Which of the trilogy do you consider the best, and why?

Why leave out the 70s animated ones? Maybe not my fave but they are someones. They are at least interesting.

Best adventure film with aura of mystery? Fellowship.

Best war movie? Two Towers

Best story? Return of the King.

They are each beautiful films in their own way and exceeding one another for different reasons.

Return of the King.

One day their may come a time when we get tired of this movie and choose one of the other two movies.  But not this day!

A lot of people like to say The Two Towers is the best, but all I remember from that film is the battle of Helm's Deep. My ranking goes Return of the King > Fellowship of the Ring > The Two Towers. All three are great, but the best character work and the best action are in The Return of the King, while the Fellowship has the most memorable scenes for me, personally (Since at this point it hadn't turned into an all-out fantasy war film by then and still had loads of joy and terror).

Like I said, all three of them were truly outstanding films and might be the best film trilogy of all time, but that's my ranking.

Then again, I actually DO like The Hobbit trilogy, even if I think it'd have been better if it was a single movie as opposed to a trilogy.

All of them are great.

They're all excellent. I think Fellowship is the best paced and Return certainly the most epic, but I think my favorite might be Two Towers. From the character development of Smeagol to one of the best battles and best speeches put to film, I think it's the one that inspires and moves me most.

Fellowship by a very very long shot. Jackson got Lucas syndrome with the last two and by the time the Hobbit films rolled around, the movies were unbearable. All of the LotR are very watchable, though.

Fellowship of the Ring for numerous reasons, though the trilogy itself is God tier.

Fellowship because (IMO):
Better pacing
Best death scene in cinematic history (Boromir)
BOROMIR/SEAN BEAN
The Fellowship all together
the least amount of Legolas

I really love the trilogy. But Fellowship, whether it is the theatrical or the extended cut, is more enjoyable to watch multiple times. Also, if you watch the theatrical cut you aren't really missing crucial character development scenes. I mean, there is just more of what is already great. I still cannot believe they did not add the Boromir/Faramir scene to the theatrical version. It adds so much more character to Faramir that I feel without it, he doesn't have much.

Return of the King > Two Towers > Fellowship of the Ring

Three fantastic films; The Greatest Movie Trilogy of All Time.