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The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (37 - 39 of 70 Reviews)

Flawless; Filmmaking At Its Most Sublime
With the exception of some romantic fantasy films, such as MOULIN ROUGE, I usually don't care for fantasy at all (period pieces are more my style), but I loved every second of THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and the final installment, THE RETURN OF THE KING was so filled with epic grandeur and emotional highs and lows that I was in tears for much of film's final third (I am glad I went to see it alone).

THE RETURN OF THE KING isn't a "stand alone" film. It's the brilliant, and brilliantly flawless, conclusion of the best trilogy ever made.

Of course, as the conclusion of a trilogy, THE RETURN OF THE KING really can't be understood unless one's seen both THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING and THE TWO TOWERS or has read Tolkien's work. THE RETURN OF THE KING does pick up where Jackson left off in THE TWO TOWERS, however, after a brief flashback to show us Gollum, as Smeagol, fishing and the day he became corrupted by the ring.

THE RETURN OF THE KING follows two storylines, more or less. One storyline follows Hobbits, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) as they are led by Smeagol to Mt. Doom. The other follows Gandolf and Pippin as they travel to the city of Minas Tirith.

I know some people who felt the battle of Helm's Deep in THE TWO TOWERS was the best, but for my money, the Siege of Minas Tirith and the Battle of Pelennor Fields are the best battle scenes ever filmed.

IN THE RETURN OF THE KING, both Frodo and Sam become more "real" and take on tremendous emotional depth. I felt so much engagement with them and their quest. Although Sean Astin's, Sam has been widely, and rightly, praised (Astin is a wonderful and accomplished actor), I think viewers have had a tendency to let Astin's stellar performance cause them to overlook Elijah Wood's, Frodo. To watch Frodo go from happy Hobbit to a shell of what he was in the Shire was simply amazing.

I think the all the actors do their best jobs in THE RETURN OF THE KING. Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), all shine. Miranda Otto as Eowyn was beautiful, fierce and heartbreaking. And, although Gollum was computer generated, his movements were produced by Andy Serkis in what must have been a very difficult job because Gollum looks as real as any living creature I've ever seen.

The special effects looked "real" and not like special effects and Jackson's choice to build many of the elaborate sets rather than rely solely on computer generated special effects gives THE RETURN OF THE KING added depth.

The script does depart from Tolkien's original book in some areas. Some parts have even been condensed or eliminated entirely. I'm usually a "purist" when it comes to translating a book to film, but, had Jackson remained completely faithful to Tolkien's original, the trilogy would have been thirty hours long. While I would have liked to have seen Saruman's death (and will on the extended DVD) and perhaps the Scouring of the Shire (won't see that, it wasn't filmed), I understand the time constraints and I both like and respect Jackson's choices. He did capture the spirit of the original perfectly, no small achievement.

To those who complain about seeing four or five "endings," they must have seen a different film than the one I saw because I know there was only one, the right one. I simply can't understand this complaint at all and especially when it comes from those who think Jackson should have been "truer" to Tolkien's book. Tolkien's denouement ran more than 100 pages; Jackson's less than twenty minutes in a 3 ½ hour film. I felt sad to be leaving everything behind.

Even if THE RETURN OF THE KING isn't your "type" of film, it does represent filmmaking at its very finest. Peter Jackson has created a classic with THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and he's raised the bar so high he may never be able to surpass himself.

THE RETURN OF THE KING is a flawless production and represents filmmaking at its most sublime. This is a DVD to own and cherish.

Stellar but Extras Are Weak.
I just bought this last week and have to say, of course, the movie is immaculate but the extras on the second DVD are low quality. The documentaries included are poor and you might just be better off waiting to buy the Platinum and renting this one.

After My 5th Time to See It, I Finally Can Say I Love It!!!
This movie was probably the hardest of the three films to make because there was such a wealth of storyline and trying to cram it all in 3 1/2 hours really left the movie feeling like something was missing. Thank goodness the Extended DVD will totally satisfy all us fans. However, even though I like 'all the endings' after seeing it over 5 times, I would rather have seen those cut out for the theatrical release and stick in the fight between Gandalf and Saruman as well as the Witch King confronting Gandalf and breaking his staff (which will be included in the Extended Version).

Anyway, I have to be honest, even though I enjoyed the movie the first time, I was a little disappointed in it because my expections were so high. However, now that I have watched it over 5 times, I totally understand now why it swept the Oscars and I now love this movie very much, but it's still my least favorite of the three. I can probably speculate that the extended version will raise my opinion of this movie considerably (as the other two films extended editions did).

I won't bother to recount the story because there are hundreds of descriptions already posted here. This movie was epic and grand, special effects were decent - but they did not overshadow the story (Hint! Hint! to George Lucas). My most favorite moments were Gandalf's ride to Minas Tirith, Lighting of the Beacons, the "Oscar Moment" of Faramir riding to his death as Pippin sings an incredible ditty to Denethor as he ravages cherry tomatoes like some starved beast. The beginning scenes of Frodo entering Shelob's lair was very well filmed, the comedy between Gandalf and Pippin was refreshing, the Witch-King's defeat by Merry and Eowyn was very good, the 'bull-dozer' charge of the Rohirim was phenominal. The Nazgul on the fell beasts grabbing men and throwing them to their death was horrifying. I guess I could go on, but those are my favorite moments. My main complaint was that the "King" and his friends Legolas and Gimli were very robbed of scenes. I know there are extended scenes of these 3 in the mountain caves of the dead, and I've heard that Aragorn will confront the Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gates in the EE.

So, basically, Yes, this is a very good movie, but more so than the other two films, I think this one has to be watched several times to really appreciate its greatness. I've read some very ridiculous criticisms of this movie here, like "LOTR is a rip-off of "Star Wars"... haha... HELLO!!! LOTR was written over 40 years ago - if anything was ripped off, it was Star Wars ripping off LOTR!! I wish people would know what they are talking about before they make idiots of themselves!!

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