Fantasy for Everyone

Rating: 10/10 (20 June 2011)

You know what to expect. You've read all the reviews, you've heard how good it is from your friends, so you know what to expect. You already know that "Return of the King", the third and final film in the amazing Lord of the Rings trilogy, is an awesome and truly epic film experience. But for those who are still sceptical, since LOTR is such a "nerdy" enterprise, I'm here to convince you to take a chance on this great film.
First and foremost, this movie is action-packed. Yes, the beginning is, besides some murder and frightening scenes, pretty peaceful. But when the armies of Evil and the armies of Men have fully gathered together at the awe-inspiring city of Minas Tirith, that's when the fun begins. Horses run over orks by the thousands, giant Mumakil elephants trample everybody, and an army of ghosts show up and slaughter everything. To top it all off, we have a showdown between warrior-princess Eowyn and the undead leader of the Nazgul, the Witch King (and heck be darned if he isn't seriously scary enough to make hell freeze over with his voice alone). We also have Legolas taking down an entire Mumak SINGLEHANDEDLY. All this makes "Return" truly entertaining to watch, since the intensity and suspense has already been setup.
But this film isn't only about slaughtering orcs: there are several different genres mashed up here. The freaky scenes where the giant spider Shelob chases Frodo through her lair bring to mind the creepier horror films from the 80's, such as "The Thing". For any girls in the audience, there is obviously the romance between Aragorn and elven babe Arwen, and there is also Eowyn's feminist-style charge into the thick of battle. The point is,LOTR was not made for creepy little nerds to obsess about; it was made for anybody who loves a great story. J.R.R Tolkien knew that, and so did Peter Jackson. And that's why the "LOTR" trilogy is so marvellously good.