The battle scenes were literally awesome, exciting and enthralling, but I still felt more was at stake, more sweaty desperation, in the first two films at moments of conflict: Boromir's valiant heartbreaking death in part 1, the grand battle of Helm's Deep in part 2, for example.

Despite its length, I felt at times that the movie was rushing - absurd I know for a 3 1/2 hour movie, but I think Jackson missed an opportunity to show real character growth among the hobbits when they returned to the Shire and, unlike in the book where evil still prevailed and Merry and Pippin in particular rose to the challenge and vanquished the opportunistic predators, in the movie everyting was essentially as they left it some thirteen eventful months prior.

This left us, in the film, with the impression that Merry and Pippin were still just sort of along for the ride and that they had not been utterly transformed, steeled, by their adventures. In the book the hobbits had even grown physically in their absence from the Shire due to intense physical exertion and ingestion of elvish food and drink - they had grown in body AND spirit.

In the film, I missed the deep satisfaction of hobbits kicking serious ass on stunned and dismissive BAD MEN and setting their own little world to right upon their return from the Grand Adventure, which also had the effect of reminding us that there is no happily ever after, that danger always awaits, that we must always be vigilant. In the movie, when it was over, it was over, even though the film toddled along for a while to wrap things up.

But again I must flip my perspective: The Return of the King is, despite my misgivings, an excellent, satisfying, thrilling, genuinely scary movie and I would hesitate not a moment to recommend it to anyone inclined to high adventure on a macro and micro level. As others have said, perhaps most satisfying of all is the magnetic, naturalistic, moving bond between the members of the original fellowship of the ring, especially between Frodo and Sam, heroes 1 and 1a of the saga.

I am now counting the days until the entended DVD comes out!