Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) by Henry P — 27 Jun 2016

"...and for two-and-a-half thousand years, the ring passed from all knowledge. Until one day, it was discovered." - Lady Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) in her Fellowship of the Ring monologue. Return of the King first returns us to this part of that speech, where we meet Smeagol (Andy Serkis actually showing his face before the face-dots and spandex take over) before he becomes Gollum.

It's his birthday, and he and his friend Deagol (Thomas Robbins) are fishing, and suddenly, a big one drags Deagol into the river where he scoops up (gasp) the One Ring of Power. Smeagol approaches him and tells Deagol "Give it to me," citing it's his birthday, but Deagol claims to have given more than he could afford.

Smeagol then tries to take it by force, and he kills Deagol for it. After a little montage and monologue where we see Smeagol become Gollum we met him in The Two Towers (Quick note: The first half of this movie is essentially the adaptation of the book The Two Towers following the battle of Helm's Deep).

After that, we return to the present where Gollum is leading Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) to Mordor through a back-door if you will. Little does Frodo know, Gollum is leading him to an evil spider who will eat him, so he can reclaim the ring.

Sam gets suspicious, but Frodo doesn't catch on until it's too late. That is essentially the Frodo/Sam/Gollum storyline before the exhilarating final act. Gollum is clearly shown causing dissent, but he (almost) turns Frodo and Sam against each other.

Meanwhile, King Theoden (Bernard Hill) Gandalf (Ian McKellen) Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Eomer (Karl Urban) meet up with Merry and Pippin (Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd) enjoying a few well-earned comforts.

After a quick banter, the royal parley-party go up to Treebeard (Also John Rhys-Davies) and confront Saruman (Christopher Lee) and Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif) for their crimes against Rohan: Dead children, burned villages, and a whole litany of crimes.

Tension runs high and afterwards, the Palantir of Isengard comes into the possession of Gandalf. After a memorial for those who died at Helm's Deep/a festive celebration of victory, curiosity ensnares the hobbit, and Pippin is dragged off to Gondor by Gandalf when he realizes Sauron thinks he has the ring.

Meanwhile, the ring continues its journey, and Frodo gets into a sticky situation after making Sam leave and trusting Gollum too much. Return of the King is ludicrously long in its extended form (Four hours! And that's before the credits, which are 20+ minutes long to accomodate the fan club names).

However, unlike The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings in book form was massive: 1200 pages over three volumes and six books total. Everything adds up here: Every frame develops the large cast of characters, like when Gimli and Legolas are constantly competing, we see they are developing a friendly sense of competition with each other.

No time is wasted with Aragorn's self-doubt, and Merry and Pippin prove they don't have to be side-by-side and that they don't have to be punchlines: They show that despite their size, they have big hearts and understand that they must help, not simply sit around feasting and smoking all day like in the Shire.

That is why they each offer service to the lords they encounter: Pippen to lord Denethor, Steward of Gondor (John Noble), and Merry to King Theoden. On top of that, the hobbits prove to be a link to the humanity of the story: They are afraid like any of us would be, and crave home, like all people do.

It may be because Tolkien based the Shire on the village he grew up in before the industrial revolution rolled over it, or maybe it's because Frodo is charged with the ring, but the Hobbits are the main story, noble lords and kings just surround them.

There is intensely-gruesome imagery here, which is saying something for the first two parts, but aside from that, the imagery is great: The battles are intense and massive, the effects are believable, and the villains are truly terrifying in appearance as well as action.

Howard Shore steps up his game with the score as the stakes rise, but in Frodo's last scene with Shelob the Spider, his score is kept out in a way that works perfectly. The Return of the King brings various emotions throughout, mostly sadness in the theme of irreversible change and loss of innocence that The Lord of the Rings as a story is truly all about.

However, there is plenty of comic relief throughout to avoid getting bored or depressed. Return of the King, in plain English, is the ultimate conclusion: Without spoilers, I can just say this: "It's" ilya vanwa sii', "let" lye "keep" ta sina men.