Reel Retro - The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King

The third and final parts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy – The Return of the King, reunites us with Frodo and Sam on their never-ending quest to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

With the Fellowship being scattered to the four corners of Middle Earth, it is up to Sam to bear the emotional burden of keeping them on the righteous path and making sure that the conniving and insidiously cunning Gollum doesn’t lead them to their own doom.

After confronting Saruman, Pippin inadvertently sees a vision of Minas Tirith destroyed and the army of Sauron laying waste to the beautiful and ancient city. Gandalf the White and Pippin head off to Minas Tirith to warn them of the oncoming war. It is there that they meet Lord Denethor, Steward of Gondor and father to the fallen Boromir who died to protect the Hobbits.

Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are recovering from the battle for Rohan. King Théoden and his army prepare themselves to aid Gondor in battle as Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli ride to seek additional help from the Army of the Dead who agree to help only if their help means they are forgiven for their past sins and able to move on.

The Return of the King is a densely plotted movie. The action moves quickly and there is a lot of exposition although not in the negative way. The films strength lies in the fact that, after two movies, we care about the characters and understand their missions.

The cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking and although the CGI is not up to today’s standards, it doesn’t hamper the story or take you out of the movie.

There’s a genuine sense of threat from the Orcs and the Witch-King. The threat of death not only comes from the orcs and their army, but for Frodo and Sam, the threat that Gollum poses is one of trust and loyalty. It’s the trust that Frodo and Sam have for each other that Gollum tries to break and in the end it is this action that causes his own undoing.

The music from Howard Shore is memorable in the use of themes and pieces of music established in the first two movies. In Return of the King, he culminates all of these films score to bring cohesion to the story.
Looking back on the impact that these films had on modern cinema, it’s hard to criticise them as a whole. Using the tools available at the time, Peter Jackson has done an incredible job of satisfying the literary naysayers and keeping the story coherent.

The battle sequences in this film are like an onslaught. Like in the Two Towers, the action never lets up. There was a moment in the beginning of the battle at Gondor where I thought it closely resonates with the storming the beach at Normandy sequence from Saving Private Ryan.

Wave upon wave of destruction and death on all sides takes its toll and the sequence transcends the ‘fantasy’ genre and grounds it in a nightmarish reality.

The cast in these films are fantastic. The only drawback is that by being in these films, the actors have forever been cemented in our minds as these characters.

Whilst the pace of the editing is good, the use of parallel action seems often disjointed and intrusive. In the middle of the movie, there are huge battles happening in Gondor and we cut to Frodo, Sam and Gollum still travelling to Mount Doom.

I understand the logistics of travel and going by foot would take a lot of time, but it really disrupts the flow of the story. Those with an opposing view would point out that they are dealing with the psychological and emotional journey of the inner self and that Frodo is battling with his own loss of self and soul. To this I can’t argue but I half expect every time we cut back to Frodo et al to see a subtitle “Meanwhile, back at the Ranch”.

It is one of the bugbears of many people and I think a very valid one.

There has been a lot said about the Hobbits latent homosexuality as clearly depicted by the scene when they look longingly at each other jump around and on the bed. You can definitely read that into it, but on re-watching it I really got a sense that these were moments of genuine happiness and when Frodo rides off into the sunset the smile that he gives his friends is not creepy. It’s a touching moment that says a lot without dialogue.

Indeed the best moment in the film is not the big battle scenes or the long journey. It’s when the four hobbits are sitting at the inn having a drink together. Not a word is spoken and while everyone around them is laughing, dancing and having a good time, the weight of what they’ve been through separates them from the celebrations.

They all share a knowing glance and with this moment you understand that things that were cannot be again, for they have lost their innocence and frivolity somewhere along the way.

For the older “Star Wars” generation, these films have been perceived to be trying to take the mantle of the ‘best’ trilogy of all time. The arguments will continue about this, but one thing is for sure, Return of the King is a fitting ending to one of the most beloved and well-crafted stories of any generation.

***The Extended Edition was viewed for this Review***

I give Return of the King 4 stars out of 5.