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Rating: 5 out of 5
FINALLY!!! We have come to the end of the epic trilogy of Lord of the Rings. In the final installment of the franchise, Return of the King ties up all loose ends and finally solves the question if the One Ring is eventually destroyed. Jackson holds nothing back and somewhat lets this film drag on slightly at the end. I want to give Jackson props by not having so many movies or evening splitting up the last book into two parts. It is refreshing that each movie was dedicated to each book. Thank you, Hollywood, for not screwing this trilogy up. Return of the King is by far the best film in the whole trilogy, and it showed at the Academy Awards when it was nominated for eleven awards and won all of them. That is beast mode right there.
Return of the King brings all the storyline in the previous film together but first, it gives a little background information on one of the main characters. We see how Sméagol (Serkis) becomes Gollum. During a fishing trip on his birthday, homeboy’s best friend finds the One Ring. As they fight over it, Smeagol kills his best friend. Shunned by his people, Smeagol goes to the caves where he fully accepts becoming Gollum. This is a fascinating story but also shows how this character is so profoundly disturbed. This is shown with the small detail of his eyes changing one way to another and how the One Ring’s influence warped his reality and mind. You can tell he has a split personality because Smeagol is cheerful and almost a dimwit, but Gollum is cruel and manipulative. This is always shown when Smeagol speaks within the body of water.
What Jackson does so well is make an easy transition and bring all the character storylines together in one big conclusion. With Sauron and Saruman’s defeat, Sauron is like F That, time to send my entire force at the humans and show them I am still the baddest muthasucka in all of Middle Earth. The film primarily sets in Gondor and the great battle at Minas Tirith. Jackson doesn’t hold back with showing how great Gondor is with the White City that seems to be carved directly into the mountain with pure white stone. It is a beautiful sight to see, almost like the Emerald City but without being emerald. One of the highlights is when Gandalf rides off to save the men of Gondor from the Nazgul. The effortless motion that Jackson employs between the live-action and CGI is impressive and is beautifully done.
In The Two Towers, the film was split up into three different storylines, and I would say the same about this one, but it seems like everyone is together now. This time around, Jackson made sure all eyes are on the hobbits. Every main hobbit character plays a major role. Punk ass Frodo (Wood) believes EVERYTHING that Gollum says to him because they almost feel connected to each other. Sam (Astin) is trying his best to fend off everyone and protect that punk. Jackson made sure that the worse of their adventure is shown in this film and that the way in Mordor is straight darkness and hell. First, they witness the grand march from Minas Morgul, where they watch the Witch-king of Angmar, leader of the nine Nazgûl, lead an army of Orcs towards Gondor. Then they come upon the lair of the giant spider Shelob, where Gollum leads them to get eaten. Who saves the day because punk-ass Frodo gets stuck by the spider? Sam! That is who. When that punk’s body gets taken to the tower within Mordor, who saves his ass once again? Sam! Sam did all the work, and everyone was like, oh Frodo, you so amazing. He isn’t nothing but a punk ass fool. Somehow, they managed to make it to Mount Doom, where Frodo almost messes up EVERYTHING!
Now the film’s highlight is the final battle, and this is where the other two hobbits, Merry and Pippen, come into play. Like I said, all the hobbits are noticeable in this film. Merry fights with Rohan and a tad bit looked down upon because he is a hobbit. It is nice to see when Éowyn comes to his defense because he has a home he wants to protect. Pippen, on the other hand, needs to be slapped because he is beyond STUPID! Pippin takes the palanrír from Gandalf because he just couldn’t keep his hands off of it and then and is seen by Sauron and almost messes things up but sees what the Dark Lord is planning. Pippen tries to make amends by being a servant for the Steward of Gondor. Somehow, he makes a difference in the final battle.
Now the final battle at Gondor is one of the best sequences in the whole film. The CGI, live-action, intensity, and feel of the entire battle were excellently done. First, watching the orc army descend upon Gondor is a sight to see. Thousands upon thousands of orcs marching to the city is a scary sight. Watching giant trolls push large structures, and a fearsome battery ram is just terrifying. As the forces of Gondor hold back orcs and it seems like all hope is lost, Rohan and the calvary come to the rescue. Just the action shot of seeing thousands of riders clash with another force gives you chills. Wait! There’s more! When it almost seems like the humans are pushing back, Sauron seemed to laugh and say, what about this. We see giant elephant type creatures that just stomp on the Riders of Rohan. When the battle seems lost, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli bring down a force never seen before. This muthasuckin crew comes with the Army of the Dead, and that army clears out everyone like a freakin plague. You want to know the best part of this whole battle scene???? When Éowyn battles and manages to kill the Witch-king. She delivers that iconic “I am no man line!” before delivering the death blow—a thing of beauty.
Now I would say the ending was a tad bit long for me. It seemed to drag on just a little bit longer than I wanted it to, but I guess you need to make sure all loose ends are answered. The crowning of Aragorn was nice to watch, and I was pleased that he united all the kingdoms and got to wed his love, Arwen. I think it was also a nice touch for everyone to bow to the four hobbits because they did do work beside Frodo’s punk ass. Should’ve slapped him. I guess seeing Frodo and Bilbo sail off on the ship was a nice final touch, along with Sam getting the book to write in. Hopefully, he wrote the truth about how crazy Frodo went.
Peter Jackson put a perfect bow on the finale of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The world of Middle Earth is truly a sight to see, and there is a lot more to this series with the books. The CGI is outstanding and done in a way that doesn’t look strange or misplaced. Out of all the characters that were introduced, Frodo is still a punk! Everyone grew from this journey, and no matter what, it doesn’t matter if you are big or small; the world can change if you have the courage and a great friend.
