ROTK

Having just seen the final LOTR film - The Return of the King, here are some thoughts.

Faramir got the short shift again. Get beaten, run away, get beaten again. And wtf happened to the Faramir-Eowyn story? I'm guessing he'll get a fair chunk of storyline reinserted in the Extended Edition ala The Two Towers.

White Tree of Gondor. What was the point? Another victim of timing?

Why no mention of Denethor's Palantir? You know - the thing that helped drive him crazy...

Battle of Pelenor Field = Awesome. Maximum carnage ensues.

Loved the Witch King V Eowyn/Merry show-down. Thought they nailed that perfectly. And at least Merry here wasn't as stupid as the character in failing to recognize Eowyn when she was in disguise (if you can call it thal ...).

Charge of the Rohirim = spectacular. Great demonstration of the effectiveness of cavalry v infantry.

And the returning charge of the Murmakil showed how effective they are v everything else. And was I the only one thinking of the Battle of Hoth during these scenes?

Naturally the obligatory Legolas show-off scene was a big hit. Almost drowned out Gimli's retort.

Okay, who else was piloting those ships of the Umbar Raiders? The ghosts? Must be magic ships...

And just when you thought the movie was over, there was another bit, and then another bit, and another, and another... Almost as if Peter Jackson didn't want to say goodbye.

What will be interesting now is to see where Peter Jackson goes as a director. From a little-known New Zealand splatter film director to one of the most sought after film-makers in the world who has managed to make not only commercially successful, but critically acclaimed movies.

Making movies of this magnitude can take alot of a film-maker (just look at Copolla's output following Apocalypse Now). Is this the apex of Jackson's film-making or has he still got better films in him? I guess King Kong will tell...