Return of the King




The board is set, the pieces are moving.

At about 6:00 on a cold December night, I found myself huddled in front of the theater with my friends. What would drive me to freeze for half an hour as I waited in the lineup? You guessed it.

The Return of the King marks the last installment of the blockbuster trilogy. In case you don't know the broader details, (which I certainly hope you do by now) the epic is set in the land of Middle Earth, where a dark lord and his armies are on the verge of conquering everything. The good guys' only hope rests on Frodo Baggin's (Elijah Wood) shoulders, a Hobbit (little person) who holds the dark lord's ring of power. He must destroy the ring, thus destroying the dark lord.

After three straight years of Lord of the Rings holiday releases, this film wraps up things in a spectacular manner, pitting 600,000 orcs against one heck of a stronghold, Minas Tirith. Gandalf (Ian McKellen) leads the nearly hopeless defense, while Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) rallies forces to come to their aid. That basically makes for the story aside from Frodo and Sam (Sean Astin) finally making it to Mordor with the ring.

On the first viewing of The Fellowship of the Ring I was hooked. After seeing The Two Towers I was more than a little disappointed. I came in expecting the worst and hoping for the best and left satisfied. Like The Two Towers, this movie has a lot of action but no real anchor point. It also does a lot of what the second one did. Preparation for a large battle that seems hopeless, only to have the day saved majestically in the end.

Does it measure up? Yes, and at over three hours it takes its time to tie up all the loose ends, and it doesn't really get them all. Numerous liberities were taken to the film, but they were overall for the better. Though it goes all out in the special effects and the emotions, in the end it feels like a grander version of The Two Towers. Some of the scenes I think could have been done better, including the climax, but most achieve their desired effect. It is especially thrilling when the Rohirrim charge.

P.S. I didn't get to see it the first time, it was sold out.



-The Gnome