Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) by Li Hui C — 19 Aug 2017

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - is a spectacular achievement from an ambitious director. Peter Jackson saved the best for last in his rendition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He takes the stride and confidence of The Two Towers and amplifies it with more emotional weight, even more so than the Fellowship of the Ring. The impact is truly overwhelming. It's the final push that you make once you realize that you're out of breath, such can be said about this last outing. I can't stress enough the amount of caffeine you need to finish the 3hrs and a half epic, not because you'll be bored of it but due to the amount of stimulation and jaw dropping moments, you realize then how much straining it does to your eyes and mouth.

The battle of Minas Tirith alone, is enough to demand your attention. All points in the trilogy leads to this battle, a melting pot of the saga if you must. The majestic white city that surrounds a cliff point peak is so surreal and beautiful to behold that one will be surprised of its production. Not a single shot of this city screams false. The siege of the castle itself is glorious; competing catapults from both parties - damaging towers, damaging siege towers, a flying rock against running soldiers, desegregating everything to rubble that of which tumble on the civilians and soldiers below. Then comes the dragons that pierce through the air with a screeching sound, managing to fright, grab and drop soldiers off to their impending doom. We get a burning battering ram, armed trolls, siege towers, etc. The Rohan horses also adds a nice human touch. One feels the charge when they start stampeding all of their evil enemies. If this is all just too overwhelming, we get treated with even more and more scenarios, all of which are bigger than the last and all at the same battlefield. Don't fret however, we do get quiet and nuance moments throughout the battle; the scene when Gandalf talks to Pinpin about death being just another passage that "we all must take" is poetic and timely. There's a moment that I must not spoil involving the series beloved female character, Eowyn , whom after witnessing her beloved fall, fights with the Witch King and his dragon. One of the most crowd-pleasing moments this series has offered.

The rest of the film carries along just fine. We experience the psychological burden of Frodo's quest and Samwise comes to fruition as Frodo's bodyguard/friend. There's even a scene where he carries Frodo up the mountain. Poignant and powerful that scene was.

At the end of it all, I'm glad that I've experienced a film like this. This is an experience that demands multiple viewings. Thank you Peter Jackson and to his massive team (including actors and actresses) that worked so hard to bring this story to life.