Best of the Trilogy!

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2009)

I would just like to take a moment to say; I loved all three Lord of the Rings books, and all three Lord of the Rings movies. The Two Towers was actually the best of the books, (which is surprising because I hated the second movie) but when it comes to the movies, Return of the King takes ALL of the cake.
We pick up where we left off in The Two Towers (the movie); Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and Gandalf reunite with Merry and Pippin after the hobbits have defeated Saruman with the help of the ents. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam near the end of their journey, still on their way to the "short cut" into Mordor, led by the treacherous Gollum/Smeagol.
Aragorn & co. split up, with the majority of them staying in Rohan whilst Gandalf and Pippin travel together to Gondor, the kingdom that by right should belong to Aragorn, and also happens to be next on Sauron's hit list. However, Gondor is being run by the Steward, who is the father of Boromir (remember him? the guy from the first one who died?), and he doesn't really feel like trusting Gandalf, *or* handing the kingdom over to Aragorn.
Frodo and Sam face problems of their own; the Ring's power is growing and Frodo is suffering the same personality change that got poor Gollum/Smeagol. Speaking of the little bugger, his dual persona's are battling it out; the Smeagol part wants to be good again and help the hobbits, whilst the Gollum part wants to kill them and take the Ring. With this guy leading them, Sam and Frodo really need to watch their backs!
Now, I love this movie and everything about it. The effects, the acting, the pure scope and brilliance of the plot meshed with the intricacies of fantasy... it all works. However, there is one. Little. Exception.
Mr Frodo Baggins.
I absolutely *hate* him! I can't stand him! All he does is wallow in his own misery, he barely fights the Ring's influence at all, and he's always falling over. Oh, gimmie a break, angsty boy! As far as I'm concerned (and, according to my sources, JRR Tolkien felt the same way), Sam is the true hero of the story. He faithfully went along with all Frodo's ideas, he kept him afloat, sacrificed his own food and water to keep Frodo going, because he knew he couldn't take the Ring. He protected him as best he could from that conniving little Gollum/Smeagol. At Mt. Doom, he freaking' CARRIED Frodo up the mountain!!! He rescued him when he was going to let himself fall into the lava! And at the end, he had to deal with the pain of his best friend leaving him forever. A real trooper, a real, brave, selfless Hero.
Love the movie! Hate Frodo!