Feels like the most complete of the three as a war film — ROTK is more visually impressive, but this is more complete in its thematic resolution.
We watched the extended edition, and I once again wonder why we did that. The theatrical edition of each film in the trilogy is a leaner, tighter, far better movie. (In reality, the extended isn’t even “closer” the books.) This rating is for the theatrical edition; the extended is a 4 at best.
Andy Serkis is a revelation in this. Easy to forget how great he is in the role. He was robbed of an Oscar nom.