Ever hear the phrase, “third times a charm”? Well, that would sure apply here even if you considered the first two “Lord of The Rings” movies masterpieces because they really got it right this time.

I have to figure you have probably seen the first two installments to be interested in this one. It’ll be worth your while this time - with the exception of maybe the first twenty minutes, the rest of this three hour plus movie flew by for me.

It is a wise idea to divide the storyline up into two or three adventures and then to switch back and forth between them. Frodo Baggins is the Hobbit played by Elijah Wood, and his job is to take that ring to a place where he can safely destroy it and basically save the world from evil. He’s joined by his fat Hobbit pal Sam (Sean Astin) and, returning from the second Rings movie, that ugly troll like thing called Gollum. The troll guy’s role is to be both evil and comic, and once you follow what he’s saying (his deep, raspy voice is tough to handle at first), he provides a fine counter to the cute little Hobbit guys.

Meanwhile, Gandalf (Ian McKellan) and most of the rest (including Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, soon to be the king again) are busy engaging in one of the biggest battles I have ever seen on screen, mostly against these ugly underground goons, whom I refer to as Oakland Raider fans (the “race” is called “Ork”). Yes, just get a look at them, then get a look at the next Raider home game crowd and you’ll see I’m right. They wear lots of armor and bad makeup and have gross, decaying faces, just like Raider fans. Plus, they’re out to rid the world of men and elves and dwarves. Isn’t that what Al Davis wants to do?

Anyway, I hate to use words like “breathtaking” or “awesome”, but these battle scenes fit those descriptions. I’m not a big fan of the overuse of computer simulation to depict large battlefields, but Director Peter Jackson has taken New Zealand countrysides and put them together with simulations of thousands of warriors and it all jumps right out at you. He’s got flying dragons and huge wooly mammoths along with monster sized guys who look like “Shrek”, and combined with the Raider guys, I’d run from that fight if I were our heroes. Check out the scenes where they are catapulting huge brick walls at each other - I cringed to get out of the way. It’s just that realistic.

But they don’t, and it all leads to the final showdown at about the same time Frodo is struggling to throw away that ring. Add in a little romance, and you have just about a perfect tense, uplifting, but at the same time, sad movie. I noticed hardly anybody in the audience left to take a break for the bathroom or the snack stand. Sometimes it seemed hardly anybody was breathing. It is that mesmerizing.

I wondered how they were going to fill the last half hour or so once the big wars were over and what a play on the emotions they pull there just when I thought we had gotten off the rollercoaster. It’s simply “brilliant, grand scale” filmmaking and I hate using those words too.

The third time ought to be the charm for “Lord of The Rings” and that elusive Academy Award. I give “Return of The King” a “10.0”.