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The Lord of the Rings - Return of the King

Synopsis

Do I need to go into detail? Frodo and Sam continue on their journey to Mordor to destroy the One Ring, while Aragorn, Gandalf, and the rest try to defend Minas Tirith (capital of Gondor) from being overrun.

What I Thought

About freakin' time. Not the movie, it took ages for me to actually SEE it. I was sick, you see. Then I had guests. But enough about me...

What can I say? I loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

The good:

The cast, superb.

The costumes, well just as superb even though a bit dirtier than in the second movie.

The special effects keep getting better. The battle scenes. Wow. Cinematography, etc, etc. Again, do I need to go into detail and did you expect any other response?

Now, I DO think The Two Towers was better, especially all the Helm's Deep scenes...

The bad (yes, there was some bad):

Is it just me or was Shelob a slight disappointment? Sure she was scary, but I didn't get a "wow" the way I did every time I looked at Gollum.

And the ghost army looked terrible. Did they go to the Haunted Mansion ride and steal the ghosts projected on glass? Ouch.

And of course, the cuts. We all heard about the Saruman cut, but I thought they'd at least SHOW the Shire all dug up. I guess Peter Jackson needs some place to be pristine and pure, I dunno.

And why didn't they explain what "going to the West" meant?? My moviegoing companions were like "so where's the boat going?" And that in his old age, Sam will eventually follow Frodo because he also was a Ringbearer?

Oh, and how about the cutting of Sam when he goes off alone with the ring? I thought that was a very formative scene in the book and a big insight into Sam's character.

I could go on, but I won't. I can't second guess the director's decisions except to say he was WRONG! :)

Looking forward to the Oscars and the extended edition.

 

All photos and text copyright Ryszard Kilarski, unless otherwise noted. Clip art, drawings, paintings are either free domain or copyrighted by the artists.