Every tale embarks us on a new journey, every journey eventually comes to its inevitable end. As for The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring turned out to be a genre-defining classic. The Two Towers astonishingly raised the bar to an even higher level. And even though it did seem near-impossible for The Return of the King to triumph over such towering expectations but against all odds, this final journey of Middle-Earth delivers everything & achieves much more than what was expected from it to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary saga to an epic & magnificent conclusion.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the culmination of the wonderful journey we embarked on with The Fellowship…

The end.

And with those words, Peter Jackson (you genius you) leaves me both sobbing and amazed at the utter perfection that was on display for the combined 11 hours.

I thought The Fellowship of The Ring was my favorite.

I was wrong.

The Return of the King is literally the most overindulgent and grandiose piece of cinema ever committed to celluloid. And that's not a bad thing, but a great thing. Tolkien's story is so intricately structured and detailed that to conclude the story in a couple hours would be a travesty. The Return of the King brings emotional gravitas, AWE-INSPIRING battle sequences, and pitch-perfect pacing to the table. And yes, I watched the extended edition. No matter how…

Hallelujah! The end has arrived.

Well, this marathon was fun. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes downright grueling, but mostly good fun.

I found The Return of the King to be worse than The Two Towers and about as good as The Fellowship of the Ring. It was somewhat silly in parts and astoundingly beautiful in others. And it just didn't want to end, did it?

As a whole, the trilogy is an astounding piece of work. It tells an epic story in a magnificent way, bringing JRR Tolkien's work to life with just as much love and dedication as Tolkien did in his hefty volumes. It deserves respect for its scope and ambition. And it has already become a classic.

But The…

Good will triumph.

After more than nine hours of cinema and three magnificent films, the total thematic worth of Peter Jackson's comes down to those three words: good will out. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" epically, triumphantly communicates that no matter the odds, no matter the peril, no matter the stakes, good will survive. Good will persevere. Good will triumph.

That theme may not be the key that makes this and the two preceding films in Jackson's great trilogy so effective, but it is part of the tapestry of excellence that is woven throughout the films. It is, however, the overt and subtextual thrust in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,"…

It's not as bad as The Two Towers, not as good as The Fellowship of the Ring. The pacing is awkward, the special effects are distractingly poor (hi-def is not kind to this series), the acting fades into the background. However, the battle of the Pelennor Fields has some great moments--especially the charge of the Rohirrim, which is probably my favorite moment in the trilogy. And the end (the last end, with Sam returning home) is affecting.

Peter Jackson's changes from the book go further out of control in this movie. Gimli continues to be a doofus, especially in the Paths of the Dead scene. The army of the dead really shouldn't be at Minas Tirith; that makes no sense…