Yes, all you Middle-Earth fans, today I’m giving my critique on the concluding chapter of one of the greatest film trilogies of all time, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King! I recently finished watching this epic finale to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and while I still greatly enjoy the previous movie, The Two Towers, The Return of the King is a worthy conclusion to a spectacular movie trilogy, with incredible performances, compelling action, near-perfect directing, and a majestic score!
Story: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King takes place immediately where The Two Towers left off, with Frodo and Sam continuing their journey to Mount Doom with the aid of the treacherous Gollum, who secretly plans to double-cross the two Hobbits in order to reclaim the One Ring for himself. Meanwhile, Gandalf, Aragorn, and the other members of the Fellowship of the Ring, along with King Théoden of Rohan, prepare for the coming battle against the growing forces of the malevolent dark lord Sauron, who is determined to see Minas Tirith, the capital city of Gondor, fall under the power of his immense army’s might.
The multiple subplots told throughout the movie, such as the testing of Frodo and Sam’s friendship and the build-up to the final battle against Sauron’s massive armies, are quite well written and well balanced, and thus the development that each subplot undergoes allows them to end in a way that most viewers will be satisfied with. For example, the relationship between Frodo and Sam is rather well developed, as their friendship is put to the ultimate test by Gollum’s nefarious machinations, and though Frodo does end up briefly deceived by Gollum to the point that he turns on Sam, the latter soon discovers that he’s been set up, loyally returning to save Frodo from the monstrous spider Shelob and stays at Frodo’s side thereafter. Frodo returns this favor with his visible appreciation of Sam’s selflessness, which is demonstrated when Frodo states that he’s glad Sam is with him, “Here at the end of all things”, shortly before the pair are rescued from the erupting Mount Doom by Gandalf. However, the side-plot of Aragorn finally assuming his mantle of king of Gondor could’ve had more screen time to develop, as this would’ve made the conclusion of Aragorn’s story that much more fulfilling. In addition, it would’ve been nice to see the other races of Middle-Earth (Elves, Dwarves, etc.) making their stands against the might of Sauron. This would work because including this plot thread would show that the race of Men isn’t the only group in Middle-Earth under the threat of Sauron’s merciless warmongering. Finally, despite these plot-based flaws, the main story of the final defense as well as offense against the might of Sauron’s forces is rather well built-up. By the time both the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the Battle at the Black Gate roll around on-screen, viewers will most likely be anxious to see our heroes finally do battle with Sauron's minions!
Cast: This is one of the strongest points of this cinematic marvel, as the characters seen in The Return of the King are all brought to life by a truly ensemble cast, with the likes of Elijah Wood, Sean Astin (of The Goonies fame), Ian McKellen (aka Magneto from the X-Men franchise), Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom (whom I know as Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean series), John-Rhys Davies (aka Sallah from the Indiana Jones franchise), Bernard Hill, and Andy Serkis, to name a few. To start things off, Sean Astin delivers one of the best performances of the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy as Samwise “Sam” Gamgee, as Astin captures the spirit of a true friend in this film. One of Astin’s best moments in The Return of the King is when Sam and Frodo collapse in exhaustion at the side of Mount Doom, and, after trying and failing to get Frodo to continue (since the latter is fatigued beyond measure) Sam declares, “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!” The way Sean Astin delivers this line is stunningly captivating in how genuine it sounds. In fact, this scene, along with the scene where Sam takes on the grotesque spider Shelob in defense of Frodo, alone could make viewers wish for a friend with the unshakeable bravery and loyalty that Sam has. Ian McKellen, on the other hand, garners a truly commanding presence as the benevolent wizard Gandalf, as McKellen is able to almost effortlessly balance the two main personas of Gandalf: a determined protector of the weak and innocent but also a caring and wise friend to the other members of the Fellowship especially the Hobbit Pippin (who plays a much larger role here compared to in the previous films). In addition, Andy Serkis delivers an astonishingly convincing performance as the deceitful Gollum, as Serkis captures the cunning, backstabbing, and obsessed mannerisms of his character to perfection. Serkis also captures the physical movements and vocalisms of the former Ring-bearer rather flawlessly, as Gollum moves and speaks in such a chillingly realistic way that you’ll possibly swear that someone like him could exist in real life. In addition to these 3 key performances, the rest of the cast of The Return of the King are also given their moments to shine, and everyone is completely in character throughout their scenes in this great triumph of filmmaking, which leads to their characters being rather convincing, and thus earns viewers’ sympathy for these characters that have grown significantly throughout this wonderful film trilogy.
Music: As with the previous Lord of the Rings movies, Howard Shore composed the music for The Return of the King, and all I can say is, Shore saved his best for last! While some (even I) could argue that The Two Towers has just as good of a score as The Return of the King, that doesn’t mean that the latter film fails to deliver in the music department in any way! My favorite pieces of music from The Return of the King, I feel, demonstrate how great of a film composer Howard Shore really is. For example, the music that plays as Gandalf and Pippin arrive at Minas Tirith has a grand feeling to it, which perfectly coincides with the awe viewers will likely feel upon seeing Minas Tirith for the first time onscreen. In addition to this, the score that plays when the tower that Sauron's spirit resides in comes crumbling down following the ultimate destruction of the One Ring has a sort of triumphant aura to it, in that viewers will recognize that evil has finally been vanquished for good, which adds to the satisfying feeling that will likely be felt by those who watch this wonder of a film. In general, the music of The Return of the King will suck you into the moment and leave you in awe of Howard Shore’s musical abilities.
Action scenes/Visual effects: Like the cast and music, the action sequences as well as visual effects are one of the most memorable aspects of this Peter Jackson-directed epic. Like in The Two Towers, Gollum is brought to incredible life by the brilliant visual effects team at Weta Digital, who translate the astonishing performance of Andy Serkis into the computer-generated freak of nature that is Gollum. Additionally, Weta Digital also added to the spectacle of the action sequences of The Return of the King through the first-ever application of digital horses that were used in the place of real horses for scenarios too dangerous for real horses or their riders, such as the sequence where the Nazgul attack a squad of Gondorians on their way back to Minas Tirith from Osgiliath. Believe it or not, the horses that are plowed over by one of the Nazgul’s Fell Beasts are actually computer-generated creatures seamlessly inserted into the shot alongside the real horses, and if these horses looked real (assuming one's already seen the movie), then this merely goes to show how artistically talented Weta’s visual effects team became throughout the production of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Speaking of action sequences, The Return of the King has among the best battles and duels of the entire trilogy, being matched only by the Battle of Helm’s Deep from The Two Towers, with sequences such as the massive Battle of Pelennor Fields, to the one-on-one between Sam and Shelob over the fate of a comatose Frodo, to the final battle at the Black Gate of Mordor, all of which were very well planned and choreographed. However, I feel as though the battle at the Black Gate could’ve been longer and slightly more evenly matched, as well as with equal focus on each of our heroes in action due to what’s at stake by this time in the movie. Furthermore, a major point I feel should’ve been acknowledged is why did our heroes dismount from the horses they arrived on? Surely these elegant steeds could’ve served the protagonists (especially the Rohirrim forces present, given how deadly they'd been shown to be on horseback) quite well in the ensuing battle! In spite of this complaint, the Battle of Pelennor Fields has to be the most engaging of the 3 battles, due to its sets of combatants as well as how the battle plays out, as it goes from a catapult battle between the Gondorians and Sauron’s orcs, to a cavalry charge courtesy of the Rohirrim, to a Haradrim (who ride giant, vicious elephant-like creatures known as Mumakil) vs. Rohirrim skirmish to a large ghost army overtaking led by Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli (though I think the ghost army didn’t have enough screen time, especially considering what a visual spectacle they provided when in action). If you’re watching The Return of the King for the first time, odds are you’ll find this massive battle extremely entertaining thanks to the way events play out.
Overall, after seeing this fantasy gem, I can see why The Return of the King is so universally acclaimed by moviegoers: despite certain flaws when it comes to both the action & the narrative, the movie generally stays on track with the story, the action is spectacular, the effects admirable, and the performances truly something to behold. I definitely recommend seeing this if you want to see the best that the fantasy genre of film has to offer (provided you’ve seen the previous two Lord of the Rings films beforehand) or if you simply want to see what makes this trilogy so worth seeing!
