Good but not the best

Rating: 9/10 (10 December 2006)

The long-awaited finale to the biggest movie franchise of the last two decades culminates in yet another excellent installment that more than delivers on its unending critical and commercial hype. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" starts off right where the second film of the trilogy ("The Two Towers") finished. Two brave hobbits (Elijah Wood and Sean Astin) are nearing their final destination to destroy the most powerful ring of Middle Earth with the help of a crazed creature (played by Andy Serkis in a computer-generation mode) who continues to be the poster child for cinematic mood swings and psychiatric shortcomings. The ring has of course run Serkis mad and it remains unclear if the deranged beast will help or hinder in the end. Meanwhile the final battles for the vast landscape that is the franchise forms with Viggo Mortensen.
Finally taking his rightful place as the king in spite of the fact that steward ruler John Noble has pretty much lost all sense of realism and sanity. He is distraught over the loss of his son (Sean Bean from the first film) and treats his other son (David Wenham) as a second-rate citizen. Of course Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies remain near Mortensen's side as the clock ticks to a possible Armageddon. Meanwhile hobbits Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan have also reunited with Mortensen and the other aforementioned players, but once again it appears that their hearts may get in the way of their somewhat limited brain-power. As all this goes on Miranda Otto and uncle Bernard Hill also ready to help their allies in the war. The love story between Mortensen and Liv Tyler gets some key air-time as she chooses to give up her immortality for a chance to be with Mortensen. Tyler gets into a dilemma waiting for Mortensen just as father Hugo Weaving had foreseen. By the close of the film (and ultimately the series) the various story-lines all finally come together and we get to see what happens to each of these near legendary characters. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" fits in really well with the first two installments, but the only complaint I had (and this is a relatively small shortcoming) was the somewhat difficult ending. Co-writer/director Peter Jackson just did not really seem to know how to end the movie so he used up lots of time (approximately 20 minutes) to carefully give homage and consideration to all his key players. All this neared an interminable state as the production runs a mind-blowing 200 minutes when 175 would have likely been more sufficient. Who can blame Jackson for a little indulgence with J.R.R. Tolkien's landmark novels though? A wonderful three-ring balancing act makes the whole series well worth the time, money and effort for all involved. Still not as good a trilogy as "The Godfather" group of films, but really "The Lord of the Rings" was everything it was supposed to be and so much more. 4.5 out of 5 stars.