Great, but disappointing in a way

Rating: 10/10 (2 April 2005)

The Return of the King was the third film in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy and was my least favorite of the three, despite winning 11 Academy Awards including 3 of the 5 major Oscars. It is the one that suffers the most in terms of altering the content of Tolkien's novel. Most notably the Scouring of the Shire is absent. Even if they could not include this in the movie, it should have at least been alluded to. Perhaps this chapter could be made into a separate film. Another problem that bothered many people was the loose end that was left by the absence of Bill the pony. The viewer will have to read the book to find out whether he lived or died after being set loose!
On the positive side, the characterization of the Haradrim and the Mumakil was excellent and Howard Shore's score was great once again. The Return of the King also contains the best original scene in the trilogy (ie a scene that was great independently of the book's greatness). We hear Billy Boyd's Pippen sing a haunting melody while seeing the grotesque juxtaposition of Denethor voraciously eating while his son Faramir, rides to almost certain death. As a film unto itself I give it 10/10 As a faithful adaptation of the book: 6/10