Hail to the King!

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2003)

`[Gandalf] raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. 'Saruman, your staff is broken.' There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman's hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf's feet. 'Go!' said Gandalf. With a cry Saruman fell back and crawled away. At that moment a heavy shining thing came hurtling down from above. It glanced off the iron rail, even as Saruman left it, and passing close to Gandalf's head, it smote the stair on which he stood. The rail rang and snapped. The stair cracked and splintered in glittering sparks. But the ball was unharmed: it rolled on down the steps, a globe of crystal, dark, but glowing with a heart of fire. As it bounded away towards a pool Pippin ran after it and picked it up' from: J. R. R. Tolkien, 'The Lord of the Rings', 'The Two Towers', 'The Voice of Saruman'
Nope, it's not in The Return of the King this beautiful crucial scene in which Saruman's power is overthrown by Gandalf and the palantír is falling down on the steps of Orthanc, tower of Isengard. In fact: there is no Saruman (or Christopher Lee) at all in the movie version of The Return of the King. When I was reading the book this scene had a deep impact on me and I still cannot believe Peter Jackson decided it should not be in the movie. But.
To be quite honest: despite this flaw there is still but one movie we have all been waiting for this year. And, last night Peter Jackson's closing piece of what some people call a trilogy hit my retina. The Return of the King has the advantage of hardly having to introduce new characters (the ones who already have seen the extended version of The Two Towers are already acquainted with Denethor, Steward of Gondor), and it is the only instalment of the three movies which has a real ending and no gnawing climax that asks you to wait another year to see how things end.
All loose ends are tied up in The Return of the King: Frodo and Sam continue their ordeal to destroy the infamous Ring of Power, with the treacherous once-hobbit-now-schizophrenic Gollum as their guide. Gandalf, Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn and the hobbits Merry and Pippin are reunited and travel to Gondor to the city of Minas Tirtith, on the border of the malignant kingdom of Mordor. All hopes rest upon Minas Tirith being the last bulwark of resistance against the evil forces of Sauron. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas split up to take the Paths of the Dead in order to find an army to fight Sauron. And Gandalf takes Pippin to Gondor in order to protect him because Sauron believes Pippin has the Ring of Power.
But let's get to the core. How is the movie? It is absolutely breathtaking. I went seeing it some hours ago thinking: 'please don't let me be disappointed.' That was how high my expectations were. Well, I can tell you: these expectations were exceeded. The Return of the King is definitely the best of the three movies. Everything is so much in balance. It is not just blunt fighting (that was one of the few weak elements of The Two Towers), the movie has real genuine emotion. I don't recall having seen a movie at which people started crying. At The Return of the King people did.

The special effects are also amazing. If you were impressed by the armies at Helm's Deep in The Two Towers you haven't seen anything yet. The armies and battles in this movie make Helm's Deep look like a little fight at the local schoolyard. I was really impressed by the miniatures used for Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul. Sean Astin as Sam is the actor that takes the dialogues and acting performances to its extremes. Even though the movie is 'Saruman-less' it still has so much to offer. Everything is in its right place and it also has one of the most powerful opening scenes of all three flicks when we see how Sméagol finds the ring and slowly evolves into Gollum. All special effects - as amazing as they are - are used to support the story rather than to just impress. It is all so jaw-dropping that I cannot believe The Return of the King will be passed at the next Oscar ceremony.
I am going to give The Return of the King more stars than I am allowed to: 6 out of 5. It is unlike anything I have ever seen and the only thing I can think of right now is that I want to see it again because I must have missed so many good details. Hail to The King!
Copyright 2003 by Arjan Welles @