The way to tie up a piece of art

Rating: Null/10 (25 February 2004)

The expectations for the third part of The Lord of the Rings were extremely high, which usually leads to a mass deception there are many good examples of filmmakers who were not able to meet the expectations of the audiences; The Wachowski brothers and George Lucas pop up in my mind immediately. Though, Peter Jackson surpassed the high hopes laid on The Return of the King. His ability as a filmmaker has never been in doubt, not even in his glorious and gory beginnings, but he really went over the top with the this saga, proving himself careful, passionate, imaginative and respectful to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien (the changes he made actually work out for the best.) Introducing us into the film with the back- story of how Smeagol became Gollum which is not included in the actual books of The Lord of the Rings, but in the Silmarilion, also by J.R.R. Tolkien, Jackson never lets the peace slow down. The quest to destroy the Ring in Mount Doom continues for Sam and Frodo, meanwhile the remaining of the Fellowship embrace war as the only option to give more time to the forsaken Hobbits. Aragorn has his hands full: he has to lead the people of Rohan and Gondor to an almost inevitable suicide, demand allegiance from the most dangerous army in Middle Earth (the Army of the Dead,) and accept, once and for all, his position as the King, the true heir of Issildur. Not an easy task for actor Viggo Mortensen, who none the less got away with a brave performance: eyes full of pain, heart drowned in doubts but, above all, his loyalty and courage shining from within. As in the previous instalments, the photography and landscapes from New Zealand are enough to make your jaw drop, let alone the special effects.
This time Jackson sets his eyes in the development of the characters, leaving the action scenes aside. None the less, whenever they come the results are amazing: if you thought the battle in Helms Deep portrayed in The Two Towers was amazing, you got another thing coming. It seems that every character of this trilogy gets their chance to stand out Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Gandalf (Ian McKellan) in the Fellowship of the Ring; Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen,) Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys) in the Two Towers and, this time, Sam (Sean Astin), Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan.) Seems impossible to leave Gollum (Andy Serkis) out, who since his first appearance is magnificent. The numerous endings of the movie five in total may dishearten some casual viewers, but they're in the book (actually, Jackson even left out a whole chapter,) and they work perfectly on screen to tie a sorrowful journey, that even with some smiles, ends up with a sad and brilliant tone.