Return of the king, the ring, and jackson triumph - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Reviews

When J.R.R. Tolkein penned the first lines of The Lord of the Rings in the mid-1930s, a journey was begun. As of December 17th, 2003, the journey which has touched the lives of millions, crossed generations, cultures, languages, and bridged two centuries, has come to its end. And what an end it was. It is all but inevitable nowadays that any decent book will be adapted for the cinema and it has also been all but inevitable that said adaptations fall woefully short of the original article. And while the first two installments of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, have avoided this fate, many have been hoping against hope that the last and greatest chapter of the story will be told with the strength, beauty, and skill which it deserved. Having avoided the curse of the sequel once already, it seemed that hope for The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was small indeed. But to the joy of readers and moviegoers everywhere, this is not the case. Thanks to the superb directorial skill of Peter Jackson, the talents of a great cast, and the vision of Tolkein himself, the final installment is every bit as triumphant is it should be. The film begins with a brief flashback to the finding of the One Ring by the hobbit-like creature Deagol, who is murdered by Smeagol/Gollum for possession of the Ring. This small moment is all which Jackson allows the viewer before sending them headlong on a three hour adrenaline pumping ride which is as visually arresting as it is thematically compelling. As before, the story is told by cutting back and forth between the action of the film, following Aragorn, Gandalf, and the hobbits Merry and Pippin as they go to war, and the core of the story, the journey of Frodo and Sam to destroy the ring, a technique which by now Jackson has mastered. From the mustering of the armies of Rohan and Gondor, the film thunders on to the battle of the Pelennor Fields, a spectacle so jaw dropping and grand in its magnitude that it makes the battle of Helms Deep in The Two Towers look like a playground fistfight and reduces other epic battle sequences like those of Braveheart and Gladiator to old men fighting over a game of checkers. All the while the battle is raging Frodo and Sam inch closer to Mordor, tormented and prodded by the malicious Gollum, who is so well voiced by Andy Serkis and hauntingly animated that it is more difficult to convince oneself that he is computer generated than it is to believe he is not. And while Elijah Woods' Frodo is much more believable now in his battle with the ring (perhaps due in part to more dirt on his face and hands), it is Sean Astins' Sam who ends up stealing the scenes and who should at the least steal a nod for Best Supporting Actor. Though some of the cast deliver solid, if perhaps now somewhat predictable performances: John Rhys-Davies faithfully brings some much-needed comic relief when the moment is right as the Dwarf Gimli, Orlando Bloom still stares very hard at everything he sees as the elf Legolas, others manage to deliver performances nearly equal to Astins. Viggo Mortenson has grown alongside the role of Aragorn since "The Fellowship" and he now assumes the crown of Gondor with a poise deserving of the character. Sir Ian McKellans' third performance of Gandalf is every bit as powerful and relevant as his first and Bernard Hill transforms the warrior king Theoden from a bitter old man into a resolute leader, doing an especially nice job in a scene with Miranda Otto in which he tells her, "I would see you smile again." But perhaps the most enjoyable characters to watch mature were those of the heretofore comic hobbits Merry and Pippin. Both Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd smoothly transition from slapstick to drama and make the viewer realize that if even the freest of creatures are now burdened with fear and grief, things must be very dire indeed. Despite its almost ponderous length, the film loses little momentum throughout. The combination of the marvelous visuals and the story behind them serve to hold the attention for the entirety of its length. At three hours plus, that is no small accomplishment in itself (In fact, if you were not in the first wave of viewers who saw the film at midnight Wednesday it would not be a bad idea to check your armrests for the embedded fingernails of previous viewers). Without a doubt, Peter Jackson deserves an Oscar for Best Director and his film deserves the statuette for Best Film. His camera work is so well done that one often forgets they are watching a made-for-the-masses movie and not some smaller piece which takes enjoyment from the skill with which the camera is wielded. He has succeeded in realizing a magnificent idea and done justice to a beautiful story. Whether one likes or dislikes The Lord of the Rings, one cannot fail to fall in love with the cinematic majesty of this film. The Return of the King is also more than a fantasy film or simply a visual feast, it is the universal story of hope and courage and love, of good triumphing over evil, and of the cost counted for such a victory.