Incredible pacing; incredible emotion

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2003)

*Possible Spoliers*

I'm a big Lord of the Rings afficionado. I love Tolkien's work and was afraid the last big installment -- The Return of the King -- wouldn't be quite the way Tolkien envisioned his work would end. After all, I had heard all the rumors that claimed that Saruman's fate would be avoided in the movie, and of course there wasn't a scouring of the shire. But just as TTT proved to me that Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" had merit, his RotK proved to be an incredible movie, absolutely the best movie I have seen thus far. I'll try to avoid large details and the such -- and I'll definitely try to stay away from "my opinion of this is so and so..." phrases because they don't convey anything. The emotion I felt during the film was that I was part of the film; looking at a theatrical poster today, I just realized how much I felt like I was there with Frodo, Sam, the Fellowship, or even with the Orcs. Sméagol, as usual, has an excellent role, and is definitely a worthy adversary -- and yet, necessity -- the the story line. In any case, the movie was a monumental work of extreme genius, excellent graphics, and perhaps above all else, it engendered raw emotion.

This wasn't a movie where crying came in fits, or at just the end. As early as halfway through the movie, there was applause throughout the theater -- perhaps aggravating to some, but it surely revealed the intensity of the movie. In this regard, much credit should be given to the way Peter Jackson took the plot. Rather than film two separate plotlines, as Tolkien used, or even three (one for Minas Tirith; one for Aragorn and his companions; another for Frodo, Sam, and Sméagol), Jackson decided to blend all the plots together to give a better idea of the flow of time. The way he did present it turned out to be similar to the plot in TTT, and set up the stage for all the emotions to come. They came in one massive, grandiose style conclusion that revealed both the full implications of having carried the ring and the fate of Middle Earth.

I appreciated the film. Of the three, it perhaps best followed Tolkien's words and was arguably the most moving. I thought I had seen the best film in 2002 when I watched TTT -- RotK merely one-upped it, and took the concept of incredible passion to another yet. To the directors, actors, and anyone else who put in seven years of their life to see this own quest done, congratulations. You've done it. For the third time in a row.