Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

"We have the White Wizard.  That has to count for something." (Pippin)
"And they doesn't taste very nice, does they, Precious?" (Gollum)
"You go to war, but not to victory." (Elrond)
"Do you think the eyes of the white tower are blind, Mithrandir?" (Lord Denathor)

While this is not a TRUTH, I find it true that there is no substitute for the feeling and experience how, when, and where you see a movie for the first time.  Hell Raiser III will always have a special place in my personal movie lore because I watched it clandestinely with my brother at 9 years old when we weren't supposed to.  The danger element cannot be replicated with more viewings.  This is how I feel about final chapter of the Lord of the Rings.

My story:  One would think that my story would involve going out on a snowy night in December of 2003, but, in-truth, I saw The Return of the King for the first time on February 14th of 2004 at 10am in a small cinema in Namba, Osaka (I skipped school.) because the movie wasn't released in Japan in conjunction with the Worldwide release.  Yup, I willfully denied myself media, spoilers, talking with friends, and all general communications for two months, just so I could have an authentic "first-time" experience.  It was extremely difficult.  I was paranoid about conversations and friends.  It was like plugging my ears and blathering to myself to drown out all talk.  "I'm not listening" -Gollum.  Needless to explain to nerds, my anticipation was off the charts.  And.....

It was totally WORTH IT!!  The Return of the King is mindnumbingly stupendous.  Bordering on 10 years later it still sets the absolute standard for ensemble performances, technical wizardry, story telling, and pure BATTLE.  Despite the diminishing returns I imposed on myself from the first time, I still get chills and a little bit of heart swell, when Theoden rallies his men to charge the seemingly innumerable Orcish horde.  That's magic.

Ratings:

Joss Whedon:  You're the one man who I might even trust to ever let me get this hyped up about a thing...so please be careful with that power.

James Cameron: You're good...but this is what you should strive for.

Conductors:  This is how you should perform the last movement

Therapists:  Did you notice an uptick in depression related services due to Post Elation Stress Disorder?

Dates:  Yeah in Japan the movie came out over Valentines, so it was marketed as a couples event.  There were posters talking about its love story, and how there was something for you and her.  (It was a little weird from my perspective...but eh, it worked.)

On a scale from Everest to the Marianna trench, I give Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 4.7 out of 5 stars.