Familiar characters Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Gandalf return to fight for good in the final battle for Middle-earth.

BBC: NEWS | Entertainment | A mighty end to Jackson's trilogy

When, for example, Legolas leaps onto a Mumakil, it's not just one spectacular shot but a swiftly intricate set piece that focuses on the elf archer until he has figured out how to bring the gigantic beast to the ground.

WSJ: Now That's an Epic

"Frodo lives, " declared the flower children's buttons in the 1960s, but everyone here lives vividly, from Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn, Ian McKellen's Gandalf, Orlando Bloom's Legolas, Sean Astin's Sam and Elijah Wood's Frodo to Miranda Otto's radiant Lady Eowyn, who delivers, with joyous understatement, the movie's most rousing line: "I am no man!"

WSJ: Now That's an Epic