Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) by Don H — 28 Jul 2018

My review of all three LOTR films.

I've always had a love for trilogies in films; and in books for that matter. In them, I feel that it much easier to become attached to the characters; and the overall story intrigues me more because they are longer and have more depth.

"The Lord of the Rings Trilogy" is my personal trilogy of them all. My personal favorite movie of all time. No, I do not think that it is greater than the "Three Colors'' or "Apu" trilogies. And it probably isn't one of the one hundred greatest films of all time.

But it is my favorite. It's my favorite because it was the first movie I ever could truly say that I loved. I was six years old when "Fellowship" was released in December of 2001.

It was perhaps a month or two before, when I went to the movies with my dad and uncle to see a dreadful film called "The Gift." Well, one of the Coming Attraction Trailers was for what I thought looked like a pretty cool movie called "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." I remember the trailer showing little people, and men with beards fighting trolls and really ugly looking creatures with swords. And because during most of my childhood I had an obsession with what I called ''sword fighting movies," I desperately wanted to see this new one. About a month or so later, my dad took me to the movies once again to see "The Fellowship of the Ring." I was not disappointed.

Not only did "The Fellowship of the Ring" become my favorite "sword fighting movie," but to say that the film was my entire life as child would not be an understatement.

After seeing the first installment of the trilogy, all I could think about was the next one --- "The Two Towers." And after "The Two Towers," it was "The Return of the King" that owned my thoughts.

The Films, and their larger than life beauty brought out in me a sense of wonder in me that I did not know I had. They mesmerized me in ways that remains unmatched to this day. It was the first film that I loved not only because of fun battle scenes, but because of story. It helped me understand what great storytelling is; and it was the first movie that showed me what great filmmaking is; and how truly beautiful a movie can be when it is made with tremendous amounts of effort and passion.

Later on I became a fan of the books and my fascination as well as my love for the story and characters grew even stronger.

''The Fellowship of the Ring" is about how a Hobbit named Frodo (Elijah Wood) is left a very powerful ring; and is told by the Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) just how powerful and dangerous this ring is. It once belonged to the Dark Lord Sauron, who will do anything in his power to retreave it.

Frodo must take the Ring to the only place it can be destroyed: the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor.

On this journey with Frodo are Gandalf, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) who is destined to be a King, an Elf named Legolas (Orlando Bloom), a Dwarf named Gimil (John Rhys-Davies), a man named Boromir (Sean Bean), and three Hobbits: Merry (Dominic Monaghan), Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Sam (Sean Asten).

The Fellowship breaks after the first film, and in "The Two Towers" Frodo and Sam head out on their own for Mordor, and they come across a strange creature named Gollum (Andy Sirkis) who is obessed by the Ring---his "Precious" that he once bore. Frodo feels a strange kinship with him, and against Sam's wishes, deciedes to use him as a guide to Mordor.

Meanwhile, Boromir is now dead; and Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli head to Rohan to help defend them in their upcoming war with the evil Wizard Saruman's (Christopher Lee) great army of ten thousand Uruk-hai.

While Merry and Pippin spent most of the film hanging out with a tree-looking creature name Treebeard --- voiced by Davies.

In the final installment of the great trilogy --- "The Return of the King," the War of the Ring continues in Gondor. Many heroes are made in the great battle including one of my favorite characters from the films and books: Eowyn (Maranda Otto); a woman of Rohan who refuses to sit around and let her loved ones die in war. She, along with Merry sneaks into battle, and ends playing a major role in its outcome.

Aragon realizes his power, and his destiny as the heir to the throne of Gondor.

And Frodo and Sam edge closer to Mordor; but their 'guide' Gollum is up to no good.

Peter Jackson absolutely gave it his all here. Like another very long Hollywood epic in "Titanic,"each breathtaking shot oozes with the passion of the director. The love that was clearly poured into making this grand trilogy is always evident; and is inspiring to witness.

And the Musical Score done by Howard Shore feels perfect for each scene. He gives Middle Earth a distinct sound that I think Tolkien would appreciate.

There's no all time great performance in the films, but there's not a bad one either. Each actor/actress brings the right stuff to his/her character. They're wonderfully cast, and absolutely live up to the characters of the books.

Just recently I decided to watch all three of the "LOTR" films in one day.

I've done this a few times in my life, but it had been a while; and I hadn't since I've gotten older. Well, watching them made me feel like a kid again. I spent an entire day wrapped up in the lore of Middle Earth.

The films have an effect on me that really nothing else has. No matter how many times I watch them, I find them to be every bit as fresh, and interesting as they were years ago.

Yes, there are better films. Many better films; but there's is none that I love more. These films are among the central reasons of why I'm writing reviews to begin with.