RSS 2.0The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
‘[Gandalf] raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. ‘Saruman, your staff is broken.’ There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman’s hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf’s feet. ‘Go!’ said Gandalf. With a cry Saruman fell back and crawled away. At that moment a heavy shining thing came hurtling down from above. It glanced off the iron rail, even as Saruman left it, and passing close to Gandalf’s head, it smote the stair on which he stood. The rail rang and snapped. The stair cracked and splintered in glittering sparks. But the ball was unharmed: it rolled on down the steps, a globe of crystal, dark, but glowing with a heart of fire. As it bounded away towards a pool Pippin ran after it and picked it up’ from: J. R. R. Tolkien, ‘The Lord of the Rings’, ‘The Two Towers’, ‘The Voice of Saruman’
Nope, it’s not in The Return of the King this beautiful crucial scene in which Saruman’s power is overthrown by Gandalf and the palant’r is falling down on the steps of Orthanc, tower of Isengard. In fact: there is no Saruman (or Christopher Lee) at all in the movie version of The Return of the King. When I was reading the book this scene had a deep impact on me and I still cannot believe Peter Jackson decided it should not be in the movie. But’
To be quite honest: despite this flaw there is still but one movie we have all been waiting for this year. And, last night Peter Jackson’s closing piece of what some people call a trilogy hit my retina. The Return of the King has the advantage of hardly having to introduce new characters (the ones who already have seen the extended version of The Two Towers are already acquainted with Denethor, Steward of Gondor), and it is the only instalment of the three movies which has a real ending and no gnawing climax that asks you to wait another year to see how things end.
All loose ends are tied up in The Return of the King: Frodo and Sam continue their ordeal to destroy the infamous Ring of Power, with the treacherous once-hobbit-now-schizophrenic Gollum as their guide. Gandalf, Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn and the hobbits Merry and Pippin are reunited and travel to Gondor to the city of Minas Tirtith, on the border of the malignant kingdom of Mordor. All hopes rest upon Minas Tirith being the last bulwark of resistance against the evil forces of Sauron. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas split up to take the Paths of the Dead in order to find an army to fight Sauron. And Gandalf takes Pippin to Gondor in order to protect him because Sauron believes Pippin has the Ring of Power.
But let’s get to the core. How is the movie? It is absolutely breathtaking. I went seeing it some hours ago thinking: ‘please don’t let me be disappointed.’ That was how high my expectations were. Well, I can tell you: these expectations were exceeded. The Return of the King is definitely the best of the three movies. Everything is so much in balance. It is not just blunt fighting (that was one of the few weak elements of The Two Towers), the movie has real genuine emotion. I don’t recall having seen a movie at which people started crying. At The Return of the King people did.
The special effects are also amazing. If you were impressed by the armies at Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers you haven’t seen anything yet. The armies and battles in this movie make Helm’s Deep look like a little fight at the local schoolyard. I was really impressed by the miniatures used for Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul. Sean Astin as Sam is the actor that takes the dialogues and acting performances to its extremes. Even though the movie is ‘Saruman-less’ it still has so much to offer. Everything is in its right place and it also has one of the most powerful opening scenes of all three flicks when we see how Sm’agol finds the ring and slowly evolves into Gollum. All special effects – as amazing as they are ‘ are used to support the story rather than to just impress. It is all so jaw-dropping that I cannot believe The Return of the King will be passed at the next Oscar ceremony.
I am going to give The Return of the King more stars than I am allowed to: 6 out of 5. It is unlike anything I have ever seen and the only thing I can think of right now is that I want to see it again because I must have missed so many good details. Hail to The King!
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, John Rhys-Davies
Official Website
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ runs 201 minutes and is now showing
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Arjan Welles (213 posts)Arjan Welles - law graduate. I work at a bank, I work as a film critic for Dutch and English media. My favorite directors are David Lynch, David Fincher, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino. I love arthouse over blockbusters.
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Excellent review Arjan! Wow, you lucky, lucky man! You saw it already and I thought it only came out today… I am dying to see this film, but as I loathe full cinemas with chatty people and crunching popcorn, I shall wait a few weeks… argh, the tension the tension!
Comment by suzero — Wed December 17, 2003 @ 11:43No no no Suzanna: you DON’T want to wait a few weeks before you see it! You are depriving yourself from the best movie in a long time! I had the advantage I saw it at Lux which is mostly arthouse where people don’t have popcorn and don’t chat.
You don’t want to wait weeks to see this I can tell you… and for a moment I thought I heard two girls chat a lot and laugh but they were weeping… I swear to God… I have never ever had people weeping at a movie….
Comment by Arjan — Wed December 17, 2003 @ 12:43Then you obviously didn’t see “The Hours” in a cinema
Comment by suzero — Wed December 17, 2003 @ 23:19Great review – and you are absolutely correct in everything you say – this film is a stunning piece of work.
I am still coming to terms with the film because there’s so much to sink in. I went to the Lord of the Ring Marathon at the Pathe de Munt (the all nighter) and after watching the Theatrical cuts of all three parts – I don’t think it’s fair to discuss them as individual films any longer – I was left in a state of shock. Watching all three back to back had me glued to my seat for over nine hours of film and, despite having seen the first two parts a number of times – I was surprised at how quick the time seemed to pass. These films are never boring.
All the minor quibbles people have had about the films seem to sound hollow when watching them in continuation. There was a lot of quibbling around the Two towers about how Gimli was demoted to comic relief status but everything he says feels in character. Watching the films back to back nothing jarred – everything just seemed a perfect continuation of the story.
The extended editions of the first two help to expand the films and they feel more complete – and considering all the cuts made from Return of the King, (Jackson’s orginal cut was almost 4 and a half hours long) I think the Return of the King will feel more complete in it’s extended edition also.
The Return of the King does feel truncated, you get the impression that a lot of the character scenes are taken out – apart from the Frodo/Sam/Gollum journey. But what IS in the Return of the King is absolutely marvellous. What you DO get is 3 hours and 20 minutes of wonder, awe and amazement. YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS!
I can’t recommend Return of the King enough, but please do yourself the favour and watch the first two parts before you go see it – to refresh yourself because it IS one film.
I can’t seperate the films any longer because for me The Lord of the Rings is a 9 hour film, and it just happens to be the best film I’ve ever seen. One film to rule them all, as it were. Bring on the extended edition!
Sorry I’ve got to go and see this again – precious is calling.
Comment by damian — Thu December 18, 2003 @ 11:09I saw an interview with Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) the other day, and he said there will be scenes with Saruman on the extended DVD, so hopefully you’ll get your scene.
Comment by Sjimmie — Tue December 23, 2003 @ 11:38Well then, wasn’t this movie everything the Matrix (II&III) wasn’t? Or what you hoped the prequels of Star Wars should have been?
Yes it was. And more.
The battlescenes were hands down the best in cinematic history. I’m quite the critic when it comes to the increasing use of CGI, but here miniature, blue screen and CGI were in perfect sync. The balance between the slower paced scenes and action was almost perfect.
Now more than ever I long for the extended version of this part, as I did feel a tiny bit robed by some of the leaps the story took. We’ll at least get to see Gandalf take care of Saruman (which was supposed to be featured in the Two Towers).
Fantastic movie, which storms in my top 5 of favorite movies of all time.
Comment by paco — Thu December 25, 2003 @ 1:30Hello and Happy new year to you all!
Bob here.. first day back at work and so Im miserabe and tired…this means that I will be extremely brief in my findings of LOR-ROTK which incedently I was lucky enouch to see it a while ago at a pre-screening the sony picture house in London. (What a treat!)
ok.
Yes, it is truely fantastic all things considered.
Yes, it is the best of the three.
Yes, it is not entirely faithful to the book, but so what, its a film and it rox!
Yes, I got a sore bum (no jokes please) but boy
was it worth it.
Yes, I could nit pick at a few bits, but in the grand scheme of things it is a serious achievement.
Yes, Yes,YES!!!!!!
ps. Suzanna what are you playng at?
GO SEE THE FILM IMMEDIATLEY!!
Bob
Comment by Bob — Mon January 5, 2004 @ 13:55Okay it didn’t make me weep. Hey, it’s an adventure movie. Not realistic drama. But what an adventure! It’s simply great!
Comment by reisneus — Tue January 6, 2004 @ 11:06I got The Two Towers Ext. Edition for xmas and am trying to find time to watch pt.1 and 2 back to back before seeing return of the king…. the ultimate experience, or attempt at
Comment by suzero — Wed January 7, 2004 @ 13:01Suzanna: get you #ss to that movie theatre near you! I can’t believe you can still live with yourself not having seen ROTK :p I am kidding but you are depriving yourself from a lotta fun… Yes indeed!
Comment by Arjan — Thu January 8, 2004 @ 13:316 out of 5 is the only realistic rating in my opinion as well. Sure it has flaws, but the LOTR trilogy is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was completely succesful in transporting me to a fantasy world that was believable. While story is important, this is what I look for in movies. A sense of wonder (although I’m borrowing that term from the sci-fi genre). An escape from everyday live. Everybody keeps judging these movies by their plot and acting, but it’s the detail in which Peter Jackson has created this world that holds the true value of the LOTR films.
Comment by weefselkweekje — Thu January 8, 2004 @ 22:13Today it has been announced the heirs of Tolkien gave permission to make a film-version of the Hobbit. That means Peter Jackson is surely going to do it. Although I am not sure this is a wise decision, the only person who could possibly do it… is Jackson…
Comment by Arjan — Fri January 9, 2004 @ 0:02Arjan, I can understand Suzero’s need to re-see TTT before ROTK. These are masterpiece movies, and anything that adds to your personal enjoyment is worth it. No need far *ss-calling… no rush! I actually rewatched both DVD’s before going to see the King.
Comment by weefselkweekje — Tue January 13, 2004 @ 11:54the *ss wasn’t used to offend… sorry!
Comment by Arjan — Wed January 14, 2004 @ 0:02THIS MOVIE IS INTERESTING EVEN THOSE CHILDREN APPRECIATE IT EVEN THEY CANT REALLY UNDERSTAND SOME OF IT’S LANGUAGES USE ON IT. I LIKE IT SO MUCH 1000 TIMES RAISED TO THE POSITIVE INFINITY
Comment by JOHN PAUL S. DELA CRUZ — Tue January 27, 2004 @ 7:26i notice that no one has said anything about the acting ‘achievements’ from the actors…
so that’s it? this is the best movie ever simply because great visual?
Comment by gwen — Wed January 28, 2004 @ 16:27Well, I finally saw it yesterday! Am I going to be the only person here slightly disappointed? I fear that having watched part 2 recently gave me somewhat of an overkill on Middle-Earth-speak and drooling orks.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed 80% of it but the last 30 minutes in particular bothered me greatly. What a shame Jackson had to over-sentimentalize the characters with all that slow-mo smiling and crying. The scene where Frodo wakes up in bed at Rivendell and is greeted by his friends was homo-eroticism at its best. Homo hobbits? What next? The fact that Elijah Wood’s face really annoys me now (after too many long close ups) didn’t help either.
And then there were the countless eyes-almost-overflowing-with-tears vaseline close ups – argh! Sorry, I know a lot of you will hate me for writing this, but it really bugged me and almost overshadowed my enjoyment of the rest of the film which was indeed very good.
Good point there Gwen, about the acting. It seems to be forgotten sometimes amongst the CGI / blue screen scenes. I thought it was, overall very good. The speech-coach did an excellent job getting Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood to speak British instead of American, although Liv Tyler obviously missed a few lessons.
Ian McKellen is always excellent and so were most of the other actors. The only one that really annoyed me though, was Elijah Wood. I liked him in The Fellowship of the Ring but his incessant staring, grimacing and “Oh Sam…” sighs started to bug me in the Two Towers and made me loathe him in Return of the King.
Incidentally, was anyone else surprised by Viggo Mortensen’s monotonous drone in the extra’s / interviews on The Two Towers?
Comment by suzero — Sat February 21, 2004 @ 22:55wel suzero,
you can indeed discuss the dramatic ending scenes… I too believe this just went on and on…
but if you see it in relation to the 9 hours of film that proceded… then it is very well in proportion… but yes, you may diasgree on sentimentality…
Comment by arjan — Mon February 23, 2004 @ 12:15(unfortunately, i saw this film in Miami with some rather uneducated folk who seem to have not read further than the ‘funny papers’. shameful. that is not to say that all Miamians are illiterate, but the ones i attended the movie among were quite obviously unread. having said that…)
I am nearly speechless at the majesty of this entire trilogy. i have loved the works of tolkein since i was 7 years old, when others in my classes were still reading seuss, and i was astounded and almost dismayed when i learned of mr. jackson’s foray into middle earth. i have only three things to say:
bravo, bravo, and bravissimo
Comment by mai — Sun June 27, 2004 @ 8:39