Last night we sat down and watched the new Extended Version of Return of the King. It was incredible. Now, I really enjoyed the theatrical cut, but this version blows it away. Not only are there a few big chunks of new material (most notably a confrontation with Saruman) but all through the film were little snippets that just enriched the experience and smoothed out the pacing of the film.

There’re still things missing and in a few parts the added footage just raised more questions for people who haven’t read the books.

I’m looking forward to watching the 2 DVD’s full of ‘Appendix Material’ as well.

The only downside to watching this movie is knowing that this is it for the forseeable future. Hopefully at some point Jackson will release a super-extended version. 😉 But for now, the journey is completed. And that’s kind of sad.