Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) by Andy P — 01 May 2014

Despite the vast canvas upon which Jackson was painting, with truly epic battles and a world populated by orcs and elves and dwarves, at its heart his film is about people, their relationships, and the decisions they make.

Friendship and self-sacrifice figure strongly, as does a pervading sense of mortality; the final scenes make it clear that victory can be noble, and yet still come at too deep a personal cost and it is for these reasons that Return of the King, and the trilogy as a whole, is one of cinema's most beautifully moving and exciting adventures.