Return of the king movie review
The Return of the King is the 3rd and final instalment of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Those who read Tolkein's novels would find that the movie follows the books rather closely.
This is the final part where Aragorn returns as the king who claims his throne. Here is where the fellowship finally unite and the bad guys are beaten.
Several plots run concurrently throughout the movie.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Talking Gollum 'Precious' 6-Inch Figure by Toy Biz
That of Frodo and Sam, with the help of the treacherous yet pitiful Gollum as they brave Mordor in their quest to destroy the ring. The ring can only be destroyed in the fires of Mordor where it was made. Sauron's power resides in that ring. The only way to defeat the dark lord is to destroy his ring of power.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 'Journey to Mordor' Poster Puzzle featuring Gollum
The next plot follows Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli as they journey to Gondor. They battle Sauron's orcs and ringwraiths and other horrifying creatures as they, together with Gandalf, Merry and Pippin defend Gondor from the onslaught of the dark lord.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 'Aragorn, King of Gondor' Poster Puzzle
The elven lord Elrond, the father of Arwen plays his part in their battle. Arwen, an immortal elven princess chose a mortal life to be with Aragon. As a result, she was dying as Sauron's darkness enveloped middle earth. Elrond forged the broken pieces of the shards of Narsil for Aragorn to use in his battle.
Sauron would remember that sword.
Lord of the Rings: The Shards of Narsil Miniature Collectible
Narsil is perhaps the most famous sword in 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy. At the end of the second age of Middle-Earth, Narsil's blade was shattered, as Elendil fell during the Last Alliance of Elves and Men in the great battle against Sauron, creating the Shards of Narsil. The Shards were kept in Rivendell, the house of Elrond, for safe keeping. Legend tells that the sword would one day be reforged and the king would return. The miniature Shards of Narsil are presented with a hand-painted cold cast statue of an Elven Princess cradling a shield that the removable shards lay upon. Made of Cast metal with an antique metal finish, false-edged, the shard is 1/8 inches thick. The Display is 7-1/4 inches x 7-7/8 inches X 5-7/8 inches cold cast porcelain with hand painted finish and brass shield
Lord Elrond visits Aragorn in his camp to present the sword, to tell him Arwen's situation and what he had to do. It was time for him to take on the mantle of the heir of Isildur.
The middle earth warriors and their allies knew of Sauron's land troops, but not of those coming from the sea. They were painfully outnumbered. Death was imminent unless they could get more troops.
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Aragorn 6-Inch Figure by Toy Biz
The dead had a debt to repay Isildur and his heirs. Aragorn, the heir of Isildur was the only one who could summon their aid.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Eowyn 6-Inch Figure by Toy Biz
There is a love triangle in this trilogy. Aragorn loves Arwen but the beautiful Eowyn, a warrior in her own right, was infatuated with Aragorn.
Gandalf and Pippin went off first to Gondor after Pippin's very dumb and dangerous actions.
There, we see the steward of Gondor, the father of Boromir. He was insane with grief as Boromir was is favourite son. On top of that, his rule over Gondor would end the moment Aragorn claims his throne. He send Faramir on a deadly mission where there was no hope of survival.
You see Gandalf lead the men in battle in spite of the insane ruler.
With so many plots within the story, you'd expect a confusing mess.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Gandalf the White 6-Inch Figure by Toy Biz
Peter Jackson is a master story teller. He merges the stories beautifully into a harmonious whole.
An example of this would be where the Steward of Gondor sends his son Faramir and his men to their doom, knowing full well they would not survive as they would be grossly outnumbered by the orcs. As Faramir and his men fight for their lives. Pippin, upon the Steward's request sings to the Steward during a meal. As the arrows fly, killing the men, the Steward bites into a blood red cherry with his mouth full of red cherry juice reminding one that he is responsible for the needless bloodshed and wasted lives of his loyal men.
The acting is superb. The actors become the characters they play.
Each scene is a visual feast.
The contrast between the darkness of Mordor and the light in Gondor, the way the characters draw you into the story all make this movie a beautiful whole.
Then there are the relentless battle scenes. The scale and intensity of these scenes is stunning.
Battle after battle with special effects that rival the best in the Matrix. I'd say it is a special effects junkie's dream come true.
Gollum is very realistic. A computer generated figure that is way more realistic than Yoda in the recent Star Wars movies. The creatures that carry the ring wraiths, the ring wraiths, the huge elephant like creatures looked so real.
Although this movie was 3 hours long, it seemed too short to me. In fact, quite a few parts of the book were not covered in the movie. Nonetheless, I loved every bit of this movie.
Looks like the Academy Award voters loved that movie too.
It was nominated for the oscars for the 76th Academy Awards in these categories
ART DIRECTION
COSTUME DESIGN
DIRECTING
COSTUME DESIGN
FILM EDITING
MAKEUP
MUSIC (SCORE)
MUSIC (SONG)
BEST PICTURE
SOUND MIXING
VISUAL EFFECTS
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
The Return of the King won all these oscars, including Best Picture.