[Director Peter Jackson] can lay claim to one of the greatest achievements in film history.
Rolling Stone January 15, 2004 Pops your eyes, excites your senses and brings you in as close as a whisper for scenes of startling emotion.
Variety December 16, 2003 Peter Jackson’s final installment in his monumental The Lord of the Rings represents that filmmaking rarity – a third part of a tri...
MovieFreak.com December 24, 2003 And if, ultimately, The Return of the King isn’t quite the thrilling conclusion we were all quite hoping for, it is still very much a ro...
Some story strands are crudely abbreviated; others fail to develop elements that were already well-established.
This is the best of the three Rings movies – more than that, it makes the others look even better.
Austin Chronicle December 21, 2003 As the capstone to one of the single greatest achievements of modern motion-picture history, The Return of the King is generally peerless.
Passionate and literate, detailed and expansive… it’s conceived with a risk-taking flair for old-fashioned movie magic at its most preci...
Times (UK) February 27, 2018 The sense of closure is exquisite, but I’m not sure I’m able to forgive Peter Jackson for the three years that he has taken to put it o...
AV Club November 19, 2013 The Return Of The King ultimately proves up to the series' increasingly difficult task: making movies that echo legends, making legends that reflec...
New Yorker January 6, 2004 As I watched this film, an eager victim of its boundless will to astound, I found my loyal memories of the book beginning to fade.
Slant Magazine December 3, 2003 More goose-pimply epic swirl and top-notch Uruk-hai smackdowns, but there’s also more of the dreamy Christian allegory that highlighted the f...
As a model for how to bring substance, authenticity and insight to the biggest of adventure yarns, this trilogy will not soon, if ever, find i...
A rich, layered tale of a king, a wizard and two little hobbits whose courage saved their world.
The thrilling conclusion to what has become the film event of our time – the definitive screen fantasy – features more spellbinding momen...
Boston.com December 16, 2003 Audiences who don’t have halberds to grind and who possess rear ends of steel and a taste for declamatory heroics will find themselves r...
Daily Telegraph December 13, 2003 For three hours and 20 minutes, Jackson has made fantasy become reality.
Globe and Mail December 17, 2003 A movie for our time, perhaps for all time, mostly a good time and definitely a long time.
Decent Films December 8, 2003 It’s hard to overstate the soaring achievement of Peter Jackson and company… this film, and this trilogy, is a gift to be treasured.
Majestic, moving and immense, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King is about as awesome as cinema gets.
King is the product of impressive craft and energy.
New York Post December 15, 2003 Towers above its predecessors with cleaner storytelling and a more satisfying balance between terrific acting and eye-popping effects.
Imbues its central conflicts with mythic timelessness.
This film is everything a fan could want and possibly more. For three-plus hours, it entertains, enthralls and awes.
ReelViews December 14, 2003 An experience of epic scope and grandeur, amazing emotional power, and relentless momentum.
ae.freep.com December 16, 2003 It not only stands as fantasy filmmaking on a peak of previously unscaled proportions, it now officially takes its place in the Great Hall of...
An insurmountable amount of extras comes second only to New Line Home Video’s stunning visual and audio transfer of Peter Jackson’s exh...
Yes, the running time is long, and yes, those many endings in a slow, dreamy coda left me feeling spent – better spent than I can ev...
Independent February 28, 2018 This atavistic Christians-vs-Moors narrative doesn’t belong in the present day, and that’s no doubt why so many people are addicted to...
Rolling Stone January 15, 2004 Pops your eyes, excites your senses and brings you in as close as a whisper for scenes of startling emotion.
New Yorker January 6, 2004 As I watched this film, an eager victim of its boundless will to astound, I found my loyal memories of the book beginning to fade.
Sure to be an Oscar contender in many categories and a breathtaking argument for director Peter Jackson winning every award there is to give...
Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn is the good king of the title, and while the actor may look fetching in a crown and cloak, he doesn’t ha...
A grand adventure with lots of fun things to look at.
No flabber has been left ungasted by Mr Jackson’s mighty battle sequences, nor no gob unsmacked.
Empire Magazine January 15, 2004 The resounding climax to a landmark in cinema history.
USA Today December 15, 2003 The jewel in the crown of the masterful trilogy.
sbs.com.au December 8, 2014 The third part of Peter Jackson’s monumental Lord Of The Rings trilogy fully lives up to its predecessors.
Newsweek December 16, 2003 The second installment was better than the first, and this one is best of all.
Austin Chronicle December 21, 2003 As the capstone to one of the single greatest achievements of modern motion-picture history, The Return of the King is generally peerless.
CNN.com December 16, 2003 Utterly breathtaking.
RogerEbert.com December 17, 2003 Return of the King is such a crowning achievement, such a visionary use of all the tools of special effects, such a pure spectacle...
