THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003)
A film review by Steve Kong
Copyright 2003 Steve Kong
http://www.ultramookie.com/comments/709_0_1_0_C/
I caught The Return of the King on opening night. Yes, I stood in line
with Eileen and we waited to see the film. I got the tickets on
Fandango so that we at least did not have to stand in line and wait to
buy tickets. We were near the beginning of the line, but not at the
head of the line like we were last year for the opening of Two Towers.
Was the wait worth it?
Yes, more than worth it. I have watched both the theatrical and
extended versions of Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers and was
waiting eagerly for The Return of the King. What I was afraid of was a
bad ending to a great series so far. Kind of like how Return of the
Jedi was a suck-ass way to end the original Star Wars series, or how
Revolutions got even worse than the Reloaded in the Matrix series. What
if for some unexplainable reason, Peter Jackson lost his mind and
screwed up The Return of the Kings?
Fortunately, Jackson did not and The Return of the King (I'll refer to
it as King from now on) is a grand finale of a trilogy that has
entertained us for the last two years. It falls a tiny bit short of
greatness, but it is a grand achievement The movie has a lot of
spectacle in it, but never does the spectacle overrun the story or
characters.
The center piece battle sequence between good and evil at Minas Tirith
does not disappoint, though I thought the battle sequence at Helm's Deep
was much more visceral and exciting. The elephants were a sight to see,
as is the sheer number of people and animals that are engaged in battle.
None of it feels like the cheap battle scene on Naboo in the Star Wars
Episode one. There the battle scene felt more like an arcade game, here
it is gritty, visceral and almost real. Though, there was just too many
things just `happening' to turn tables, it almost felt like the director
was manipulating the battle to make it more exciting. Frodo and Sam's
final ascent on Mount Doom is one to remember as is Shelob's lair.
Denethor and Faramir's story was quite well done in the film.
The movie falls short of greatness with some tiny flaws. There are
somethings that felt short changed in the film though like Saruman,
Arwen's loss of immortality, and a few other things. Also, there are
multiple fade-outs at the end of the movie that made it feel like the
film ended three times. Other than that the film is near perfection.
The whole cast does a wonderful job. John Noble as the crazed Denethor
is absolutely fantastic, as is David Wenham as Faramir the son that
Denethor cannot stand to have. Sean Astin is wonderful as Samwise
Gamgee and Elijah Wood as Frodo. There cannot be enough said about how
great Ian McKellen is as Gandalf. Nor can words describe how good the
effects are for Gollum – but even better is the voice and body language
that is provided by Andy Serkis for Gollum, Serkis is also seen as a
hobbit in the opening scene as Smeagol. Viggo Mortensen turns in a good
performance as Aragorn, the soon-to-be king. But, it's too bad that
Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and John Rys-Davies (Gimli) are not mere
secondary characters.
The score by Howard Shore is the pinnacle of the three films scores. He
masterfully mixes new themes with themes that carried over from the
first two films. Shore's trilogy of scores is well worth the addition
to any music lovers collection.
Kudos to the whole cast and crew of the Lord of the Rings trilogy for
putting together such a great series of movies. Now, I wonder what I'll
be looking forward to next Christmas. The Return of the King is a must
see movie, do not miss it on the big screen. If you think the three and
a half hour running time is a bit long, don't worry, it flies by
quickly. I cannot wait for the extended version to come out to see what
I missed in the theater.
--
Steve Kong (http://www.ultramookie.com/)
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