[Thor Joachim Haga]

Impressive, Nick. I never expected anyone to do this.

I gave RETURN OF THE KING the spot for 2003, and as such a representative of the whole thing. But even if I hadn’t, the first film would NOT have edged out A.I., which I probably consider the best score of the 21st century. And the second would still lose to WHALE RIDER. In fact, RETURN OF THE KING had enough trouble as is, sneaking ahead of THE LAST SAMURAI, TEARS OF THE SUN, BIG FISH and HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG.