The Return of the King

Rating: 9/10 (21 January 2020)

The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien's third and final chapter of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, creates an epic story that manages to thread the line between its insane action and its deeply moving character moments. Peter Jackson, the director of the film, manages to encapsulate Tolkien's vast world of Middle Earth in a way that is humbling and surreal. He manages to close out one of the biggest trilogies in movie history with a conclusion that everyone can be happy with. Even though it is slightly more than four hours long, it isn't ever boring. The time is needed to fully complete the story because there is just so much stuff in Tolkien's books. The one problem I have with this movie is the slowness of the ending. While I realize it's needed to close out all the different story arcs in the trilogy, it feels as if there are multiple endings and it just keeps going. In this review I'm giving a slight spoiler warning for the film, and a heavy spoiler warning for the previous two films. In this film, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum continue their quest to destroy the ring in the fiery pits of Mount Doom. At the same time, the rest of the Fellowship must defend the city of Minas Tirith against the amassing army of Sauron. I have to give a shout out to all the leading actors in this film because each and every one of them were so dedicated to their characters. I especially want to call out Sean Astin because his portrayal of Samwise went above and beyond anyone else in the film. This movie has some of the greatest battle sequences in movie history. Just being able to see the massive scale on both sides is truly breathtaking. It also does a good job of not glorifying war, there are countless scenes of soldiers sitting in silence before a battle just grieving with each other. One scene that pops into my head is when Denethor, the steward of Minas Tirith, sends his son back to the open field of battle. A battle that is a lost cause and everyone knows it. This scene does a great job of tying all elements together. The somber soldiers and citizens alike while the soldiers walk down the street and the other citizens throw flowers down for them. The only noise in this scene is Pippin's song that he sings to Denethor, and the sound of Denethor loudly is eating his meal. This hauntingly beautiful song, interrupted at different times by the crunching sound of him eating, creates an unsettling feeling in the audience. Also the editing of this scene is fantastic. The soldiers charging silently across the field and then you see all the orcs emerge from the ruins, bows drawn and ready to fire. They let their arrows lose and right before they hit, it cuts to Denethor biting a tomato, the juices running down this chin. You just feel disgusted watching it. Another great aspect of this film is while Frodo is the main character, each other member of the Fellowship has their own complete story arc throughout the trilogy and they all manage to end in a fair way to the character. This is something that really stood out to me because most films can't even do that with one character, let alone nine. To conclude, I believe that Peter Jackson has created a film that will stand the test of time and filmmakers should look to not just this film but the trilogy as a whole to grasp what is great storytelling.