Return Of The King turns 20, hailed as 'greatest cinematic achievement in film history'

A massive anniversary has just marked the 20th birthday of the “greatest cinematic achievements in film history”. If you don’t know of what birthday I speak of, firstly, you’re a heathen, and secondly, you immediately need to rectify your mistake; I’m talking about the one, the only, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

The year? The end of 2003. The time? Whatever local cinema you visited (I’m not all-knowing). The outcome: a glorious display of cinematic splendour for three and a half hours (the extended cut wasn’t out then). It left us hungry for more, especially us gamers who want a LOTR RPG that has the same depth as the trilogy.

Without LOTR, The Rings of Power wouldn't be here – be sure to check out the trailer for the series!

We all watched as the finale of what had been one of the most epic fantasy sagas we’d ever witnessed came to its dramatic conclusion, our hearts full at a fairly happy outcome. Sure, we nearly all suffered from palpations along the way, but wow, it was the ride one of the best we’d experienced at the cinema. Maybe even in life itself.

The one fan who praised the film so highly as nothing short of cinematic gold isn’t alone in feeling this way, as one fellow fan put it, “Best movie to sweep the Oscars as well. We probably won’t see that again.”

Others added that the film is a “masterpiece”, as well as agreeing few films compare to the might it brings. Some foolish people did try to challenge this, most notably by saying that Avatar was as good, and they were roasted incredibly quickly; it always has to turn bitter in a debate over the best films – le sigh.

Although some of the passion of celebration was lost along the way, nobody can take away from the way Return of the King gripped a generation, and still continues to grip it to this day. We now dedicate weekends to LOTR marathons, caring little for our welfare so long as we make it through until the end.

Dedication to the cinema, that’s what that is.