Here it is. The highly anticipated third and final installmentof the Lord of the Rings. The epic trilogy started 2 years ago withThe Fellowship of the Ring, and stars Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins,Sean Austin as Samwise Gamgee, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, JohnRhys-Davies as Gimli, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, and Ian McKellen asGandalf the Grey/ Gandalf the White.

We left the second movie with Frodo and Sam guided by thecreature Smeagol, who had once possessed the one Ring, to Mordor.Smeagol had been contemplating killing the two Hobbits , butdecided “she” will kill them, and he can take his “precious”.

Merry and Pippin had been taken by the Orcs, but escaped and wasled to safety. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were left to search forMerry and Pippin. Gandalf wanted Frodo and Sam to be left bythemselves.

The third chapter of this series started out with a death thathappened many years before, and gives us insight into Gollum/Smeagol’s life and why he behaves the way he does in the movie.

Then it goes on to the continuation of the story, followingGollum/Smeagol, Frodo, and Sam on their quest to Mordor.

Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were still on the trail of Merry andPippin, and catch up to them smoking and drinking merrily.

For those who have read the book and watched the other twomovies, you already know that there are parts that are left out andscenes that are changed.

What I would recommend though, is to watch at least “The TwoTowers” before you watch this final movie. It will help you makesense of some scenes that happened and what was said. Or, you couldwatch the second movie again afterwards, some scenes from thatmovie will make better sense.

This movie was surprisingly good for a three-part movie series.But maybe that’s because all three of the movies were donesimultaneously during 18 months of filming. Unlike other movieswith sequels made a few years later, these ones actually makessense. Of course, that could also be because they were based onJ.R.R. Tolkien’s books.

The books couldn’t hold my attention. But 60 million readerscannot be wrong. It must be good.

Not surprisingly, the movie grabbed my attention and kept it (Inormally look at the time when I watch movies, as in “When is thisgoing to be over?”). What would you expect from a movie whereThe Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers madeapproximately $62 and $66 million each, respectively, openingweekend, and the third is expected to make more than that.

All in all, this movie does not disappoint. If Peter Jacksondecides to do a prequel to this series, I’d definitely pay to seeit. Except my only complaint is there isn’t enough of Legolas’saction scenes. Maybe there will be more in the DVD’s deletedscenes. I can’t wait.