Having finished all three movies now, I can really say that this is a masterpiece. It's a timeless bit of movie history in the making. It really serves as a perfect end to an epic saga. The movie in itself is epic in dimensions, the story is multifaceted, battle scenes are staggering, the cinematography is beautiful, and the acting is superb. I'm sure if you've seen the last two movies, you'd expect as much, and this movie really doesn't disappoint. The main battle sequence makes the battle of Helm's Deep in the Two Towers look like a street fight in comparison, it's really amazing.

Embellishments aside, the movie is really good. I come from the angle of seeing the movie as someone who's read the books. It manages to stay close the story, at least as I remember it. Often a movie decides to change things for cinematic reasons, and ends up destroying the story in the process. The few elements changed are understandable in the translation to the movie, and don't really detract from the story itself. I'm not sure if it's a testament to how good Tolkien is at describing things, or if it's proof of how good Peter Jackson is at realizing a story, but the end result of this movie is pretty much exactly how I imagined things as I was reading the books. It was simply amazing to watch the book come to life, more so than any other book to movie transformation I witnessed.

Even having read the books, and knowing what exactly was coming next because the movie stayed so close to the book, I was still gripped in suspsense as the movie progressed. I think that pretty much sums up how much I enjoyed this movie. Even knowing what was coming next, even knowing what the characters would say and do, I enjoyed sitting in the theater for over three hours and watching it unfold on the screen. I look forward to watching the movie again, indeed even watching the extended edition when it comes out to the home theater. Though, I must admit, the next time I watch this movie, it had better be in a more comfortable chair.

Perhaps my only complaint with the movie is its ending. Or better said: its endings. Jackson apparently couldn't decide on a single thread to focus on, and in the final result, he shows a few different endings to the movie to wrap up the various plot lines. I suppose its part a confusion stemming from the book, but nevertheless, it is a bit odd to watch a movie with a few different endings. It reminded me of my complaint with the movie A.I., a movie that ended, and then proceeded to a poor shadow of itself, ended, and then continues to mock itself. Thankfully, the endings in this movie, while a bit abnormal, don't really distract from the movie itself.

Overall, it's a great movie that I highly recommend. Just don't drink anything before hand if you see it without a pause button handy.