Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) by Marie J — 16 Mar 2014

One of the most epic achievements ever put to film. This is not just a movie, it is an experience, an experience that will always be remembered by fans of the franchise and other filmgoers alike. The filmmakers go balls deep to make this such a fantastically put together conclusion for one of the most brilliant trilogys ever made.

Everything that made the predecessors fantastic is all put together here to form the most action packed, the most emotionally powerful, the most visually breathtaking, and the best Lord of the Rings film to date.

Peter Jackson expertly crafts a monumental achievement in filmmaking. He proves himself as one of the most talented directors in Hollywood with this fine piece of art. He knows how to give us emotional depth to all the memorable characters and making you care about them and getting to know them.

His storytelling gets you hooked on and engaged from start to finish, there was not a single dull moment in the whole movie and that is amazing because of how long it is. The visual effects team put together the most adrenaline pumping and intense battle sequences ever put on film and some of the best.

The cgi is beautiful to look at whenever on screen and it is some of the best ever seen and in my opinion, it enhances the substance and never detracts from it whatsoever. The acting from all across the board is fantastic and award-worthy.

Everybody succeeds at giving you believable performances. Elijah Wood plays a wonderful Frodo, Ian McKellen plays an awesome Gandalf, Viggo Mortensen plays a commanding and badass Aragorn, Sean Astin plays a great Sam, and Andy Serkis plays such a terrifying and memorable Gollum and the motion captured performance was also award-worthy as well.

Frodo and Sam portray such a believable friendship and while they are on this epic adventure you root for them to succeed and to get home. The script and dialogue for this film is fantastic and so well written and there was never a single poorly written line and in my opinion, this is the best written Lord of the Rings film.

Howard Shore's score is fantastic and breathtaking in every single way possible and there were a lot of pieces of music that standed out as memorable and emotional. Everything I have said is me speaking from the heart and being honest because if a film has a lot of love and hype going for it and I end up being disappointed by it, I will always say what is on my mind.

Return of the King and Deathly Hallows Part 2 in my opinion set the bar highest for fantasy filmmaking. This is also the first fantasy film to win Best Picture at the oscars and it highly deserved every academy award it got.

Right now I appreciate this franchise more than ever than I used to and this installment ends up being in my top 5 favorite films of all time because this is a movie that has everything that makes a movie great in the first place.