The most amazing thing about this cinematic journey, even more than the epic battles, is its overwhelming emotional sweep.
Comment
12/17/03
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
94
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:232
Fresh:218
Rotten:14
Average Rating:8.6/10
Consensus: A moving and satisfying conclusion to a great trilogy.
Runtime: 4 hrs 10 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
US Box Office: $376,958,965
Synopsis: THE RETURN OF THE KING, the third and final film in Peter Jackson's THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, finds Middle-earth on the cusp of great change. Weary hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean... [More]
Starring: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin
Director: Peter Jackson
Reviews for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
101 - 120 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
The movie truly is the most amazing visual spectacle ever seen on celluloid.
12/17/03
The Return of the King is the longest of the three films, but at the same time it's the most relentlessly headlong, the most eventful, the most spectacular, the richest emotionally, and most dramatically compelling.
12/17/03
To put it simply, Return of the King is perhaps the finest movie of its kind ever made.
12/17/03
Completes the picture, magnificently so, and all honour and praise are due the visionaries behind the project.
12/17/03
The film is big and beautiful, like a landmark cathedral you can read about ad nauseam in guide books but that still awes even the most jaded traveler in person.
12/17/03
A film that concludes the saga with a blissful unity and satisfaction, and sweeps us away with its nail-biting narrative flair and filmmaking verve.
12/17/03
The Lord of the Rings may sing the praises of kings and wizards, but it champions the courage, brotherhood and dignity of the common man (even if he is a Hobbit).
12/17/03
This sweeping and marvelously entertaining adventure is the work of a prodigiously gifted filmmaker operating at the very top of his creative powers.
12/17/03
Like the others, it's faithful to the spirit of the J.R.R. Tolkien text while exhibiting its own vibrant imagination.
12/17/03
The thrilling conclusion to what has become the film event of our time -- the definitive screen fantasy -- features more spellbinding moments, bigger battles, more emotion and more poetry than the terrific first two films in the trilogy.
12/17/03
It absolutely seals the promise that the first two films made -- to match one of the last century's most celebrated literary works with the first truly monumental film of this century.
12/17/03
It leaves us with precisely the same feelings of sadness and satisfaction as are evoked by J.R.R. Tolkien's original novels.
12/17/03
It's unquestionably the best movie about the battle for Middle-earth ever made, but it's far from the best film ever made.
12/17/03
Peter Jackson, you bow to no one.
12/17/03
This time around, the same jaw-dropping spectacle ... that previously was stunning is outright magnificent here, made exhilarating by the impending sense of closure.
12/17/03
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12/17/03
Every bit as extraordinary as the series' first two installments.
12/17/03
On the surface, The Return of the King has everything anyone would ask for in a fantasy adventure: larger-than-life heroes, vile villains, cool monsters and battles galore.
12/17/03
The most ambitious AND most flawed of the series.
12/17/03
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