The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King2003

it was a terrible mistake putting this on while i was studying mindlessly for my exams. typing this at 12:49 am rn, 6 hours before my exams. this movie man, my GOD. this, this is THE gold standard for fantasy. the storytelling is so simple but yet, so rich and detailed. the last hour of ROTK is one of the best cinematic climaxes everr, if not the best. there are some things in the trilogy that aren't faithful to the original books, but yall can't deny that the spirit of Tolkien remains entirely intact through the sheer cinematic ambition on display. while some purists might scorn the exclusion of some scenes or the significant changes to characterization, these deviations are just simply needed for a visual medium, especially for a film. a guy on reddit said, "So much of this film is nothing but two giant middle fingers raised to Tolkien’s corpse shouting, “Fuck you, old man, we can do better.”" BUT THAT BITCH COULDNT BE MORE WRONGGG TSKKKK,.,., the movies don't REPLACE the books, they act as a grand, sweeping love letter to them, nuances and all. there is love, friendship, hope, loyalty, the triumph of good over evil, sacrifice, and suffering! it teaches us to HOPE, to never give up, and that even the most 'insignificant' person can change the course of the future if they have the heart to endure. for someone that's battling their own personal battles, this feels very poignant and heartfelt. this will forever be one of my comfort films!!! i love you, lotr!