An instant classic

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2004)

The final installation of Jackson's three part epic manages to steam forward with as much conviction and drama as the previous two. The acting is still superb, although there are admittedly, a few scenes that might have been removed for time and content. This film focuses on the region of Gondor, the last bastion of hope for the survival of mankind, and the final stage of the journey for Sam and Frodo as they are guided towards Mt. Doom by Gollum. Within the first five minutes of the film, there are clues that this will not be like the other two pictures. A sense of darkness and a feeling that hope is lost seem to overtake many of the characters. Aragorn's speech is starting to change from the rugged gruffness of the first two films, into the more refined diction that it associated with royalty in plays like Henry V. In fact, Aragorn's decision to cast off his kingly role as insinuated in all three films harkens to Shakespeare's young Harry, whether by coincidence or not. The relationship between Sam and Frodo becomes more strained in Return of the King as Gollum uses trickery in an attempt to gain control of the ring, and the character of Gollum becomes much more complex in Return of the King. Perhaps the greatest achievement of Return of the King, however, is its ability to show the massiveness of the scale of warfare while simultaneously emphasizing the value of human life, something many films about war fail to capture. Particularly, the relationship between Denethor and Faromir echoes this, and Jackson again uses splendid tactics to breathe life into a storyline that was all but absent from the previous two movies. The emotion investment in these characters is deeper than in any other film I have ever watched, as each player, good or evil, is a familiar face that the viewer is sad to see go. It is my observation that while the film is very long and the action and suspense sometimes unbearably hard to get through, this film could go on for much longer without losing my attention. This will likely go down as one of the greatest movies ever made, and it isn't even the best of the trilogy.