilogy. I won't even bother talking about Minas Tirith, everyone knows it ruled. But what I really liked is the extended ending, believe it or not. I know a lot of people felt it dragged, but considering that this is supposed to be the mother of all epics (it is a 10+ hour film, after all; 11 when the last extended one is released), it deserved the extra-long ending and closing out of nearly every storyline, sub-plot, and theme of the film (don't even start with Saruman, that'll be in the extended, we all knew that going in). What I especially liked was the coronation of Aragorn, how EVERYONE showed up, and how everyone paid their respects to the 4 hobbits who probably made more of an impact than anyone else, even Gandalf (well, some of them did). That was a particularly strong theme throughout the film and I thought that one scene did a wonderful job of making sure that the theme was never lost. As well, what they did with the Sam was particularly excellent. It was another one of the strong themes in the film, the undying loyalty of friendship that started with the hobbits and engulfed the Fellowship. That is, after all, probably the main reason, along with the destruction of the ring and Sauron, for Aragorn and the rest of the fellowship leading the remaining men to the Black Gate to give Frodo and Sam that one last chance. That scene at the end with Frodo waking up and having the entire Fellowship come in and greeting him strengthened that theme pretty good (it was also a pretty neat replay of the last time Frodo woke up, although I'm pretty sure this time it was in Gondor and not Rivendell). And Sam walking in as the last one, and not Aragorn, and Frodo's reaction to it just summed up main theme of the trilogy (see above). And the end with Sam and his family was a good way to end it after every other thing was finished. Just goes to show how the world is back to normal and safe again......sappy, but a great way to finish it off.
As incredible as the battle was, it would have just been incomplete had Jackson and company not done all this to tie up all the loose ends and reiterate the main themes of ths storyline. Needless to say, I was quite happy with the entire trilogy as a whole. Years ago, when Terminator 2 came out and we saw it in the theatres (when Anarky was still in diapers :-), my friends and I wondered what kind of an incredible film they could make of the LotR trilogy with these new, wonderful special effects (for those who don't know, T2 was the start of the CG revolution). And they turned out to be better than I ever thought they would. Can't wait for the extended, I'm dying to see the breaking of the staff and the Scouring of the Shire.</div>
As incredible as the battle was, it would have just been incomplete had Jackson and company not done all this to tie up all the loose ends and reiterate the main themes of ths storyline. Needless to say, I was quite happy with the entire trilogy as a whole. Years ago, when Terminator 2 came out and we saw it in the theatres (when Anarky was still in diapers :-), my friends and I wondered what kind of an incredible film they could make of the LotR trilogy with these new, wonderful special effects (for those who don't know, T2 was the start of the CG revolution). And they turned out to be better than I ever thought they would. Can't wait for the extended, I'm dying to see the breaking of the staff and the Scouring of the Shire.</div>
I was there on that fateful day, were you?
