Return of the King Review

It’s one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. It is the sequel to record-breaking blockbusters. It was anointed the movie of the year even before it came out. The word “Oscar” is already heavily associated with it. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has a lot to live up to with perhaps one of the greatest and most influential books in the Twentieth century and two of the greatest of the movies of our time its predecessors. As I sat in the movie theater before it started, I felt sick with anticipation (although I’m sure the fact that I had only had pretzels to eat the entire day also contributed to this). What if it was horrible? How would it be? As the previews faded away and the NewLine logo flashed up I sat in eager anticipation and stayed glued to my seat for the entire three and a half hours of it. As the lights came up and the credits flashed by I felt very strange. It was an experience unlike any other.

            What does that mean for the movie? Was it good or bad? Well, right away I couldn’t honestly answer that as I didn’t know. However, after some reading of the book and so thought on it, I came to my conclusion: good but hard to watch. If you’ve ever seen Schindler’s List or any other violent war movie you know what I mean by hard to watch. The movie was not nearly as difficult as some of the more violent ones but it still was difficult to sit through. The problem I had sitting through it is that parts are simply mentally disturbing. They make you feel sick (again, the pretzels) or really sorry for the characters. It’s not unlike the part of Sam’s speech in The Two Towers where he says “…and sometimes you didn’t want to know the ending, because how could the end be good?”; you don’t want to watch anymore because how could the complete wretchedness and horror that you saw the characters go through be undone. And it isn’t undone, something that they very well point out in the ending. They’ve been changed forever and somewhat, so are you. It’s very difficult to see the downfall of the three characters (Denethor, Gollum, and Frodo) and only one manage to redeem himself in the end.

            In addition to the downfall, some things in the book that didn’t seem as violent at the time turn out to be shockingly violent. For example, the Orcs’ casting the heads of dead Gondorian soldiers into Minas Tirith doesn’t seem that bad on paper but on screen is horrible enough that you’ll want to cover your eyes. Also, there is an element to a book that you can’t get in a movie: you can put it down. I remember the first time I read Return of the King it actually took me a long time to read the chapter concerning Mordor because I kept on putting down the book. You can’t do that with a movie and you begin to feel it. It’s incredibly powerful, but at times overwhelming. How I think Peter Jackson could have solved this is by leaving in some of the scenes that would have reduced the tension put on the viewer, but then again the movie was too long to being with, so it’s understandable.

            The graphic and shocking nature of the movie is a double-edged sword. The book lightly touches on Gollum’s downfall, explaining him murdering Deagol and saying he was driven away. The book has a subtlety, however, that cannot be achieved on film. I am very torn over the opening as, while I found it disturbing and graphic, it was appropriate in that it shocked the viewer not only into getting into the world, but also most effectively explained the exact evil of it. The evil of the ring is hard to truly understand in the book or the first two movies but this opening explains the true corruptive power beyond a doubt, which sets up Frodo’s decline which truly occurs in this movie. We understand Frodo’s pity for Gollum better as well, as we can see in the physical what the Ring is doing to him internally. We also begin to see the physical signs of this decline in the Return of the King as on one moment where Frodo and Gollum share a close-up on screen, we can begins to see a slight resemblance forming with the dirt on their faces. The graphic nature of the battles also horrifies the audience member, but makes one realize what is at stake for the readers, and again manages to portray true evil. The main flaw with this is that it makes the audience member feel uneasy and at times horrified and at least a few of the quite sensitive souls will be driven away by it. However, the effectiveness it lends the storytelling may at least make up for it.

            The one objection I maintain is Denethor. I feel that this character was done an injustice by not explaining his madness. The descent of Denethor is very clear, as we see him not even care about basic manners while eating, but this descent is not explained. As far as the audience member can tell, he’s always been like this, a pig who doesn’t see the real value in his sons, and only mourns one after he has driven him nearly to his death. I would have no objections to this had the descent been explained like it is on the book by the second Palantir. Gandalf says in the book that Denethor was a wise and noble man once but that his mind had been overthrown by Sauron. Leaving this out was a mistake. I can find no redemption in doing so. Smaller problems I had were first the changing of the eye slightly, having it look around and having light come from it, which I felt made it less terrifying, and bizarreness and lack of Arwen in this movie.

            However, despite its minor flaws, this was still one of the greatest movies of all time. Every single shot was a gorgeous work of art, and Howard Shore’s powerful and at times haunting score worked very well. One of the best moments in the film was when Frodo and Sam were sitting on the rock with Mount Doom being destroyed around them, and both the music and the background have a strange quietness to it, very much adding to the scene. The acting was also phenomenal. The best was most definitely Elijah Wood, who stepped completely into the role and gave us the complete suffering and then regaining of Frodo. Sean Astin as Sam was terrific, especially in the shots in Mordor where he very well portrays the worried determination Sam possesses. He also expresses the change in Sam from bumbling hobbit to grimly determined warrior excellently. All of the hobbits really stood out as both Merry and Pippin find their courage and show the determined but hopeless courage that warriors possess. Viggo Mortenson again played Aragorn quite subtlety and effectively, but I felt that he deserved a little more screen time. He does, however, step into the King role very well, delivering rousing speeches that had been unseen previously. The Return of the King shows transformation in almost all characters and all of the actors portrayed this well, whether it was riding to one’s death, or finding the power in oneself to face the true danger of the world. You get extremely attached to each and every one of them.

            This movie also has a power I’ve never encountered in a movie before. Despite it’s length, I remained completely glued to my seat, and I don’t think more than two people ever left the theater. The film takes you and holds you in and doesn’t let you out, having some of the most emotionally powerful material ever. One such scene is one where Faramir is leading his suicide charge to attempt to retake Osgiliath which is then cut between Denethor’s disgusting uncaring manner, and Pippin’s sad and dismayed singing which takes the soldiers into their battle. This scene expresses more than some of the more wordy scenes without stating a single thing, and the actors, music, and editing carry it through majestically. This scene and others such as Shelob’s lair, the death of Theoden, the entire Mount Doom sequence, and the very end give you such strong emotions of sadness, anger, and regret you will feel emotionally tired at the end. The pathos in it is incredible, as I cried on several occasions in this movie. The only movie I had ever cried more in was Schindler’s List and that was over the fact that everything in the movie had actually happened. While Return of the King  is fantasy you will feel as if it were real by the end.

            The Return of the King, despite its flaws, is the great movie of our time. It is unrivaled in intensity by any other movie I have ever seen, and is a fitting and very tear-jerking finish to what will be the movies my generation will proudly show our children as the greatness of our time. It will never die, and I am grateful for that. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King are now finished but have not even been a disappointment, unlike any other “great” movie series out there. What would Tolkien have thought of the movies? I can’t answer but I think he’d approve because his story is now immortal, thanks to Peter Jackson, the actors, and everyone involved with this movie.

Home