Final part of the film trilogy based on the popular novels by J.R.R. Tolkien turned out to be one of the most successful Hollywood films of early 21st Century. Its success, reflected not only in stellar box-office, but also in ridiculous number of Academy Awards, owes much to consistency of quality with previous two films. Peter Jackson tried very hard and, for the most part succeeded, to maintain high standards of productions, special effects and acting, while delivering spectacular finale truly worthy of its epic source material. While being the most successful, The Return of the King is not the best of all The Lord of the Rings films. It mostly has to do with the Middle Earth and its characters already being defined and the lack of surprises (at least to die-hard fans who have already read Tolkien's book). The more annoying is its length and Annie Lennox's song, probably the least deserving of all to win Academy Award. However, together with previous two films, The Return of the King still deserves much of praise and represents one of the most successful series finales in recent film history.
RATING: 7/10