The Journey Ends.........

Rating: Null/10 (1 January 2004)

***SPOILERS ABOUND SINCE I'M SUMMARIZING THE ENTIRE MOVIE*** I had the pleasure of seeing The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in a large arena seating theatre in Cleveland. I had been waiting for this movie since December 19, 2002 last year when I was thrilled and stunned by The Two Towers. I saw it on Saturday, 4 days after it came out, hearing wonderful things. So there I am sitting in the absolutely packed theatre, with my snuck-in Godiva chocolates(only for something this special.) The audience could not be more into this movie. They laughed when they were supposed to, applauded when exciting things happened, and cried when things got tragic(and they did). It was a truly thrilling experience.
Now onto the review! The opening of the film could not be more creepy. It opens with Gollum as he used to be before the ring, when he was the happy and hobbity Smeagol. His friend Deagol finds the ring, and Smeagol kills him. Then we see him begin the makeover of a lifetime, the deformed wretch Gollum. This is utterly disturbing in its best sense. Then we're right back to where we left off, with Frodo, Sam, and Gollum getting closer to Mordor. After a few scenes we no longer feel sorry for Gollum, because he's downright evil, and probably will become a memorable villian in movie history. We leave that bit of the story for a while and begin where we left off with the rest of the fellowship meeting hobbits Merry and Pippin at the ruins of Isengard. Some funny bits(and lovely table dancing by my two favorite hobbits), we move right back to the harder bits. Pippin gets in quite a bit of trouble, and accidently makes Sauron(the evil dark lord who made the ring) believe that Pippin, not Frodo, is the ring bearer. Also, they are warned that the armys of Mordor is heading for Minas Tirith, in Gondor, a kingless city of men. If you remember Boromir from the first movie, and Faramir from the second one, They are both the sons of the steward of Gondor. Merry and Pippin are separated, and it is heartbreaking. *Tissue break number one* Pippin is taken to Minas Tirith, and Merry is left in Rohan with Aragorn and the rest of the crew.
The scenes in Minas Tirith are breathtaking. Aside from the beautiful miniature they built, it also has a beautiful musical theme like Rohan had in the second film. Pippin is wonderfully played by Billy Boyd, who in this film has proved his worth as an actor. He plays the role with innocence, bravery, comic relief, and wonderful emotion. They meet the Steward of Gondor, Denethor. Anyone who has seen the extended edition of TTT knows him and probably hates him. John Noble plays Denethor well, making the audience hate him and feel sorry for him, at the same time. Pippin becomes guard of the Citadel. Faramir, captain of Gondor, returns from Osgiliath from releasing Frodo and Sam with the ring, which was quite a thing to do. Denethor thinks Faramir is worthless to Gondor(also forgetting that Faramir is his son). Denethor favored Boromir, who died in the first movie, and is now practically crazy when the armies of Mordor swiftly attack, and thinks that Rohan, who had been called to help them, has betrayed them. Pippin also, gets to sing. My knees collapse as I listen to Billy's wonderful voice.
We next go to Rohan, who has not betrayed Gondor. They're just a little late. Aragorn leaves on the night of Battle to summon the armies of the dead to help them. He learns that Arwen's fate is bound to the ring, and she is dying(not in the book, but it creates some tension). He, legolas and Gimli ride into the haunted mountain, which is a cool, but utterly under developed scene. Back at the camp. Merry has gone along, but just for the ride. He wants to go to war, but can't. Neither can Eowyn, the king's niece. She is rejected by Aragorn, with whom she was in love with. Eowyn will become one of my favorite characters later, but thats..well later. She decides to go anyway, in disguise, and takes Merry with her.
Back with Frodo and Sam, Gollum is turning Frodo on Sam, telling him that Sam will take the ring. Eventually Frodo turns on Sam and tells him to go home.*Tissue break number 2* He goes into the cave in Cirith Ungol(a pretty scary place in Mordor). He goes into the cave, and learns that Gollum has lead him to his death, when he fights and is stung by Shelob, a giant spider. But there is good coming out of this! Sam returns, realizing he can't leave Frodo with Gollum. He stabs Shelob. He thinks Frodo is dead, so he takes the ring, and continues the journey. He finds out that Frodo is just drugged, and that he is taken by the orcs to Barad- Dur, the tower in the heart of Mordor. Duh-Duh-Duhhhhhhhhh.
Back at Minas Tirith, Faramir returns, wounded from his almost suicide mission to reclaim Osgiliath. Denethor snaps and decides to burn himself and his son to death. Whilst this is happening, The battle of Pellenor Fields has begun, and Gondor is losing badly. Pippin gets to kick a little butt, and also saves Faramir from a fiery death. Denethor burns alive(its almost funny though). And in a moment of glory, Rohan finally shows up.

The Battle of Pellenor fields really deserves it own review, as it is the best battle I've ever seen onscreen. The special effects are breathtaking, the stunts(especailly that of Orlando Bloom) are awesome. Theoden is killed by the WitchKing(the leader of the black riders). Eowyn kills the Nazgul(the flying beast). The Witchking almost defeats her, but thanks to Merry who stabs it, she prevails with the best one-liner ever, rendering huge applause in the theatre. Also, Aragorn shows up with the army of the dead, which obliterates the armies of Mordor, more applause. The aftermath is hard. A nicely played out death scene for Theoden, and Pippin finds Merry wounded on the battle field.*Almost emptying out my tissue box*No doubt scenes were cut from this, but it doesn't matter.
The fellowship decides to take the fight to Mordor, to provide a diversion so Frodo and Sam can reach Mount Doom. Huge Battle again, with Aragorn kicking ass. But will it all be forfeit? The eagles that saved Gandalf in the first movie return to fight at the Black gate. So yes Tolkien fans, the line "The eagles are coming!" is still in there
Back in Mordor, Sam saves Frodo from the orcs. He returns the ring to Frodo. They journey across Mordor for sometime, which is defiantely taking its toll on Frodo.Sam's oscar moment comes with his so-not-corny line; "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!" They finally reach Mount Doom, but the ring has taken Frodo over. They are caught by Gollum, who bites the ring off Frodo's finger. Gollum is knocked into the fires of Mount Doom, and the ring is destroyed. The eagles save the hobbits from the explosive destruction and they are back in Minas Tirith. Happiness ensues, and Aragorn is coronated as the King of Gondor, and also marries Arwen.
The Hobbits return to the Shire(which is bad for tolkien fans because the shire does not need scouring). Sam gets to marry his ture love, Rosie Cotton.*happy sigh*. The end finally comes with Frodo leaving Middle Earth for the Grey Havens. *There is now an empty tissue box on the floor of the theatre* It ends as the book ends, with Sam saying "Well, I'm back."

Performances were top notch. Ian McKellen was superb as Gandalf. He was warrior-like one minute, and wonderfully human the next. Elijah Wood is perfect as Frodo fights for his own humanity. Kudos especially to Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan for bringing the levels of emotion they had to deal with to light. No longer are they just comic relief. They're heroes. Miranda Otto, Bernard Hill, and David Wenham do wonderfully, as do Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies. Andy Serkis once again gives us shivers as Gollum. Viggo Mortensen has a very difficult role, and he performs it to a glorious extent of acting that's hardly seen nowadays.
And then there's Sean Astin. If anyone deserves to be nominated for an Academy Award, its him. Not only does he play what Tolkien fans consider "The true hero of the series", he plays it beautifully. He takes these emotional moments and makes them so...not corny. He doesn't over do it, and its not under done. Its subtle is the first movie, but you finally see it at the end of the second movie, in his glorious "Stories that really mattered" monologue. He's just.......the average guy that Sam really is. And that's what makes him such the hero.
It ends with the beautiful song "Into the West" by Annie Lennox, and some nicely drawn character sketches. When Sean's name came up, the theatre broke out into applause. I joined in.
***** out of *****. I laughed, I sobbed, I applauded, I gasped. I came, I saw, I loved, and I wrote this review. You may all return to your normal lives, take a pee break if you have to. This was a glorious end to a glorious trilogy.