A truly magical end to the best trilogy of all time...

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2006)

As my summary suggests I enjoyed this movie and reckon that it is a fine conclusion to the best trilogy of all time. There may be some debate on this but LOTR gets my vote for many reasons.
What makes this movie so good? Put simply, LOTR was made with such composite love and skill that it is simply unbeatable. One can only imagine what is was like on set, by which I mean the entirety of New Zealand. The cast must have become more than just a group of employees. The production team, who were all united behind their visionary director, must have offered such care and attention to every factor of all three movies that it would've been heartbreaking to say goodbye to some of the props, let alone the whole process. All this, combined with so able a director, created a fantastic trilogy with its thrilling conclusion.
And what of the film (and I shall be talking about the Extended Editions rather than the theatrical releases)? Well The Two Towers ended with the defeat of Saruman's Urukai and their subsequent slaughter while Sam and Frodo, set free by Faramir after he'd captured them en route to Mount Doom, are on their way back to Sauron's layer, unknowingly being led by Gollum who has returned to dominate poor Smeagol's mind. A brief aside: if none of this makes sense to you you're reading the wrong review! So what happens next? Put simply: the great battle of their times...
Having seen Saruman killed by Grima Wormtongue, who was subsequently shot by Legolas, Theoden, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, Pippin and Gandalf return to Edoras, the latter in possession of Saruman's palantir. The heroes have just won a glorious battle but have by no means concluded the war. Sauron's forces in Mordor are far in excess of what Saruman had available and no one is sure quite where the evil demigod has his eye set upon.
Enter Pippin who, true to form, decides to try and mess everything up by looking into the palantir and potentially telling Sauron all about Frodo and the dark lord's ring... Very fortunately, for the good guys, Pippin doesn't give anything away and instead gathers vital intelligence about Sauron's target... Gondor, the city of the King. All becomes clear (relatively). Gandalf, along with Pippin, must go to Gondor to warn them of their doom and get the defences prepared while the rest of the heroes have to wait in Edoras for a signal from Gondor calling for aid.
Unfortunately, the steward of Gondor, Lord Denethor, is in no mood to be helped. Unprepared to accept the forthcoming invasion he is also aware of Aragorn's existence and has no intention of surrendering 'his' kingdom to the king. Old Strider doesn't seem particularly thrilled by the prospect either and a great part of the first third of this film is devoted to the metamorphosis of Aragorn from humble ranger to glorious leader.
With Denethor proving difficult, Gandalf acts independently of him, using Pippin to alert Rohan to Gondor's plight while Denethor mulls on how best to send his remaining son Faramir to his death. The treatment of Faramir by his father, in the wake of Boromir's death, which everyone in Gondor seems to know about, provides most of the remainder of the opening scenes of ROTK and is both touching and dramatic. Meanwhile Frodo and Sam progress towards Mount Doom, but Gollum has plans for them. With Sauron's army departing the three halflings arrive at Shelob's cave, only for Sam to be sent away because of his perceived lust for the ring. Gollum's deception separates Frodo from his gardener/bodyguard and that is not a good thing as Smeagol leads the hapless hobbit into the cave only to abandon him to the giant spider...
Enough of the plot. From that point on the setting up of events for the subsequent action is pretty much over. The beacons of Minas Tirith are lit, Faramir is nearly killed, Rohan comes to the aid of Gondor which is attacked, Eowyn follows her uncle carrying Merry along for the ride, Aragorn disappears with Gimli and Legolas to find an army of dead soldiers, Gandalf struts his stuff, Pippin becomes useful, Denethor is killed, Faramir is saved, the Witch king dies, as does Theoden, much fighting occurs and everyone generally has a thrilling time.
So do the audience. The remainder of the film pales somewhat after the charge of the Rohirrim, while certain scenes offer more questions than answers. Why, for example, do the horsemen stand and fight a far more superior foe, the Mumakil, when they could just turn around and save the city of Gondor? However, this comedown is only to be expected and sets up the conclusion, which isn't too far away. Unfortunately, after that finale comes a long continuation where the hobbits return home only to leave again for the ending. This is unnecessary and rather boring but you can just about forgive it after the enormous length of the shoot. Plus it allows Samwise to have his last word.
In terms of the acting there's nothing that hasn't been seen before, with each person doing their bit to appear tough yet vulnerable. Some fair better than others. Viggo Mortensen really comes into his own while Elijah Wood has to suffer for Frodo's shortcomings. Nevertheless everyone is excellent and they are matched by the lines they have and the areas around them. The CGI is seldom intrusive and never anything short of spectacular while the chaos of battle is not totally disorientating.
All in all this film matches and surpasses the first two, providing an excellent conclusion and suitable end to some of the best films ever made. The only sadness is that, despite King Kong, Christmas is never going to be quite the same again!