Starring Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Christopher Lee, Viggo
Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, John
Ryhs-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, Hugo Weaving, Dominic
Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Bernard Hill, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Miranda Otto,
David Wenham, John Noble, and Cate Blanchett.
Winner of an Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director
(Jackson), Best Adapted Screenplay (Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter
Jackson), Best Film Editing (Jamie Selkirk), Best Art Direction (Grant Major,
Dan Hennah, Alan Lee), Best Costumes (Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor), Best
Make Up (Richard Taylor and Peter King), Best Music (Howard Shore), Best Song
(Fran Walsh, Howard Shore, Annie Lennox), Best Sound (Chrisopher Boyes, Michael
Semanick, Michael Hedges, and Hammond Peek), Best Visual Effects (Jim Rygiel,
Randall William Cook, Joe Letteri, and Alex Funke).
You could make the argument that when “Fellowship of the Ring” came out, that it had modest expectations. Lesser so, for “The Two Towers”. But Hollywood knew it had something special by the time “The Return of
the King” was released. This is the chapter Jackson had been building towards-
and he did not disappoint. The scale of the already epic Helm’s Deep battle
(from “The Two Towers”) is magnified here, in the Minas Tiruth battle. But it
only parallels the stakes involved as Frodo’s quest to destroy the ring
increases in difficulty. We’ve been following his quest, and the Fellowship’s
efforts to protect him, while battling Sauron’s murderer’s row of villains.
We start off with a gentle opening, with 2 men fishing- that
becomes anything but. We meet Smeagol (Gollum’s original human form), and see
him discovering Sauron’s ring. We very quickly see the corrosive effects of the
ring upon the bearer’s soul, and we come up to speed on how Smeagol becomes the
creature, Gollum. We then come to present day, with Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas,
Gimli, Theoden, Merry, and Pippin arriving at the now vanquished wizard
Sarumon’s lair of Isenguard. With the formerly great wizard now in defeat, they
are able to predict that Sauron’s next move will be to attack the kingdom of
Gondor’s greatest city, Minas Tirith. With mankind set to become extinct should
the city fall, it comes upon the group to mount a defence against Sauron’s
forces- whom are lead by the orc general, Gothmog. While the action gears up,
we meet the current king of Gondor, King Denethor (Boromir and Phoromir’s
father), who is vain and in poor mental health. In an attempt to gain
responsibility, Merry agrees to serve the king, while Gandalf sets off on
preparing the city for siege. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli set off to find
reinforcements, who may or may not be sympathetic to the group’s cause, and may
or may not be alive. Finally, the reluctant trio of Frodo, Sam, and Gollum
continue their contentious journey towards Mordor. With their food supplies
scant, their energies sapped, and the road treacherous, it’s a wonder they
haven’t killed each other yet, as Frodo starts to become as obsessive towards
the ring as Gollum, whom constantly schemes and conspires to return it to his
grasp. There’s no telling where Gollum will send the hobbits, but most of him
wants it not to be Mount Dune, where his “precious” will be lost forever. It’s
fair to say that things aren’t looking good for the heroes to start things off.
With “Fellowship”’s ideas and characters introduced, and
“Towers”’ further deepening and enriching of them, “Return”’s goal is to take
the baton, finish off the story, and make you remember it’s face. There are so
many journeys brought to their end here. Eowyn and Pippin’s journeys to become
a warriors despite how society sees them. Merry’s journey to embrace service to
others. Legolas and Gimli’s humorous journey to become friends despite being of
different races. Aragorn’s journey to believe in himself and embrace destiny.
Gandalf’s journey to elite wizard status, and a general to all. Gollum’s
journey of conflict. Finally, Frodo’s journey from innocent and naïve homebody,
to world travelled and experienced conflict resolution participant. It is a
great story, and a remarkable adaptation. Readers conscious of my style will
note that I often refer to actor’s names instead of their characters- I do this
because I’ve always believed that it’s better to understand it’s an actor and
not just a character on the screen, with obvious iconic exceptions (Darth Vader,
or David Prowse with James Earl Jones?). But the “LOTR” series is so richly
portrayed, and it’s character growth so propulsive, that it’s hard to
distinguish the actors from the characters they portray.
It’s telling, that after “Return of the King” earned all 11
Oscars that it was nominated for, “LOTR” still feels somewhat underrated. It’s because
New Line Cinema had taken a chance on a growing but still obscure filmmaker
(yes he had done Hollywood fare such as 1994’s "Heavenly Creatures" and 1995’s
"The Frighteners", but also the hilariously campy “Bad Taste” and “Dead Alive”,
as well as the ridiculous “Meet the Feebles”). Jackson was able to take his
considerable filmmaking prowess to communicate his passion and ambition onto
the screen to produce an all time great classic adaptation on material
previously thought un-filmable. “Return” (and the series for that matter) isn’t
perfect- it was disappointing to watch a great wizard play whack a mole with
the orc army, instead of using his staff to produce the powerful force-like
invisible propulsions he battled Sarumon with in “Fellowship”. And “Return”
overstays it’s welcome. It’s 3 hours and 21 minutes aren’t just numerically
intimidating- they feel long (I haven’t even mentioned that there are extended
versions available- that’s for when somebody pays me to watch and review them).
But when the credits roll on the series, you know you have seen something
special. Nine years later, there could have been worry of oversaturation when
Jackson would come aboard to create “The Hobbit” trilogy- but it’s bloated and
rushed mediocrity only serves to reinforce “LOTR”’s superiority. No amount of
time in between, nor future releases, can take away from this timeless
cinematic achievement.
4.5/5
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