Now I know some of you may claim that the Lord of the Rings is really just one big movie and that I should have reviewed it as such, but to me I went the way I did because each film was released separately and well it is my blog so I will do however I please and you all just have to deal with it. Since all three epics were filmed simultaneously, each individually has the feel of being part of a larger picture - except for this one. `The Return of the King' is just too big, the most epic of a set of epic films. Now that director Peter Jackson has brilliantly constructed the characters and plot lines throughout the first two films, he puts them to use. The Return of the King is the final chapter, and since it is the climax and resolution of the epic journey, it has a little more intensity and urgency than the previous installments.
The first two films really let us see how visionary Peter Jackson is with the shots of the sweeping New Zealand landscapes. Yet even with how great the vision is in the first two films, Jackson though really saves the best for the end. With arguably the most stunning and breathtaking visuals, Jackson makes the Return of the King a true feast for the eyes. Jackson shows such great restraint though in never allowing the visuals to be too over the top. Jackson stays very grounded in the characters, not letting the effects tell the story, but only assist the characters and perfect dialogue. Think of Return of the King as a mix of Fellowship and Two Towers, with enough action and character development worthy of ending a film event of this magnitude.
This film is so great as well because all of the characters have their best moments in this film. Aragorn and the path he goes down to realize his destiny as the king of men is played with such a great strength and stoicness by Viggo Mortensen. And the competition between Gimli and Legolas is a great comedic release, the two of them work so well together that you can not help but enjoy there portrayal. Andy Serkis is once again amazing as Gollum and creates such a character that is so flawed that we cannot help but want him to be released from the hold that "the precious" has on him. While all of these characters are great, they all pale in comparison to Elijah Wood's portrayal of Frodo. He continues his descent into corruption with an incredible talent that many could not pull off. Wood's performance is so critical to the film because it determines the ring's power to corrupt, which, needless to say, is absolute. It is amazing to see the contrast in his character from the beginning of the first film to what the ring has done to him by not only the end of the third movie, but by the beginning of the third film.
Now some of you may ask how it is that this film did not get a full five buckets, the reason it did not for me was the dragging twenty minute ending to the film. While I know this is true to the book. I would have been happy not to have all the loose ends tied up in the way the book does it - the film should have ended on a high but instead it seems to crawl to an end in a way that is not in line with the momentum of the film (if not the whole trilogy). This problem is minor on the grand scheme of things, but I would rather have left the cinema on my high than be made to wonder when's this ending? Is this the end now? Oh, maybe this is it now?' - but I do understand why it was done this way.
Jackson gave us a truly great trilogy that will go down with some of the best trilogy movies of all time. With his great vision and the fact that he let a strong script tell the story and not inundate us with visual effect after visual effect. The great cast all give great performances. For all of this I am giving this film four and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. This is one that any movie watcher needs to have in their collection and for those that may have only seen it in the theater need to see the extended edition because it will not disappoint.
-The Movie Man-
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