Some movies you need to see a second time to pick up on subtle nuances or underlying themes you missed. In the case of The Return Of The King, a second viewing will be necessary just to take in what's on the surface. This is a movie that is so massive and overwhelming that, when it was over, I felt like I needed to take a nap.

Well, that was part of what I felt; the other sensation I experienced was an expected but nonetheless affecting melancholy. The film does not end on an unhappy note, but the point is that it does end at all. As the credits rolled and the lights came up, I found it a hard to grasp that this trilogy was complete. Peter Jackson and his cast and crew (for they should all be credited together) have created a series of films that have become almost instant legends, and deservedly so. Just as technical achievements, they stand alone. Dramatically, thematically -- it's pretty hard to make fair comparisons there as well.

This film is about three and a half hours long. It feels longer because so much happens, and I wish it actually had been. Having seen the extende versions of both of its predecessors, I'm certain that there are many excised scenes that further define the characters and Middle Earth itself, and also provide a few more moments for the audience to breathe. Not that there aren't already; Jackson does not pummel us with blood and thunder. My favorite scene in the film -- or one of them, in any case -- is one in which the hobbit Pippin (Billy Boyd) sings a dirge while a troop of doomed soldiers charges into battle. Rather than show the inevitable violent showdown, Jackson cuts to a shot of Gandalf (Ian McKellan) sitting alone in his room, head bowed. He holds this shot longer than you might expect, and everything you aren't seeing is right there on screen anyway.

Endings are difficult things, and everyone here gets their own. The title gives one of them away, but it Aragorn's ascendance to the throne is not what the movie is really about, although that at first seems to be the case (and what a beautiful scene that is -- but I digress). During the last hour, the film's focus grows sharper and sharper, paring its way through the characters until only one is left, and it may not be the one you expect, unless you're one of the millions to whom the stories are already beloved. Whichever party you belong to, I can't imagine anyone wishing for a better ending.

And here I will end this review: I don't see much point in showering more praise on The Return Of The King, here on the eve of its release, when it is about to receive an ungodly number of accolades, and a handful of detractors who will complain about the pacing, the length, the special effects, the multiple endings. I don't envy them; experiences like this are too special and too rare to take for granted. I sincerely doubt there will be anything else quite like these films in my lifetime -- which is fine, because I'll be watching them and loving them for the rest of my life.