An epic conclusion to a classic literary work, and now, movie trilogy

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2005)

Sitting through a three and a half hour anything is a feat in and of itself, but I was faced with the unique challenge of further physical trials. There sitting beside me, as I sat through the previews, was a mid-20's lady who I'll call Butt-Monkey, sipping on a 2L bucket of Coke. As I turned to talk to my friend I saw in the corner of my eye that Butt-Monkey decides she wants to extricate her vat of soft-drink from the armrest vat-holder BY THE LID to give it a good sucking on. Of course the lid flies off, sending the tub of liquid slamming onto the floor beside my foot splashing my left leg, shoe and sock with the monstrous acidic sticky goop. My foot was soaked and our seating area was like a carbonated swamp. Even after the nice man (14yr old kid) mopped up the pool of Butt-Monkey's beverage, my shoes were fused to the ground for the entirety of the film. I literally spent the next 3 hours with napkins shoved down my sock and sitting on an angle seething with my dagger eyes at this incompetent boob. This still did not, in any way, lessen my enjoyment of this film and after the 3 hour epic I walked out of the theater with a huge smile on my face, only partially because I knew I would be writing this up and making up a stupid name for her. So Butt-Monkey, these butts are for you! Finally the highly anticipated fantasy finale of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is here completing the epic tale of Frodo and the destruction of the One Ring. We see the rejoining of old company as Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandolf, Merry and Pippin reunite at the fall of Isengard, continuing their story together. Sam, Frodo and Gollum press on along the road to Mordor and to the destruction of the Ring. This is an enthralling conclusion to a masterful cinematic saga that not only does justice to the original literary works but stands on it's own as THE epic trilogy of the 2000's (Read: the Star Wars Trilogy sucks).
I so thoroughly enjoyed this film that there are few if any negatives to address, but I did manage to find a few niggles. Unfortunately, we see little of certain characters that were very interesting from the past two films. For instance Saruman doesn't make an appearance at all, Treebeard and the Ents only grace the screen for 10 seconds if even, and Arwin is only a quaint side story of little consequence. I also found the spectacular main battle sequence concluded with a bit of a cop-out with a blanket victory by the good guys. In the very minor niggles category you could see that there were a few scenes that looked very "blue screened" that slightly pulled me out of the movie magic. Finally, I felt that the last few concluding scenes of the movie are arguably unnecessary. Still in the finest Hollywood fashion we see the Lord of the Rings shine and work on so many levels, appealing to young and old, man, woman and child ... as films should.
The cinematic journey that has been the Lord of the Rings has escalated over the 2 years of their release, each movie getting better and better, weaving together a tapestry of film making history. The spectacular vistas, spellbinding action, believable characters, friendship, conflict, defeat and victory all intertwine in a such a compelling story that it's redefined the attention span of your average movie-goer. Who can justify spending $13.50 at SilverCity to watch a movie like "Elf" when Return of the King can be had at the same price? This I will never know, but what I can tell you is that RofK is worth every penny. So go and go now to your local cinema and experience the most memorable film event that will impact this generation as the original Star Wars did in the 80s. A well deserved 5 Butt-Monkey salute for Return of the King.