The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Released 2003
Stars Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Miranda Otto, Bernard Hill, Andy Serkis, John Noble, Liv Tyler
Directed by Peter Jackson

I wanted to wait for the extended DVD version before I offered my opinion on this movie, because I was a little disappointed with the theatrical version. As with the other two, the extended DVD version is much better, and I'm happy to say it's the grand spectacle I expected. I watched the theatrical version three times, and I just felt there was something missing during the first hour because I was a little bored. That surprised me because I love everything about the Lord of the Rings, and yet I found myself restless. Thank goodness the extended version cured that problem. With the exception of a couple comedic moments from Gimli, I think the 50 minutes of additional footage is essential to the exposition, atmosphere and pacing of the film, and I definitely recommend watching that version.

On one hand, I wish I had seen the extended version first, but I'm very glad I saw it a few times on the big screen. There were moments that took my breath away like the first sight of Minas Tirith and the lighting of the beacons that don't have the same effect on a television. This film is epic in every sense, especially the battle scenes which are better than anything we've ever seen, but it also has small, moving moments like when Sam carries Frodo the final steps up the mountain and when Eowyn has her moment on the battlefield. 

This film is the final jewel in what I think is easily the greatest film trilogy in film history, but I don't think that's saying enough. All three chapters are on imdb.com's top 100 list, and deservedly so, but there should be some other way to honor it. "Return of the King" won the Oscar for Best Picture, but that just doesn't seem like it's enough either. Unlike other trilogies, this is really one film that was released in three segments, and I think it's the greatest achievement in film history.

Having said that, I need to quibble a bit. The ending is overblown and skips the entire "Scouring of the Shire" chapter in the book. I can appreciate the time constraints, but that was a key part of the story. At least they added a compromised version of Saruman's death to the extended version. The other thing that bothered me was the army of the dead. Tolkien was vague about their role in the battle, so the screenwriters had creative license to fill in the details as they saw fit. I wish they had done it a bit differently, because it felt like a cheat to have an invincible army of ghosts appear to defeat the enemy in a few seconds. After the grim lengthy battle, it would have been better to have them be a part of the victory instead of the reason for the victory. Those are small quibbles, though, considering the greatness of the film.

Someday, 15-20 years from now, I expect someone will create a new film version of the books, and given the wild commercial success of this trilogy, they'll probably be able to film the entire story. It will probably come in around 20+ hours, but I think there's a market for it. In the meantime, we'll live with Peter Jackson's superlative gift to moviegoers. My hat's off to Peter, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and to all of the thousands of people involved, and especially to J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien succeeded in creating the mythology he felt Britain lacked, and Peter Jackson and company succeeded in translating it to film so it could reach so many people like myself who didn't know they would fall in love with the story.

Bill Alward, December 30, 2004