The Dward king Thrór brought an era of prosperity for his kin under the Lonely Mountain until the arrival of the dragon Smaug. Smaug destroyed the nearby town of Dale, drove the Dwarves out of their mountain, and took their hoard of gold. Decades later in the Shire, 50-year-old Bilbo is tricked by the wizard Gandalf the Grey into hosting a dinner for Thorin, Thrór's grandson, and his company of Dwarves: Balin, Dwalin, Fíli, Kíli, Dori, Nori, Ori, Óin, Glóin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur. Gandalf's aim is to recruit Bilbo as the company's "burglar" to aid them in their quest to enter the Lonely Mountain. Bilbo is unwilling to accept at first, but has a change of heart the next day, and races to join them. Travelling onward, the company is captured by three Trolls. Bilbo stalls the Trolls from eating them until dawn, and Gandalf exposes the trolls to sunlight, turning them to stone. The company locates the Trolls' cave and finds treasure and Elven blades. Thorin and Gandalf each take an Elf-made sword, and Gandalf gives an Elven dagger to Bilbo. The wizard Radagast the Brown finds Gandalf and the company, and recounts an encounter at Dol Guldur with the Necromancer, a sorcerer who has been corrupting Greenwood with dark magic. Shortly afterwards, they are attacked by orcs. Gandalf leads the company to safety through a hidden passage to Rivendell while Radagast distracts the orcs. There, Lord Elrond discloses a hidden indication of a secret door on the company's map of the Lonely Mountain, which is visible only on Durin's Day—the first day of the Dwarves' New Year at the threshold of winter. Gandalf later meets the White Council, consisting of Elrond, Galadriel and Saruman the White. Gandalf presents a Morgul blade, a weapon of the Witch-king of Angmar that Radagast obtained from Dol Guldur, as a sign that the Necromancer is linked to an eventual return of Sauron. Saruman, however, is more concerned with the Dwarves' quest, requesting that Gandalf put an end to it. At the end of the meeting, Gandalf secretly reveals to Galadriel he had anticipated this and had the Dwarves move forward without him. The company journeys deep into the Misty Mountains, where they take refuge in a cave. The cave is actually a trap, and they are soon captured by Goblins, who take them to their leader for interrogation. Bilbo, having become separated from the Dwarves, falls into a deep crevice. When he regains his senses, he finds himself confronted by Gollum, who intends to kill and eat him!

An Unexpected Journey does right by the original The Hobbit book, and has all the key scenes from roughly the first half of the book. The movie is nicely filled with character (and world) introductions, sword and sorcery action, and most importantly: character growth. As this film echoes the plot of The Fellowship Of The Ring, it feels like a natural outgrowth of that trilogy. Gollum steals the show when he appears, but Martin Freeman truly embodies Bilbo Baggins. As this film also serves as a sequel to Dir. Jackson's Lord Of The Rings (LotR) trilogy, the film is also replete with scenes fleshing out the background and origin of certain events in the LotR series. Among the additions, I especially liked Radagast the Brown, played to perfection by Sylvester McCoy. And then there's the foreshadowing of the coming war of the ring, the return of Sauron, seeing the White Council in operation, and how there's a lot more going on in the background behind Thorin's quest—Saurman actively attempting to stop it, Azog out for Thorin's blood, and so on.

Obviously, with so many dwarfs, the production team had to focus on only a few of them and give the rest just enough for the casual viewer to differentiate between them. The team also introduces a powerful antagonist in the form of Azog, and the fuel that his story arc provides to the movie is one of the better additions to this first chapter. As Azog is present in the LotR appendixes, it's probably better to think of him as an embellished character, rather than as a wholly new addition. As I mention in one of the LotR reviews, Dir. Jackson is adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's stories to the big screen, and not slavishly reproducing them. Azog is a good example of an addition that not only makes The Hobbit's story more cinematic, it also provides a good reason to give this film a decent climax.

The only real misstep in this film is the sequence with the stone giants. It's just too much of a stretch of an imagination that no one in the company of Dwarves would escape serious injury and death with that amount of solid rock raining down around around them. The depiction in the book is far better, with the company witnessing the stone giants from a distance and playing a game of catch with giant boulders. Whether or not the giants are literally "stone", as the film depicts, is a discussion for somewhere else. An Unexpected Journey is an excellent addition to the LotR saga, and if you enjoyed the LotR trilogy, you'll definitely get a kick out of this film.

Thorin Oakenshield and his company continue to be pursued by Azog and his orc hunting party. They are ushered by Gandalf to the nearby home of Beorn, a skin-changer who can take the form of a bear, and lives alone at the edge of Mirkwood. That night, Azog is summoned to Dol Guldur by the Necromancer, who commands him to marshal his forces for war. Azog delegates the hunt for Thorin to his son Bolg. After telling the company about the dangers of Mirkwood—including the Necromancer's rise and the Wood-elves being dangerous—Beorn escorts the company to the forest's borders, where Gandalf discovers Black Speech imprinted on an old ruin. This, and a prior request by Galadriel, prompt him to investigate the tombs of the Nazgûl. He warns the company to remain on the path as he leaves them. Upon entering the forest, the company soon loses their way, and are ensnared by giant spiders. Bilbo frees the dwarves with the help of the ring that turns him invisible. Bilbo soon begins to understand the ring's dark influence after he accidentally drops it, and brutally kills a spider in order to retrieve it. The remaining spiders are killed by Wood-elves led by Tauriel and Legolas, who capture the dwarves and bring Thorin before their king, Thranduil. Thorin confronts the king about how he turned his back on the Dwarves of Erebor during Smaug's attack 60 years earlier, and is consequently imprisoned with the other dwarves. Bilbo, having avoided capture, arranges their escape via empty wine barrels that are sent downstream. They are pursued by the Wood-elves and ambushed by Bolg and his orc party, engaging in a running three-way battle down the river. The dwarves are able to escape both groups of pursuers, but Kili is wounded with a Morgul arrow. Thranduil seals off his kingdom when an orc captive reveals an evil army is amassing in the south. As he commands the main door be closed, Legolas learns that Tauriel has left to assist the dwarves. Legolas soon follows after her. Meanwhile, Gandalf and Radagast are high in the mountains and investigate the tombs of the Nazgûl, which they find to be empty. Upon learning that the nine Nazgûl have been called to Dol Guldur, Gandalf deduces that Sauron has returned and is preparing for war. The company of dwarves meet a bargeman called Bard. As the pursuing orcs are closing in, they are weaponless, and Kili's injury is poisoning him, they have to negotiate with Bard for help: namely sneaking them into Laketown! Concurrently, Gandalf enters Dol Guldur alone. As he cancels the magic that cloaks the ruins, he is attacked by Azog!

When I first saw this film, I had just reread the novel. Suffice to say, I was surprised at the additions to the first movie (a lot of which were resolved when I read the indexes at the end of Return Of The King), and the creative 'interpretations' (I'm looking at you, rock giants.) Going into this second movie, I knew a few important things, such as the novel was about halfway over, and there was an excellent opportunity coming up right away to reintroduce all of the main characters—specifically the manner in which the book reintroduces them all as they enter Beorn's house. I was flabbergasted that the movie not only misses that great opportunity, it practically neglects to introduce, develop and expand upon the dwarves at all! I sympathize that there are arguably too many to effectively juggle in a movie, and that the decision to leave some of them in Lake Town as the rest go up the Lonely Mountain is justified simply for clarity. However, I also feel that the dwarves take precedent over the secondary characters. It is those secondary characters that this movie takes the time to introduce and develop, with some of them not even being in the novel! That's not to say that those new characters are wholly unnecessary, as they do allow for a modicum of character development in the main dwarf company. Alas, by the end of the movie, the plight of the dwarves, and a lot of my sympathy for them, had been replaced with concern for the residents of Lake Town.

The other disappointment was that despite the dwarves being on a multi-month long quest, they are depicted breathlessly running everywhere in the film! I didn't like that, as instead of taking the time to develop certain scenes and the setting, they and the movie race right through them. One thing that the movie has going for it is its decent pacing, and I don't think any scene overstays its welcome. In a way, however, one wishes that certain scenes, especially near the beginning, were longer, with a bit more time spent on developing the core characters. Nevertheless, the conclusion of the movie is breathtakingly epic, and in the process, develops the interior of the Kingdom Under The Mountain; something that the book never really got around to doing. That said, I found myself mentally shouting, "they ended it there?!", when the film concludes—in part because of the cliffhanger, but also because at that point the book is pretty much finished, with only a few chapters remaining for the 144 minute-long sequel!

Bilbo and the dwarves watch from the Lonely Mountain as the dragon Smaug sets Laketown ablaze. Bard kills Smaug with the black arrow. Smaug's falling body crushes the Master of Laketown and his cronies, who were escaping on a boat with the town's gold. Bard becomes the new leader of Laketown and guides its people to refuge in the ruins of Dale—on the doorstep to the dwarves' kingdom under the mountain. Thorin, now possessing the vast treasure in the mountain, searches obsessively for the Arkenstone, which Bilbo had previously found but kept hidden. Upon hearing that Laketown survivors have fled to Dale, Thorin orders the entrance to the Lonely Mountain sealed off. Meanwhile, Galadriel, Elrond, and Saruman arrive at Dol Guldur and free Gandalf, sending him to safety with Radagast. They battle and defeat the Nazgûl and then face a formless Sauron. Galadriel banishes Sauron, and forces him into the East. Azog, marching on Erebor with Sauron's vast orc army, sends his son Bolg to Mount Gundabad to summon their second army. Thranduil and an elf army arrive in Dale to reclaim a treasure once withheld from them by Thorin's grandfather, the dwarf king Thrór. Bard asks Thorin for the share of gold previously promised to the people of Laketown, but Thorin refuses. Gandalf arrives at Dale to warn Bard and Thranduil of Azog's army, but Thranduil dismisses his warning. That night, Bilbo sneaks the Arkenstone out of the Lonely Mountain and gives it to Thranduil and Bard so that they can trade it for the promised treasures and prevent war. The next day, the combined forces of Thranduil and Bard form in front of the entrance to the Lonely Mountain. To prevent war, Bard proposes the trade and reveals that they have the Arkenstone. When Thorin angrily refuses, Bilbo admits to having given them the stone, and chides Thorin for letting greed cloud his judgment. Thorin attempts to throw Bilbo from the battlements, but is stopped by Gandalf, who convinces Thorin to let Bilbo leave peacefully. Thorin's cousin Dáin arrives with his dwarf army, and it looks like a battle of dwarves against elves and men is about to occur when Azog's army arrives. The forces of Dáin, Thranduil, and Bard immediately band together against the orcs. A second front is opened when the orcs attack Dale, forcing Bard to withdraw his forces to defend the city and the refugees within. While the battle wages outside, Dwalin and Balin attempt to talk some sense into Thorin. However, he is obsessed only with the treasure, to the point that he doesn't even recognize friend from foe, let alone that his dwarf kin are dying on the battlefield!

I was disappointed by this film. The film is mostly oriented around setting up and depicting a large battle. However, because the film overdoes that at the expense of reintroducing, let alone developing its characters, I found myself not caring about what happened to any of them. The exception is Bard, but even that ended up being a bit too saccharine and predictable for my taste. Thorin was completely unrecognizable. While the out-of-character actions are true to the novel—as he's bewitched by the gold-madness that befalls those who become King Under The Mountain—the much subtler way that it was introduced and depicted in The Desolation Of Smaug was much more effective. In short, Thorin still behaved like himself, most of the time. Once again, the other dwarves are also virtually ignored, and are only depicted as either moping around the caverns or building stone-works in inhumanly short time frames. This film was a missed opportunity to further explore the kingdom under the mountain, while also showing us sides of the dwarves that aren't necessarily present in the book.

The new bits that flesh out the greater Middle Earth saga are a mixed bunch: some are interesting, but others are more distracting then they are entertaining (where did the goats come from that Thorin used to race up the side of the mountain during the battle?) The battle between the White Council and Sauron (the Necromancer) was also, oddly, out of step with those kinds of battles in the preceding The Lord of the Rings films, where they had been presented as much as a battle of wills as a contest of physical fighting prowess. The depiction of a hectic, video game-esque sword fight between corporeal and non-corporeal opponents was jarring, and it makes the relatively slower-paced sword fights that come later all the more monotonous. Nevertheless, the highlights of the film are Smaug's all too brief appearance at the beginning, the scenes depicting the fortress at Gundabad, and Bilbo's return to the Shire at the very end. The latter sequence is, regrettably, the only time that the film truly comes alive with characterization. It was a joy to behold Hobbiton once more, Bilbo's troubles with his estranged relatives, and hear the immortal line, "put that pouf down!"

The Dark Lord Sauron forges the One Ring in Mount Doom, instilling into it a great part of his power, in order to dominate and conquer Middle-earth. An alliance of Men and Elves battles Sauron's forces in Mordor. Isildur of Gondor severs Sauron's finger and the Ring with it, vanquishing Sauron and returning him to spirit form. The Ring's influence corrupts Isildur, who instead of destroying it, takes it for himself. He is later killed by Orcs, and the Ring is lost in a river for over 2,500 years until it is found by Gollum. Over four and a half centuries later, the Ring abandons Gollum and is subsequently found by a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who is unaware of its history. Sixty years later, Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday in the Shire, reuniting with the wizard Gandalf the Grey, his friend. Bilbo departs the Shire for one last adventure, leaving his inheritance—including the Ring—to his nephew Frodo. Gandalf investigates the Ring, discovers its true nature, and learns that Gollum was captured and tortured by Sauron's Orcs, revealing two words during his interrogation: "Shire" and "Baggins"!

Gandalf returns to the Shire and warns Frodo to leave. As Frodo departs with his friend Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf rides to Isengard to meet with the wizard Saruman, but discovers his betrayal and alliance with Sauron, who has dispatched his nine undead Nazgûl servants to find Frodo. Frodo and Sam are joined by fellow hobbits Merry and Pippin, and they evade the Nazgûl before arriving in Bree, where they are meant to meet Gandalf. However, Gandalf never arrives, having been taken prisoner by Saruman. The hobbits are then aided by a Ranger named Strider, who promises to escort them to Rivendell. As they travel overland, they are closely stalked by the Nazgûl. The Elf Arwen locates and rescues them, summoning flood-waters to sweep the Nazgûl away. She then takes them to Rivendell, where they are protected by the Elves. Learning of Sarumon's betrayal from Gandalf, who escaped Isengard, and now realizing that they are facing threats from both Sauron and Saruman, Arwen's father Lord Elrond decides against keeping the Ring in Rivendell. He holds a council of Elves, Men, and Dwarves, also attended by Frodo and Gandalf, that decides that the Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. Frodo volunteers to take the Ring; accompanied by Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, and Strider—who is actually Aragorn, Isildur's heir. The Fellowship of the Ring makes for the Gap of Rohan, but discovers it is being watched by Saruman's spies. They then have to choose whether to brave the treacherous mountain pass of Caradhras, or risk the dangers that were awoken by the Dwarves when they built the Mines of Moria under the mountains. Concurrently, the ring is tempting and slowly corrupting members of the fellowship, who start to formulate their own designs on the One Ring!

While the above summarizes the overall plot of The Fellowship of the Ring, the movie—and story—is so, so much more. In many ways the film is as much about the people, places, cultures, legends and ruins as it is about the plot. Dir. Jackson largely captures and recreates the spirit of the book, if not the essence of it. While Jackson's film recreates the major story beats of the books, it is not a slavish reproduction. It is truly an adaptation, that arguably does the best one can do in adapting a 423 page novel into a 3 hour movie (almost 4 hours in the Extended Edition!) while also adding and embellishing things that are not possible in book form: music and spoken language come first to mind.

It is hard to find fault in the film. Perhaps its only weakness is its length—which is concurrently one of its greatest strengths! Nevertheless, parts of the story had to be trimmed, and due to that, the significance of certain things changes or is lessened. The prime example is the Tom Bombadil–Barrow Wights episode just before the hobbits arrive in Bree. While Bombadil would be a character that would only serve to get in the way of the film's pace and building tension, the significance of the swords the hobbits acquire is also lost (admittedly depicting their significance would also be hard to do without further disrupting the flow of the film). Just from that we can appreciate the monumental challenge that Jackson and his production team faced, and makes their film achievement all the more impressive. Arguably the best thing about the film is that Jackson gives us mere tastes of key things without overindulging and being repetitive (such as the encounter with the Balrog), while also retaining as much of J.R.R. Tolkien's rich detail as possible (such as the hand-like tips of the Watcher in the Water's tentacles), giving the film great replay value. A must see!

Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee are lost in the Emyn Muil, a crag filled area near Mordor. They discover that they are being tracked by Gollum, a former bearer of the One Ring. Capturing Gollum, Frodo takes pity and allows him to guide them, reminding Sam that they will need Gollum's help to infiltrate Mordor. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursue a band of Saruman's Uruk-hai warriors to save their companions Merry and Pippin. The Uruk-hai enter the kingdom of Rohan, and are soon ambushed by a group of Rohirrim, horse riders from Rohan, allowing Merry and Pippin to escape into Fangorn Forest. Gollum leads Frodo and Sam out if the Emyn Muil and into the Dead Marshes. While they are making the treacherous journey through them, a Nazgûl flies overhead. Responding to the hobbits' surprise that they are still alive, Gollum tells them that they can't be killed. Meeting Aragorn's group, the Rohirrim's leader Éomer explains that he and his men have been exiled by Rohan's king, Théoden, who is under the control of Saruman and his servant Gríma Wormtongue. Éomer believes Merry and Pippin were killed during the raid, and leaves the group two horses. In Fangorn, Aragorn's group encounters Gandalf, who after his fight against the Balrog was resurrected as Gandalf the White in order to help save Middle-earth. Gandalf leads the trio to Rohan's capital, Edoras, where Gandalf frees Théoden from Saruman's control. Aragorn stops Théoden from executing Wormtongue, who flees. Gollum leads Frodo and Sam out of the Dead Marshes and up to the Black Gate of Mordor. Learning of their plan to enter Mordor through it, he pleas with them not to enter, and tells them that there is another—far less dangerous—way into Mordor. Frodo and Sam relent, and Gollum leads them through the foothills of the Mountains of Shadow toward Cirith Ungol, a secret path through the mountains. In Fangorn, Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard, an Ent. Convincing Treebeard that they are allies, the hobbits are brought to an Ent Council, where the Ents begin debating whether or not they will take part in the coming war. Learning of Saruman's plans to destroy Rohan with his Uruk-hai army, Théoden evacuates his citizens to the fortress of the Hornburg in Helm's Deep. Gandalf departs to fined Éomer and his followers, hoping they will fight for their restored king. Midway to Helm's Deep, the refugees are attacked by Saruman's Warg-riding Orcs! Nearing the entrance to Cirith Ungol, Frodo and Sam are captured by Rangers of Ithilien, led by Faramir, younger brother of the late Boromir. Learning of the One Ring, Faramir decides to take his captives to Gondor to bring the Ring to his father Denethor. Frodo tries to explain the true nature of the Ring and why it must be destroyed. However, Faramir is distracted as they enter Osgiliath, which is besieged by Sauron's orcs, led by a Nazgûl!

While the heroes cover far less ground than they did in The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers is all the more epic in breadth and scale. Part of this is due to splitting the fellowship into multiple groups, each with a unique quest. The genius of Dir. Jackson and writers Walsh, Boyens, and Sinclair is that not only do they give each group something to do—arguably an element lacking in the original book—they also restructure the books so that the movie depicts each group's actions progressing concurrently. Just like The Fellowship of the Ring, this film is not a slavish reproduction of the novels, but an adaptation for the silver screen. And due to that, we get such great additions as giving certain characters more agency, emphasizing the corruptive power of the One Ring, and getting a greater sense of how interwoven things are. For example, in the extended version, we not only get to see the tone of Faramir and Boromir's relationship, but also how Denethor treats each one and his reasons for tasking Boromir with attending the Council of Elrond as Gondor's representative.

The only real flaw in the film is the depiction of the telepathic conversation between Elrond and Galadriel. It is confusingly presented, as it doesn't clearly depict where they are in relationship to each other; not to mention falling hot on the heals of a flashback depicting a conversation between Aragorn and Arwen just before the fellowship left Rivendell. Speaking of Arwen, it is a shame that the character was sidelined for most of this film. The few scenes that she gets, though, are poignant, as she grapples with the choice of leaving—and remaining immortal—or staying, and eventually losing her love Aragorn to old age and being condemned to slowly fade away as she lives out her long life in solitary grief. Nevertheless, it is an understandable compromise, as the 179 minute film is already fully loaded with excellent characters and sequences. The film never gets boring nor does it overstay its welcome, in other words. It is the middle chapter with less of a focus on Frodo and Sam, but in a way, that is exactly what's in the novel: the hobbits attempting to stealthily enter Mordor, while their fellowship companions undertake more visible deeds that ultimately serve to distract Sauron and his allies from the hobbits. A must see!

Gandalf leads Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and King Théoden to Isengard, where they reunite with Merry and Pippin. Gandalf retrieves Saruman's palantír—a kind of crystal ball used for communication—and the group returns to Edoras to celebrate their victory at Helm's Deep. That night, Pippin sneaks a look into the palantír, and sees Sauron and a burning tree. Gandalf deduces that the enemy plans to attack Minas Turith, Gondor's capital. He takes Pippin and rides there to warn Gondor's steward Denethor of the impending attack. Denethor greets them coldly, and demands that Gandalf explain the death of his son, Boromir. While explaining, Pippin swears fealty to Denethor, as Boromir had saved his life. Gandalf's pleas that Denethor light the beacon to call for help from Gondor fall on deaf ears. Frodo, who carries the Ring, and Sam continue their journey towards Mordor, unaware that their guide Gollum plans to betray them and take the Ring for himself. Passing by the Nazgûl stronghold Minas Morgul, they witness the Witch-king of Angmar setting off towards Gondor with his army of orcs. On the way up the steep stairs to the pass of Cirith Ungol, Gollum conspires to frame Sam for eating all their food and desiring the Ring. Influenced by the growing power of the Ring, Frodo is taken in by the deception, and orders Sam to go home. Gollum then tricks Frodo into venturing into the lair of the giant spider Shelob, planning to take the Ring once she's finished Frodo. As Théoden gathers his army, Elrond tells Aragorn that Arwen is dying, having refused to leave Middle-earth. Elrond gives Aragorn Andúril, reforged from the shards of King Elendil's sword Narsil, and urges him to claim Gondor's throne, to which he is heir. Elrond also tasks him with separating from Théoden's forces and travelling the Paths of the Dead to raise the Army of the Dead. He needs to in order to attack the fleet of enemy Corsairs that are sailing up the Anduin River to join with Sauron's forces as they attack Minas Turith. Aragorn is joined by Legolas and Gimli. Gimli in particular is fearful of taking the path as none who do ever return. As Théoden's forces move out, Sauron's forces begin their siege of Minas Turith. Having been deceived by Sauron via the palantír, Denethor has all but given up. It is left to Gandalf to rally the city's defenders. However, Minas Turith is being attacked not only by hordes of orcs and ogres on the ground, but by winged "fell beast" riding Nazgûl in the air!

The Return of the King deftly continues telling the divergent stories of the protagonists and shows how—even though they are separated by vast distances and not fully aware of what their comrades are doing—they are intimately linked together as each of their actions influences and affects the obstacles and challenges that their comrades face. The film is, on the whole, more 'action' than 'character'. That's not to say that it doesn't have lots of wonderful character moments, but they are mainly limited to the hobbits. The film is dominated by the stupendously large-scale siege on Minas Tiruth in the middle stretch of the film. It is a marvellous spectacle to behold. The sequence, however, ends somewhat abruptly with the appearance of the Army of the Dead. Nevertheless, the film immediately takes a poignant turn as we see the heroes dealing with and coming to terms with their losses and injuries.

The main drawback is that there is not enough sequences with Arwen. She gets a powerful scene in the early part of the film that gives her a glimpse of her fate on Middle-earth being more than just death and loneliness, which ultimate drives her decision to stay and become mortal. The film, however, soon forgets about her as it focuses on the external and internal battles of the heroes in their respective quests to not be overwhelmed by Sauron's forces as they attempt to destroy the ring. While Dir. Jackson already covered it in the earlier films, one or two more scenes on Arwen and Aragorn's relationship with her would have been a good opportunity to remind the audience of Aragorn's hesitancy at claiming Gondor's throne. Nevertheless, we get the wonderful depiction of Éowyn and Pippin not only travelling to Théoden's rendezvous point, but also continuing with the warriors and ultimately fighting on the battlefield in front of Minas Turith. What is most remarkable about these sequences is not just their willingness to risk their lives to help their friends and loved ones, but also their growing comradeship and how they continually help each other—right up to their climactic encounter with the Witch-king!

The film's final battle at the gates of Mordor isn't so much about the combined forces of the men of the West versus Sauron's armies, but of Frodo—who by now is consumed by the Ring and refuses to throw it into the fires of Mount Doom—and Gollum, as they wrestle for control of the Ring. That battle and the subsequent scenes depicting the ramifications of its outcome truly make this film series epic. Thereafter, the film goes through multiple endings as we see the heroes part ways, get on with their lives back in Hobbiton, and eventually some of them leaving with the elves for the Undying Lands. Would it have been better to have broken those endings up with the brief battle described in the Scouring of the Shire, the penultimate chapter of the book? Or would that have been even more anticlimactic and distressing, as that chapter depicts a Shire spoiled by industrialization and full of pollution. Is Dir. Jackson's version better with the hobbits returning to an unspoiled home that they have successfully protected? Or would seeing them able to stand on their own without relying on wizards or men to fight for them have been better? One suspects that the former is better, as Jackson has depicted their moral fortitude and newfound strengths so well throughout his masterpiece. While a few have said that the multiple endings outstay their welcome, the film is a masterpiece.