The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

12/19/03 - Review

The third and final chapter of The Lord of the Ring’s trilogy ends with the The Return of the King.  The fellowship has been separated into three groups and Sauron’s forces continue their trek across Middle Earth to wipe out the race of men.  Sam and Frodo along with their little buddy Gollum, continue on their mission to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, deep inside Mordor.  Merry and Pippen finally hook up with Aragorn, Legolas, Gimly, and Gandalf after the battle of Isengard.  They learn that Sauron and his grand army of Orc’s are planning to wipe out the capital of Gondor, Minas Tirith, the city of men. 

Gandalf knows that only Aragorn can save Gondor if he fulfils his destiny and becomes who he was born to be: The King.  Even with the Aragorn as King, they will need all the help they can get.  King Theoden of Rohan accepts the call even though he and his men know that they will most likely be riding to their deaths.  As long as they can keep the Eye of Sauron fixated on them, they provide a chance of hope that Frodo can destroy the ring. 

Frodo’s mission becomes more difficult by the day and the conniving Gollum doesn’t make matters any better.  Sam knows that he means to kill them but Frodo will not accept this.  Gollum ends up playing Frodo against Sam which causes Frodo to take the little creature’s side and sends Sam packing.  Frodo must now deal with a power hungry Gollum and a spider named Shelob who would love a nice hobbit meal.  Frodo accepted the mandate so he must overcome all obstacles if Middle Earth is to be saved. 

The Lord of the Rings trilogy has now come to a close with the release of The Return of the King which ends the series with a huge bang and has forever changed epic movies.  The final chapter in the trilogy exceeds all expectations from being one of the biggest anticipated movies ever.  It is great in all aspects and can quite possibly be the best of the three movies. If this movie does not earn the director, Peter Jackson, an Oscar for Best Director then the whole Academy is pretty much worthless.  Oh yeah, the movie should win for Best Picture of the Year as well. 

The Lord of the Rings trilogy will be forever remembered and cherished in Hollywood cinema.  Peter Jackson has taken Tolkien’s novels and created a timeless masterpiece of epic storytelling.  Each movie builds on the previous one’s strengths, and none of the weaknesses, not like there were anyway.  Much like the sixty-year old novels, the movies are done just as well considering the sheer volume of material the books deal with.  Even though the trilogy is one really long movie, each chapter stands on its own.  After seeing The Two Towers, I did not think it could be topped, but that was before The Return of the King.  

The Return of the King expands on all aspects from Fellowship and Towers making this one the best final film in a trilogy ever.  The story was once again fantastic and Peter Jackson did a terrific job extracting the most crucial and entertaining parts from the novels.  The movie runs about three hours and ten minutes but it feels more like two hours.  It absolutely flies and makes you forget that seats in the theater are terrible.  I could not take my eyes off the screen for one second for because I was so intrigued.  The only gripe I have is that it flies by so fast that now we have nothing to look forward too, except the extended edition DVD. 

After viewing the first two movies, we are one with the characters as we embrace them on their respective journeys.  We have learned so much about them over the last two years which makes this movie the icing on the cake and finally completes the circle.  I have said many times what made the previous movies so great and it only continues with King.  From the story and character development to the special effects and wide panoramic shots, the movie was ripe with detail.  Peter Jackson did it all. 

Peter Jackson has solidified his place in cinema history and will rank up there with movie giants George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.  He was a big risk for the studio but his dedication over the last five years plus certainly paid off.  Jackson has a keen eye for detail and I think he did a better job than most people would have done bringing these books to the big screen. 

Every actor/actress did a fantastic job with a big thumbs up going out to Sean Astin, Elijah Wood, and Viggo Mortensen.  Their tasks at hand made their parts more difficult than the others, but they went above and beyond the call of duty.  Even though Gollum is a CGI character, he still deserves some recognition.  He really made the journey to Mordor something to remember.  I didn’t like his evil and conniving ways but that is what the Ring does to you.  John Ryes-Davies pulled off one liners like no one else ever could.  Everybody was a prime fit to their respective character.  The whole cast should be nominated. 

The battle scenes in The Return of the King made the ones from the previous two movies miniscule in comparison.  Think Braveheart but not as violent but they do have the same emotion.  The characters showed much emotion before they went into the battles and helped make them more realistic and actually inspiring because they will do anything to destroy Sauron’s forces and the Ring.  I had goose bumps when the battle at Minas Tirith was taking place.  Peter Jackson really knows how to add the right effects to make a scene that much memorable.  This can also be seen with his wide panoramic shots which look so beautiful.  They offer some insight into the surrounding environment especially the capital city.  The way he showed the city’s nine levels was jaw dropping.  One of my friends told me that it gave him a serious case of vertigo.  This shot is just one of many that show the excruciating amount of detail that Peter Jackson wants.  Even the work with the spider Shelob was superb. 

The score, much like the last two movies, complimented the movie nicely and added another dimension to the already rich feeling movie.  The score ranks up there with some of the best of our time.

There is really nothing to gripe about in The Return of the King.  The only thing that I would say is the use of multiple endings kind of threw off the pace a bit but that is about it.  The movie is everything it has been cracked up to be for the last year.  It is most certainly the best sequel of the year and the best movie of year.  You need to see this movie but make sure you see the first two or you will be lost for sure.  This is the movie to see this winter and I can only bet that their will be some serious Oscar hardware waiting for it come March. 

Grade

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