The rare combination of masterpiece cinema (“how does this exist? How did they make that?”) and comfort movie. Genuinely hard to believe it exists. It’s wish fulfilment for every fantasy nerd and DnD fan who’s ever lived.
If I had to proffer one complaint, it’s that it feels almost over-edited. A lot of cuts aren’t necessary and some shots could linger longer. The extended edition “fixes” this problem, in some cases, but at the expense of undoing the otherwise incredible pacing, so we always watch the theatrical cut.
Finally, the 4K Blu-ray is the best this film has ever looked, but it’s a darn shame they changed the colour timing in several places and scrubbed away the film grain. The previous grittier look helped the effects blend in better. It still blows my mind that everybody gave this a pass when it released two years ago.