Effective But Bloated, The King Could Stand to Shed a Few Pounds

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2014)

For as little as this film has to work with, plot wise, there's really no excuse for how long it clings to the screen. Really, in the grand scheme of things, what does it accomplish? A big battle scene to preserve the sacred city of Gondor, a recruitment drive in the land of the dead to facilitate the former, Frodo and Sam's arrival at Mordor and the big finale at the lava pit. Some exposition can be expected, naturally, and in a few scattered cases it does serve to enrich the extended universe, but for those four primary points to devour over four hours of screen time seems ridiculously excessive.
The wealth of character moments on display in Return of the King are generally well done, but rarely do they feel as essential as they did in previous chapters. With very little exception, the primary cast has already worked through their individual arcs before the title card, so there isn't much meat in that respect.
As with The Two Towers, the fight scenes (scattered liberally throughout) are appropriately epic and pulse-pounding, though these too push the limits in terms of what the viewing audience is willing to let slide. We're already suspending our disbelief a fair distance in regards to the fellowship's universal fighting prowess, but one particular scene with Legolas and an elephant seems more than a bit excessive. In fact, Legolas is granted an especially silly amount of battlefield respect throughout the series.
I could dwell on the negatives all day long - I haven't even touched on the stupid amount of slow motion in the farewell scenes - but at the end of the day, this really isn't a bad film just a madly bloated one. It's thoroughly rewarding to finally conclude our journey with the residents of Middle Earth, and when the plot finally gets around to waving goodbye it's a powerful experience. I just can't help but wonder how much better a slim two-hour cut, trimming off half the body fat of the original, would play to the same material. Oh, and its status as a Best Picture winner? Clearly that was a lifetime achievement award for the trilogy at large, because The King is far and away LOTR's weakest installment.