The most magical, powerful, emotional and inspiring of the Lord of the Rings epic films...

Rating: 10/10 (21 December 2003)

...Two years ago I had not read The Lord of the Rings and only thought the movie looked interesting because of the monsters and that guy who was in X-Men (I was only twelve) but when I seen The Fellowship of the Ring I was amazed by the level of magnitude and emotion that that film achieved. I was immediately smitten with the epic film and started memorizing the actor names, buying the toys and reading the three books (plus The Hobbit).
A year later I went to the theater opening night for The Two Towers with a ticket in my hand, ready to be amazed once again. That night, I was disappointed. I had just read the book and did not agree with the changes made. But two months later I seen it again and now that I knew of the faults all I could focus on was the greatness. The passionate performance by Bernard Hill (Theoden), the amazing effects and complexity of Gollum (Andy Serkis). By the end of that day I liked The Two Towers even more than The Fellowship of the Ring.
Now, two years later I prepared for what I thought was going to be the biggest disappointment of movie history. As everyone knows, the third is always the worst of the trilogy. "Return of the Jedi" and "Matrix Revolutions" weren't necessarily bad movies, but compared to their predecessors they were unimpressive. "The Godfather: Part III" was hammy, and who could forget the pathetic westernized "Back to the Future III"? All disappointments. I thought "Return of the King" would follow their leads.
I was so wrong.
The plot of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" focuses on Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam's (Sean Astin) continuing journey into the dark reaches of the evil land of Mordor do destroy the One Ring, the greatest weapon in the history of Middle Earth. As they trek into the land with the help of their conniving servant Gollum (Andy Serkis); Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Theoden (Bernard Hill) plot to come to the aid of Gondor, a city besieged by countless attacks from Mordor. The three go their different ways, with Aragorn looking for aid in a ghostful army, Gandalf trying to convince Gondor steward Denethor (John Noble) to fight back and Theoden mustering his armies to come to the aid of Gondor in its most heated moment.
It sounds very confusing, with the legions of characters, but with the way the story unfolds, someone who hadn't seen the first two could probably understand it. Plus there are the subplots with female warrior Eowyn (Miranda Otto), hobbit friends Merry (Dominic Monoghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Faramir's (David Wenham) relationship with his father Denethor.
The Golden Globes are moronic. This movie has what's probably the greatest ensemble cast in film history. The acting goes beyond perfect. Every last actor becomes their characters. Most notably are McKellen's Gandalf and Noble's Denethor. McKellen - who actually gets to be in the whole movie this time - gives his best performance of the trilogy as the desperate wizard trying to help and solve the problems of all of the other characters. John Noble gives what could be the best performance of the trilogy as the steward-gone-mad, and he has what is one of the most memorable and complex scenes in a fantasy movie (I wont spoil it). He deserves a Supporting Actor Oscar for sure, along with McKellen and Astin (who gives his best performance of the trilogy).
The leads, Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen, also do wonderful. Wood presents his inner struggle so well you'd be calling him Frodo if you met him in real life. Mortensen probably did better in The Two Towers, but his role in this is notable as well.
Overall, this movie conquers the fantasy genre, the adventure genre and the action genre, I recommend to anyone who wants to be entertained, 9.5/10.