One of My Favorites...A Film Classic!

Rating: 10/10 (3 May 2004)

It's been awhile since my last viewing of ROTK in the theatre (beginning of February). I saw it a total of four times, which may not be much for a film of this caliber, but that's alot for me, because I usually do not like to see even the best films more than once in the theatre. As an avid fan of the books and huge admirer of JRR, I was skeptical as to whether the final film would deliver. I loved the first two films, but Two Towers digressed from the original story a little too much for me. Nevertheless, Return of the King blew me away--what an experience!!
After seeing it for the first time at the 7:00 showing, I returned the next morning for the 11:00 am showing because it was so wonderful! Seeing it the second time proved helpful, for the first time I was so blown away that I missed some things. The third and fourth times were no less entertaining...it was fun seeing it again with a theater full of Tolkien devotees.
Especially excellent in the film was Faramir...his sad reaction to Denethor's comments (while he was eating) broke my heart and almost moved me to tears! (At that time, I had never cried in a movie.) Pippin's singing simultaneously with the Gondor cavalry riding towards Osgiliath. What imagery and symbolism! One of my favorite scenes is the lighting of the beacons--beautiful scenery and music and it prepares the movie-goer for the battle as well. The battle at Minas Tirith was awesome--especially when Theoden is encouraging his troops and when Aragorn is leading the mysterious army from the mountains. Finally, I absolutely loved the "crowning ceremony"--Viggo has a good voice!
The acting continued to excel, except Elijah Wood as Frodo had some pretty repetitive lines that did not allow him to give much dimension to his character. It is obvious that Viggo M put alot of work into becoming the essence of the complex character Aragorn.
Congrats to PJackson and everyone involved for the multiple wins at the Globes and Oscars--your hard work finally paid off! I strongly urge everyone to view this fantastic film if for some strange reason you have not yet done so. 10/10