The Dusk of an Epic Trilogy

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2004)

Contrary to my other reviews of The Lord of the Rings film, this review is based only on one screening. I have decided to do so, because on the day that I went to see The Return of the King I felt good in my skin and I could thoroughly enjoy the movie. I didn't look as closely as with the other two films at differences between the film and the book and that made the experience more pure and wholesome and therefore two screenings are not necessary to come to a conclusion about the quality of the movie.

What I really loved about the movie was it's beginning. Heck that was great. One of the most fine moments in the whole of the trilogy, together with the very ending and the scenes with Shelob I presume. Those are the scenes that make the whole trip (3 hours and 21 minutes) worth while. Now almost three and a half hours may seem very long for a film, but will not seem long I can assure you, although the first hour and a half seems to pass much slower than the remaining two hours, that never got boring. Of course there are those critics that say that Peter Jackson seems to knit ending to ending to ending and that the whole becomes too ling, but I as one who has read the book, expected that and am greatly satisfied with the skill of Peter Jackson in knitting the endings together in a way that does not make the film look too lengthy.

This is not too say that I am without criticism. I have some, but it just minor criticism and it criticism of the man himself (Peter Jackson). I do not want to belittle his achievement in bringing The Lord of the Rings trilogy to the screen. He has done great. The battle sequences look great (look out for the scenes with the elephants' versus the riders of Rohan), the acting is good and the directing is superb in my opinion, but he also did some things that I deem unnecessary. I could not quite put my finger on in while I was watching The Two Towers, but while I was watching The Return of the King it suddenly I could. The thing that bothered me a bit during Two Towers and even a bit more during The Return of the King were some of the dialogs (actually monologues), which reminded me of brainless action comedy's and actually added nothing to the film itself. An example of monologues like that is the counting of the victims by Gimli and Legolas or the comment Gimli has when Aragorn utters his plan to save Middle Earth. Also I felt that the burden Frodo was bearing was not emphasized enough in this film and it was slightly overshadowed' by the large amount of battle scenes. I know these are tiny things and I do not want to imply that this spoiled my viewing experience. What I want to point out by stating this, is that while The Return is definitely a good film and an improvement over The Two Towers, it is not a perfect film.

At the end of this 10 hour journey I'd like to say a few things. About the trilogy in general. First of all I cannot believe how well Elijah Wood acted and carried the film. My initial reaction to his casting was: He'll ruin it.' but I have to say that he did an incredible job. The other actors did a fine job as well as did everybody who was part of this epic adventure. There are flaws (as described in my three comments including this one) in the films, but they still are good watching material. The Fellowship of the Ring is in my opinion the best film of the three (8,25 out of 10) as it is a great introduction to the world of Middle Earth and it's characters. The Two Towers was solid, but I felt that it could have been better and it is in my humble opinion the worst film of the trilogy (7,5 out of 10). Second best in the trilogy is The Return of the King, which despite above mentioned criticism is a good ending to a good trilogy. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is what I had hoped The Matrix trilogy would be. It failed. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and all involved in the making did not. Thank you for that.

Oscars for: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Effects, Visual Effects; Best Cinematography and Best Makeup

Nominations for: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Writing; Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing; Best Sound; Best Editing and Best Costume Design

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them alland in the darkness bind them.

8 out of 10

post scriptum: I WILL watch ALL of the extended editions at some point and that might change my opinion about these films. Maybe I'll tell you about that when it happens.