A Breathtaking Conclusion To Cinema`s Greatest Fantasy Epic

Rating: 10/10 (13 February 2004)

It takes a miracle for me to go the cinema since smoking is banned in cinema chains but Peter Jackson is a miracle worker . How else would he be able to make me forget my filthy and disgusting nicotine addiction ? He made me forget all about cigarettes for three hours with THE TWO TOWERS and I knew that with RETURN OF THE KING he could make me forget all about ciggies for a record breaking three and a half hours . I booked my ticket for Rothesay winter gardens cinema and sat down to be enthralled
!!!!! SPOILERS !!!!!
I do conclude there are some people in the world who can`t see what the fuss is about with the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy . My parents seem slightly puzzled that their cynical critical son loves LOTR . It`s simply explained , these epic movies aren`t a childish fantasy , they`re like David Lean filming a Shakespeare play , but I do take onboard the criticism that the story structure of the movies can be irritating . FELLOWSHIP is very stop-start while the action intercutting in TTT can be annoying but ROTK has probably the best pace and structure of the three . ROTK starts with a sequence showing Smeagol murdering his friend in order to get the ring . This gives some needed backstory to Gollum . It also sets up its stall that it`s not a family film never mind a " childish fantasy " . In fact I predict that many of the children in Rothesay cinema will be having nightmares tonight due to the scenes with that horrible big spider , it made my skin crawl and the woman sitting next to me was gasping out loud as it prepared to cocoon poor Frodo , you should have seen the Q for the toilet after that scene which tells you how convincing the FX are in this movie , nothing appears CGI : Gollum isn`t computer generated he`s a living being and Peter Jackson doesn`t use camera trickery for fight scenes he uses million upon millions of extras . He is David Lean reincarnated . No he is David Lean AND Will Shakespeare reincarnated , look at the way the cast act their parts , it`s like they`re appearing in the greatest play of the bard . Their performances are superlative
There are some flaws . I did mention the script gives background to Smeagol but the script - Like the other films in the trilogy - is somewhat uneven . John Noble`s character Denethor seems somewhat underwritten and I wasn`t sure what his motivation was . Also as everyone else has mentioned the false endings are very irritating . When Aragorn is crowned king and the screen faded to black the audience reached for their Jackets and bags then we`re shown another scene lasting several minutes which faded to a blaze of music. Everyone reached for their bags and jackets , then another scene which... It would have been better to have seen Aragorn crowned King and then seen Frodo sailing into the distance but I guess after the screenwriters have irritated us with the abrupt endings of the first two movies it`s somewhat traditional to irritate with the end of the trilogy . These faults I can forgive but there is an unforgivable cop out of having an army of the undead charging to save the race of men from the Orc army at the end . It didn`t ruin the movie for me but it just seems so lazy and contrived which stopped me from thinking it was the best movie in the trilogy , it`s not , FELLOWSHIP is . But still this is a masterpiece of cinema which like cigarettes left me breathless and satisfied and hopefully we`ll see it sweep the Oscar ceremony at last
As for the Oscars themselves I`m puzzled about a couple of things . Howard Shore`s score is beautiful and haunting but it`s far from original with much of the music in ROTK re-used from FELLOWSHIP ( The Gondor theme ) and TTT ( The Celtic music ) while the omissions are even more surprising . No nominations for any of the actors ! I know that all the great performances would cancel each other out but it`s shameful Andy Serkis wasn`t nominated as best supporting actor . Can anyone name a more unlikable baddie than Gollum in recent cinema ? Me neither and no nomination for cinematography ! I`ve no idea how John Lesnie`s camera was able to keep up with the action and he deserved at least a nomination so maybe we`ll see the third instalment robbed on Oscar night like FELLOWSHIP was . Even if it is that doesn`t stop me and millions of other film fans from recognising the genuis of Peter Jackson . I bow to you Sir