Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

Year: 2003

Grade: A-

Country: New Zealand

Director: Jackson

Review

i’m new to the lotr story…i never read any of the books, i was a geek, but not that far gone. the first two films really blew me away, as you’ll read below i love the balance of comedy, drama, romance, and action. the pacing, especially for films that are over three and half hours longs, is really good. now to the final installment of the trilogy. i’m not going to even comment on the most popular complaint that the film is too long. the second complaint that i anticipate is that the end dragged along too much. it did. but after i left the theater here’s what i thought of it – it’s an epic with all sorts of storylines to close off so it’s going to take a while to properly wind things down. also, it seems the point of the voice-over narration from frodo, that the story never ends….certainly this ending gives this feel while providing a suitable conclusion to the series. the action sequences are pretty fucking crazy and deserve to be seen on the big screen. the philosophy of the series is deepened in the film….though to be honest i was viewing it more with the intent of following the story and such so i didn’t have much time to think about the other levels. apparently there’s one major scene that’s cut out about the razing of the shire, but that should make it into the extended version of the dvd. this film deserves to be nominated for probably about 8-12 academy awards and it’ll probably win the effects and sound ones, but i don’t have enough faith in the academy to say it’ll get picture or director. i don’t think this is the best film of the trilogy…i’ve only seen it once, but i think it’s probably about as good as the first one. the second one is my favorite.

Watched in theater