Director: Peter Jackson
Writers: J.R.R. Tolkien (novel), Fran Walsh (screenplay)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Story line
While Frodo & Sam continue to approach Mount Doom to destroy the One
Ring, unaware of the path Gollum is leading them, the former Fellowship
aid Rohan & Gondor in a great battle in the Pelennor Fields, Minas
Tirith and the Black Gates as Sauron wages his last war against
Middle-Earth.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)User Review
As a movie watcher, I
tend to become bored with the constant, overdone, overdrawn,
underplayed, overdramatized performance and production quality of most
Hollywood films. It's a trait that in recent years has sadly driven me
away from most big budget American films. A decent idea will become
mangled by the money making machine that is Hollywood, hoping to pump
the most raw cash they can out of it before it drops dead in the street.
We
all saw the catastophre of a failure that arose from the Matrix
Franchise. Such immense hype and professed genius only made the failure
all the more poignant for those of us that really wanted and expected
more from the franchise.
That all being said, I must say that The
Lord of the Rings is an amazingly powerful visual experience. Not even
just a visual experience. Peter Jackson has crafted one of the finest
written pieces of our era into THE quintessential epic. He supplements
the brilliant storytelling of JRR Tolkien with one of the most
awe-inspiring collection of films ever created.
The 7 hours of
film that leads up to the Return of the King is only precursor though,
when you sit and watch this film. It's just plain brilliance. Everything
about the film is wonderful. The manner in which Jackson has arranged
the scenes, detracting slightly from the original flow of the novel
really helps to keep the suspense strong in all three story branches.
The Tolkien humor is intact perfectly and the gallantry and just plain
coolness of these heroes is plain amazing. (Check out Legolas in the BIG
battle) It's all just too much for words.
If one were to gripe,
and I suppose there will never be a film made that one cannot find a
point at which to grip, it is painfully long running time here. I
personally believe that this is the only way such a film could be made,
true to the source material and completely engrossing, but I found
myself more worried about the pain in my posterior than the emotional
final minutes after 4 hours (including ads and previews) that I had
spent in a cramped seat. As such, this will be all the better (at least
for me) when it's release on DVD (can't wait for the extended...get to
see the Sauroman scenes that they cut out).
As a film though, this is amazing. A true lasting legacy in story telling and now cinema. Bravo Mr. Jackson.
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