The epic undertaking of filming Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy certainly got results. Peter Jackson fills the screen with not only spectacular images but with strong performances from well-cast actors. Each shot is beautifully framed and lit by DP Andrew Lesnie, and Howard Shore's music is both rousing and touching.
While Fellowship of the Ring is the most immediately memorable and structurally sound of the trilogy, don't watch it unless you plan to watch its two sequels shortly afterward, because only then can one truly appreciate Jackson's achievement. With The Two Towers, he faced the structural challenge of fitting three separate storylines with no beginnings and no ends into a digestible cinematic narrative. But he builds the tension equally through all the subplots, balancing suspense and exposition, right up to the hair-raising Battle of Helm's Deep. The Two Towers also features one of the best performances of the decade from motion-capture and voice actor Andy Serkis as Gollum. Serkis' embodiment and vocalization of the simultaneously despicable and pitiable creature is so astonishing and authentic, that we soon forget Gollum is a CG character at all.
And it was in grand fashion that Jackson capped off his marvelous fantasy trilogy, not that the first two parts weren't grand enough. Complaints about Return of the King's seemingly endless ending are legitimate, but when one stops to think about it, there was no other way Jackson could have concluded such a lengthy piece of film (it is a 10 hour movie after all). In that respect, Jackson ties up all the loose ends quite appropriately, giving all the characters the detailed endings they deserve.
