You are
coming to the end of a long journey, begun perhaps when you first heard
that Lord of the Rings was being made into three films. You
enjoyed the first two films and are on tiptoes to see the final episode,
or maybe you're frustrated that parts one and two didn't contain proper
endings and just want to have done with the plot.
Your wait is being rewarded in
spectacular fashion; Return of the King is the best film of Peter
Jackson's epic trilogy. Return of the King is also the longest of
the three, the most emotionally enriching, and the most violent, as
Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and their small armies of men battle not just
10,000 orcs (as in Two Towers' Helm's Deep), but, rather, 600,000
orcs, evil men, trolls, and flying Nazgul. More impaling, more
beheading, more clubbing, stomping, and bleeding than the first two
films combined, times three. And then some. You have never seen war
portrayed on a more grand scale; director Peter Jackson has made his
mark in the ranks of epic cinema, and it is very high. Prepare your
heart to laugh, cry, and shout. Return of the King brings you to
the climax of the characters' struggles and leaves you dizzy with
wonder, grief, and joy.
Suffice it to say that the
heroes of Return of the King come to the end of their quest and
the end of themselves, risking everything, even their own lives and
sanity, in order to save one another.
At one point in the film,
as in the book, the heroes seek the aid of dead, malevolent spirits, in
order to help them fight a war. Parents who choose to take their
teenagers to (or allow their teenagers viewing privileges for) Return
of the King: be forewarned that the war scenes are horrific, and
many people are shown dying violently. Evil characters are destroyed,
but this is not a splatterfest. Characters do bleed and suffer, but I
did not feel that the filmmakers were rubbing our faces in it. They were
trying to depict Tolkien's worldview as much as possible, and they did
that very well. We need to see heroes with the kinds of qualities
manifested here, and seeing them destroy evil creatures in their pursuit
of righteousness did not seem very offensive to me.
Perhaps the most disturbing
scene shows a deranged father willing to sacrifice his own son's life
for selfish reasons, and then seeking to kill his son and himself. There
is also a sequence with a large, horrific monster that may send many
adults and their kids out the exit for a breath of fresh air. In a word,
Return of the King is intense.
However, you should also
know that the film promotes character traits like self-sacrifice,
unwavering friendship, and mercy. In fact, these noble qualities, as
well as providence, prevail throughout all three Lord the the Rings
films. If you are at all unsure whether your kids will be able to handle
Return of the King, see the film yourself first, then decide. You
will enjoy seeing it a second time anyway. Enjoy Return of the King
- the best film of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, this year, and,
perhaps, this decade.
Peter
Jackson's Return of the King is the third and final film of his
Lord of the Rings trilogy, which began two years ago with The
Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. It is based on a series of
best-selling books by British author J.R.R. Tolkien. Unlike the Star
Wars trilogy, Lord of the Rings is a continuous story, meant to
be viewed back to back. Thus, if you have not seen Fellowship
or Towers,
Return of the King may make little sense to you. If you are new to
the series (or skipped one of the first movies), this review provides
a brief re-cap of the events leading up to Return of the King,
in order to enhance your enjoyment. However, you will likely
appreciate the films more if you first block out six hours and rent
the previous films (better yet, take seven hours to view the
extended-cut DVDs of these films).
The
story's main characters, Frodo and Sam, are hobbits (small, quiet folk
with large, hairy feet) who embark on a quest into enemy territory (Mordor)
to destroy the most powerful weapon in all of Middle Earth - a magic
ring that enables its user to conquer and destroy whole races,
including mankind, elves, and dwarves. The hobbits must cast the ring
into a volcano where the evil lord, Sauron, originally made it. He
constantly peers out at Middle Earth with a fiery, unblinking eye,
searching for his One Ring that was lost and bringing war against the
world. Following the hobbits and helping them enter Mordor is a
creature named Gollum, who once possessed the ring himself and
desperately wants it back.
Meanwhile,
the hobbits' friends Gandalf (a wizard), Legolas (an elf), Gimli (a
dwarf), Aragorn (a man), and two other hobbits, Merry and Pippin, are
busy defending the kingdom of men, Gondor, against Sauron and his
hordes of ugly orcs, trolls, evil men, and Nazgul (hooded creatures
who fly upon black beasts). These friends are hopelessly outmatched,
and their only real hope is to give Frodo and Sam the time needed to
fulfill their epic quest.
