The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

We have now come to the epic conclusion in the “Lord of the Rings Trilogy,” “The Return of the King,” released in 2003. Like “Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi,” this was an amazing conclusion to the trilogy. The stakes were high, everyone came together, all the returning people came back for directing, producing, music, sound, effects, acting, etc., and it was all wrapped up like it was supposed to be.

For those who did not see the extended edition of “The Two Towers,” you did not see John Noble portray Boromir’s and Faramir’s father, Lord Denethor. Now that we see him in this movie, you can see how cold-hearted and cruel of a man he is. He doesn’t care about anything except his legacy and what he must do in order to make sure that he is remembered as one of the best rulers of a kingdom in his own mind. In reality, he is not liked by many and when he thinks Faramir is died, he now decides to care for the son that he never gave any care for in his whole entire life. However, when you see him descend in flames when he jumps off of the castle tower, you are feeling relieved that you don’t have to see him ever again.

The movie starts off with a flashback to how Sméagol got the ring. He was out fishing with his cousin, Déagol, played by Thomas Robins, and when Déagol was pulled in by the fish, Sméagol went to save him, but Déagol found the ring when in the ocean. Since Déagol found it, he wanted to keep the ring for himself, but Sméagol asked for the ring because it was his birthday. Because both of the Hobbits were possessed by the ring, they both got into a physical confrontation before Sméagol strangled Déagol to death and went into hiding.

Also, the start of the movie when Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli found Merry and Pippin in Isengard outside of Saruman’s tower is actually at the end of The Two Towers. I’m not kidding, when you read the book, you’ll notice. Also, Saruman and Grima are in the extended editions of “The Return of the King,” where they both get killed. That’s all I will say, I will not go into any details. That is for you to go see, for those who have not seen the extended editions. Maybe that deleted scene is in the “Special Features” disc on the theatrical cut, but I don’t know. Speaking of the extended editions, Bruce Spence appears as “The Mouth of Sauron” at the Black Gate. He doesn’t really do much instead of coming out and saying, “My lord, Sauron, beds thee welcome.” I’m not kidding, that’s all that he does before, if I remember correctly, he gets killed.

Marton Csokas is in this movie as Celeborn the Wise, who happens to be Galadrial’s husband and the Elven-King of Lothlórien, but that is only at the end.

Now since this was the last of the trilogy, the stakes in this movie were really high, if you could believe that. Peter Jackson himself said that he was going to put as much as he wanted, regardless of the running time in the movie. End result: some of the best epic fight sequences you will ever see in a movie based on a series that puts a lot of Biblical references in it and is basically the Holy Bible of fellow Tolkien worshippers.

Every single one of the battle sequences is just exciting and adrenaline-rushing. Lelogas has this great scene where he is taking down an Oliphaunt, and just like the last movie, him and Gimli are having a contest on who can take down the most enemies. As funny as it is, it is nice to see both of them having fun while saving the world. When Aragorn goes in to see the spirits of all those who have died, it is pretty creepy, but when you finally see them agree to work together, it is just amazing to see them all come through the boat and help kill all of the Orcs. I thought that part was just the three of them going “Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah,” since they had a trick up their sleeves that the enemies didn’t even see coming. Even the parts with the Eagles were great, just to see them come in and help out the Fellowship in their final battle amongst the enemies. I do have to admit, when “How it Should Have Ended” did a joke on this series being over so quickly because the Eagles would have solved everything, it was pretty funny, but that’s not how it would have worked. For those who have read the books and follow them religiously, you know what I am talking about.

Much like how the “Harry Potter” films got, this film was the darkest of the three and had some really scary moments. All of those moments had to do with how the Orcs, Ringwraiths, Spirits and every single beast in the movie looked. The costume, puppetry, animatronics and CGI are all done so well that you really start to feel scared. Especially that scene when Frodo and Sam meet up with Shelob, the giant spider. Gosh, even Gollum had some pretty scary moments, like when he finally gets Frodo under his command and turn on Sam, but they do end up getting back together and taking down Gollum.

As great as this movie was, there was one major drawback that I did not like about this movie. That was those seven cut to black or white moments which fooled everyone into thinking that the movie was over. When I was sitting in the theater, you can believe that I was going to get up from my seat when I thought the movie had finished, but then it fades back to another scene and I had to sit back down. I do agree those moments were completely unnecessary, but if they were going to hold on a fade away scene that long, they shouldn’t have fooled the audience into thinking that the movie was over.

Seeing Aragorn finally become the King that he was born to be was just great. Even though Nostalgia Critic complained that he didn’t really show any signs of being a King and just accepted it when Elrond told him to embrace and become a King, I think that he did show signs of leadership. Look at how much he lead the Fellowship when they were going from one town to the next, keeping them safe, telling the people in the Kingdom what to do, leading people to safety, assisting in the battle tactics. There were plenty of signs like that, but I guess Nostalgia Critic didn’t really notice it.

In the end, this movie is one of the greatest finales ever to an epic series. I understand that they did not really follow the book completely, since the ending in the book was when the Shire was destroyed, but I believe Peter Jackson did not really find time to shoot that segment. Much like how in the first movie he didn’t get Tom Bombadil in there, but once again, I don’t know if he had time to shoot his scenes or if he found him essential in the movies. I know the books are far superior, and I don’t deny that. I listened to the audio books when I would drive to and from school or anywhere else I would go, so I know exactly what everyone talks about. Movies will never go into as much details as the books do when they are adapted on screen. However, it’s still a good movie and is tied with both “Titanic” and “Ben-Hur” as the movie to win the most Academy Awards, and it does deserve all of them. Definitely see this movie if you haven’t and you have seen the others. You will absolutely fall in love with this movie and I give it a solid 10.

Like I have mentioned before when I started this out, this is one of my all time favorite trilogies that are tied on my favorite films list. I cannot decide which one is better, but I like all of them just the same, even though all of them are good in their own respective ways.

Now friends, even though I finished the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, we are not done with the series just yet. I still must look at the “Hobbit Trilogy,” which I will start looking at tomorrow. Stay tuned until then, because “Halloween Month” will definitely make room for the “Hobbit” movies.