Written by: J.R.R. Tolkien (book); Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens (screenplay)
When it comes to telling a massive story, adding up to over nine hours (or more) total, your payoff better be huge. "Return of the King" pays off for all the waiting and wandering of the characters and the audience.
All of the pieces that were set in motion in the first movie (several, several hours ago in film time) move toward their final resolution. This is no easy task, considering the long list of major and semi-major characters that have been built up. The "extended edition" I watched had even more scenes added to the climax and resolution.
As a quick side note: the "Mouth of Sauron" scene that was included in this version of the film was exactly as I imagined it when I read the book. I was originally disappointed that it did not make the final cut in the theatrical version, but is well worth watching if you can get a copy of this cut.
The biggest complain I've heard about this movie is about all the fake-out ending moments - scenes where it seems like everything is wrapped-up and done and the screen fades away, only to fade-in a few moments later with another scene. I'll admit, these scenes were not handled as well as they could have been, made more complicated by the seemingly-final transitions. As a counter-point, I'd say that if you were willing to sit through the entire series up to this point, you should understand that the film or the series is not going to end with a simple fade-out. It's an epic, and it needs resolution. We've journeyed with these characters so far, we need to find out what happens to them all, or the story will remain incomplete.
On the whole, "Return of the King" had the grandest scale of the series, giving it a greater sense of "epic" than the previous two. ("Fellowship" was more of a simple quest. "Two Towers" did not gain any real scale until the final battle sequence.) The massive battle sequence will be tough to match in future fantasy films, and should rightly be the standard to which all others are compared.
This film, and the rest of the series, are well worth watching.
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