The Ultimate Ending to an Unforgettable Trilogy

Rating: 10/10 (2 November 2013)

'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' is the concluding chapter in the 'Lord of the Rings' Trilogy, and i must say, it concluded amazingly.
The movie starts off with a dark backstory of Smeagol, which when I say dark, I mean dark. You see Smeagol murder his friend Deagol (or lover?) in which you realise how quickly the ring will poison men's minds - even to the point where one would murder a friend to have it. From here you see Smeagol deteriorate and become what we know as Gollum and it's just a really dark segment, but it provides a necessary backstory to the character.
I must mention that there is one character in this movie that I despise of more than any character i have seen in any movie: Denethor, Boromir's father who pretty much scorns his second born son Faramir. It's obvious that Faramir has been trying to prove his worthiness to his father for some time, but when Denethor says to his son that he had wished he had died instead of Boromir, you can't as the viewer help but feel as broken-hearted as Faramir. I mean, imagine your father said that to you; that he had wished you had died instead of your brother. You'd feel grief-stricken. The look on Faramir's face in conjunction with the sorrowful music playing in the background makes it such a powerful scene. With watery eyes Faramir then says, "Since you were robbed of Boromir, I will do what I can in his stead", so then Faramir gathers his men to ride back out to Osgiliath in a fruitless battle to reclaim the city. It's such a sad scene because you know Faramir does not have enough men to reclaim the city, but he goes anyway to uphold the honour he has for his brother and halfwitted father. The whole scene is in slo- motion with Pippin singing sadly in the background as the Orcs draw their bows to kill Faramir and his men charging towards the overrun city. It's just all so sad and I'm pretty certain this scene will be very potent and indelible in my mind.
In the battle for Minasterith Aragon saves the day with his army of the undead, which to me pretty much felt like him putting in a cheat code and just demolishing every Orc, Troll and Mumakil on the battlefield. And this leads me to another point - Gimli and Legolas's friendship. I loved watching their friendship grow stronger and seeing these two characters learn to tolerate each other over the three films. I also cherish the humour in their relationship, I mean how can you not laugh after Legolas impressively takes down a Mumakil all by himself and Gimli, apathetically comments, "That still only counts as one!" I love scenes like this that lighten-up the mood of solemn situations.
One of the stand out performances, however, in the entire movie is by Samwise Gamgee. As the voice of reason in Frodo's head, Sam tries to tell him that Gollum is plotting to kill both of them and take the ring for himself, but because Gollum can empathise with Frodo, he believes Gollum's stories. When Frodo is poisoned and paralysed by Shelob (the giant spider) I really enjoyed seeing Sam battle her and be all courageous and brave and dexterous. As Frodo becomes weaker Sam needs to become stronger, and that's exactly what happens. When the two Hobbits finally reach the volcano Sam determinedly carries Frodo up the mountain to the entrance that really demonstrates his development as a character, in which the ring is later finally destroyed. It was interesting to see Gollum hold the ring close to his chest as he falls down into the pit of lava, yet even as he's sinking and burning and dying his one thought is to try save the ring. It just shows how evil can be tenacious and follow people to their death.
In essence, I felt this movie was the perfect way to end such a memorable trilogy. Peter Jackson did a superb job to make all the characters unique and significant in their own way and encapsulate what life is like during Middle Earth. The setting, the costumes, the characters, the CGI and the story were all presented perfectly in a trilogy that will never be forgotten.