Return of ze king

I went and saw Return of the King yesterday with an old friend and a neighbor.

Initial response to having seen all three and having read the books numerous times and listened to the books on tape twice is that the Fellowship of the Ring is going to stand out as the best of the three after all the hype dies down and the movies are viewed as they should be. To me Fellowship holds up better because the story is simpler. Hobbit finds out ring he has can destroy the world and he sets out to destroy it, meets new friends, finds enemies while we are treated to a few kick ass fight scenes. As far as covering a story of this scope on film there are just too many story lines to cover once the fellowship breaks up.

That being said the Battle of Pelinor fields is reason enough to see the new movie. All you women out there that get all quivery inside when Legolas does something studly are in for a treat. Whoever the hell that is that plays King Theoden steals the movie with his speech to his men before they ride into thousands of orcs outside the gates of Minas Tirith. The chatting of "death" over and over gave me chills. Thank god they decided to forgoe the scouring of the shire. I couldn't take anymore misery and death. Especially when all you eventual want is for the hobbits to go home and garden.

I have also never seen a series of movies where so many men cry.

Simply stated I will watch Fellowship from start to finish with no problem but when I buy the other two DVD's I will spend most of my time jumping around to favorite scenes.