"Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" is a feast for the eyes, with some other good qualities, but falls short of amazing

Rating: 7/10 (11 February 2006)

"Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" is the final installment of the famous trilogy. It picks up where the second left off, wherever that may be- and where it is is the group approaching Mount Doom. Gandalf, Legolas, and all those other guys wander and find themselves in a war against Sauron. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam struggle with the Ring guided by the creature Gollum.
The film is quite similar to the original. It's still style-over-substance. Frodo and Sam still are close friends. Merry and Pippin are the same way too. The ring still has to be returned to the mountain. Gollum still looks like a non-muscular version of Tarzan with that tiny little cloth he has on his waist. Yet, the story seems a bit different. Instead of another adventure film, Return of the King has a war in it, and has Sam and Frodo testing their bonds of friendship more than ever.
The little drama that is has is good. No, it probably won't make you cry (though it did for some people) but it is, welltouching. Remember the ending for the original Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring? (SPOILER!!!) I thought it was "sweet" when Frodo was leaving in the boat and Sam jumps into the water and says "Of course you are; and I'm coming with you!" (END OF SPOILERS!!!)
The film's high point is the special effects. Of course, Peter Jackson had a BIG budget for this movie, and it was made up because it was the second highest-grossing movie so far. (Next to Titanic) The audience is given spectacular eye-candy with the armies of orcs, and goblins and other various fantasy creatures. We are also treated to breath-taking detail of mostly everything, from the beautiful costumes to the engraved writing on the swords. We are also treated to some very awesome scenes where the camera positions itself high up to see the detailed landscape below- which is full of trees, grass, armies, animals and much more detail.
Like the previous films, "Return of the King" is very long. It's over 200 minutes, and even more for the extended version. The ending seems to be the longest part of them all; because it feels five minutes longer then we really wanted. It really annoyed me when I first saw it, because it just wouldn't end! The beginning seemed a bit slow too. It took a long time before we even got to out main characters.
If you remember the previous films, the group split up for some reason I can't remember. It's good that the characters vary a lot from how they look, what weapons they carry and what kind of creature they are. It would be hard to remember them if they weren't varied.
The action is pretty good. With lots of sword-fighting and some other cool stuff, like Legolas killing a giant elephant-like creature. Of course, it's nothing like Jackie Chan's flips and karate moves. But, we are treated to a couple sword fights, although I think the action in the first was much better.
The story takes no major twists or turns, and can be watched if you haven't seen the first two. As I said earlier, "Return of the King" is special effects; 100% breath-taking, proportioned, amazing, spectacular special effects and costumes. However, special effects, costumes and CGI only go so far. It displays the effects through camera work and for a long period of time. I suppose this movie must have been a spectacular treat in theaters, but it won't quite blow you away if you are seeing it for the first time on television. You will enjoy; I did. You will say "wow" at the special effects, but you will realize that there ARE better movies out there that don't rely so heavily on a budget.
8/10
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