FANTASY/ACTION
I'm still not as blissed out by this trilogy as are hardcore fans of the J.R.R. Tolkien novels or filmgoers who revel in endless battle scenes. Still, this end chapter is as visually spectacular—with its mythological creatures—as movies get. Over a rear-testing 3½ hours, LOTR's plucky heroes again rattle on in faux-Shakespearean speech and test themselves against fantastical enemies but, this time out, deliverance is within their reach. The only thing missing is director-cowriter Peter Jackson coming out to take a final deserved bow. (PG-13)
