AK’s Movie Reviews: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Surely I cared about the journey of the little Hobbits? Or the peril of Middle Earth? Or the fights of Gandalf and the rest of the Fellowship? But no, I realized that I only particularly felt grief about Gollum. I was very much entranced by the spectacle and epic nature of the film; the settings, the costumes, the art direction, the visuals and the over-the-top action sequences but the characters suddenly became lost for me and the spectacle became my main interest.
That’s the kind of gamble that’s taken with a three-part trilogy consisting of three and a half hour movies. There is just SO much spectacle throughout the course of this trilogy that by the final film we forget about the nice little environment of the Hobbit Shire and the peaceful existence they had led. I had forgotten about the Fellowship and the pact they had made and the battles they fought for one another.
What remain in the conclusion of this trilogy are dreary-looking, dirty, grimy, battle-weary characters at the end of their road and none of them seem particularly excited about getting there. The reason I had so much interest in Gollum is because he is the most multi-dimensional character in any of the films. What he does at the end of Return of the King is certainly wrong, but what has been done to him is just as cruel.
Gollum is a fragile creature, a victim of a fate he had no control over and a power he didn’t realize. All the other characters in the film seem set towards one goal and attitude. Along with that he is an absolute triumph of visual effects and voice acting. He moves and interacts seamlessly with everyone and everything around him. Gollum is the best looking computer-generated character I’ve ever seen. I just wish the rest of the characters in the film had that much depth.
I’m not trying to be excessively negative here, because Return of the King remains a stunning film just as its predecessors were. It is a triumph of go-for-broke visual extravagance. It creates a fully believable mythological world and thrusts its characters into it without second guessing. The details are precise, the landscapes are gorgeous and the action incredible. The film is above most of the special effects blockbusters that are released because the effects all have purpose and style.
A lot of the times, the visuals in this film are used to enhance the environment rather than create it and it just seems more believable. This is a film that must be seen in the theaters to be appreciated and likely could never be duplicated in a home theater setting. Peter Jackson and his crew deserve the praise they are getting for these films. This is epic, spare-no-expenses filmmaking at its finest.
The story basically involves everyone from the first two films arriving at their final destinations. Frodo and Sam make their final ascension to Mount Doom to dispose of the ring. Gandalf, Aragorn and the rest of the gang must engage in another huge battle to save one of middle earth’s biggest cities. Aragorn makes a pact with Elron the leader of the elves (and part of me really wanted Elron just to snap and kick ass Agent-Smith style) so he can inevitably end up with Liv Tyler at the end of the film. That is a spoiler, but anybody who saw the first two films and didn’t think that Aragorn and Tyler would end up together in the end has no business watching movies. The story fulfills all the goals and loose ends from the previous two films but the emotional resonance just isn’t there.
Then there is the matter of the films conclusion. There is a point at about the three hour mark of the film in which it fades to black, everything is tied up, victory has been gained by those who deserve it and everything is well. The film proceeds to go on for another half hour. There are several more scenes in which it fades to black at a point of reasonable conclusion and then continues to go on and on. I could understand Peter Jackson wanting to come back and take a final bow at the end of the trilogy but this is simply too much.
Many people have pointed out to me that the book ends exactly this way. My response to them? I don’t care. I’m not a literary critic and I’m not doing a comparative piece. That ending may have worked just fine within the context of the book but on film it was pretentious, overwrought and unnecessary. Imagine an erotic film with a sex scene that went on for thirty minutes after the point of climax and you get roughly the same effect here. I (and many others in the theater) was downright restless throughout the last half hour of the film and in fact I couldn’t wait to get out of there at the end. After the heroes have a huge victory celebration about the fact that they saved the world and all is happy, is there really need for a ton of exposition after that?
The Lord of the Rings films are essentially one movie split into three parts. I remember seeing the first part in the theater and being completely blown away by it. It was the intensity of the visuals mostly, but it just seemed like a unique film experience to me. I also enjoyed the characters in the first film and enjoyed the world that had been constructed in front of the camera. The sheer epic quality of the movie is what affected me. Maybe that’s part of the problem. The second and third films were just as epic in nature but seemed to gradually lose steam as the story continued. By the end of the trilogy it just kind of goes out with a whimper. It’s hard to maintain that high level of awe throughout the course of ten hours of film.
Regardless of all my complaints I do recommend this film. Despite the many intrinsic issues this is the kind of film in which I sense joy behind the camera. The filmmakers had a good time as do all of the actors. It’s hard to show joy on film especially in an age when we are overloaded with cynical assembly-line movies that fill the multiplexes for one weekend and are never heard from again. I can appreciate filmmakers who enjoy their work and relish in it. I get that sense from the Star Wars films (and I mean all of them), the Indiana Jones trilogy and in almost all of Robert Altman’s work. For that reason and for the sheer visual splendor I recommend the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Go see it in the theaters, but not more than once.
