Title: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Year: 2001
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Genre: Action / Adventure / Fantasy
Country: New Zealand / USA
Cast: Sean Astin, Sala Baker, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Marton Csokas, Megan Edwards, Michael Elsworth, Mark Ferguson, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Lawrence Makoare.
The final moments of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "Return of the King" is the biggest film; whether it's the best is really not a question that needs to be asked - simply because this series continues to be such a monumental cinematic achievement that picking a "best" of the three seems silly. The film picks up where "The Two Towers" left off; Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin), and the creature Gollum (Andy Serkis) are approaching the dark land of Mordor, to destroy the ring in Mount Doom. However, the ring is starting to have grave effects on Frodo. The two hobbits also continue to have doubts about whether their new friend is friend or foe.
Meanwhile, Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Ghimli (John-Rhys Davies) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) have reunited with friends Merry and Pippin (Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd). The reunion doesn't last long, however, as a mistake on Pippin's part leads him to join Gandalf in the journey to Midas Tirith to warn the city of armies planning an approach. Elsewhere, Aragorn begins to learn of his fate - he is to be the new king.
There is no doubt that the third in the trilogy is the biggest and most epic of the three: there seems to have been no expense spared in creating some of the most remarkable battle scenes that have ever been seen on film, while the film also has the longest running time of the three. The battle scenes take things to another level beyond that seen previously in "Helm's Deep". While the rain and gloom of the "Helm's Deep" scenes added an unforgettable sense of dread to those scenes, the siege of Minas Tirith and the battle of Pelenor Fields here are visually breathtaking, with giant creatures and spectacularly choreographed action. Some of the finer moments of "Return of the King", however, are not the flashiest or most spectacular: a scene where two cities communicate with each other by a series of lit fires across the mountaintops.
While the film is superb in many ways, there are a series of minor faults to the film. While the final scenes are remarkably moving, there are a few "curtain call"-ish moments with the characters saying goodbye. It's not necessarily a wrong choice, but there's a couple of scenes (one having Frodo name each of the characters as they arrive) that grind these moments to a halt. As for the opening, Jackson could have skimmed a little bit of the introductory moments and gotten into the meat of the story a little faster. While the film moves at a pretty remarkable clip for a film running 3+ hours, there are still a few moments here-and-there that feel slightly excessive.
There are also a few little character issues, too: while Miranda Otto's performance as Eowen is terrific, Jackson sort of goes into a "love triangle" between Eowen, Aragorn and Liv Tyler's Arowen, but leaves it in a way that kind of kicks Eowen out of the picture. Tyler's performance is good, but I continue to feel that the character might seem a tad more fully realized if she'd had a couple more scenes. While Austin's Sam has a larger role here, he is believable as a great friend; once the character becomes something of a warrior later on, it's a little much.
Once again, the performances are terrific. Mortensen's performance is even more dynamic than in the previous films. Although Wood seemed a questionable choice when the trilogy was announced quite a few years ago, he's been excellent as Frodo and this film, where he must show the burden of the ring, offers his finest hour. The heroics of Austin's character become a little much, but his quest to aid his friend results in some of the most moving moments of the film's second half. While I thought Bloom really didn't fit into "Troy", his performance here is swift and smart. McKellen is, as always, outstanding. The supporting roles are all extremely well-played, too.
I'm pretty sad to see these films come to an end - not just because I've grown to enjoy watching the journies of these characters for three films and two (soon to be 3) extended editions of said films - but also because there hasn't been anything this ambitious in cinema in years.
This "Extended Edition" of "Return of the King" adds in a large amount of footage - 50 minutes of fully-produced sequences, complete with new score by composer Howard Shore. For those unfamiliar with my reviews of the extended editions of the other two "Lord of the Rings" movies, I did appreciate the additional footage - it especially made "Fellowship of the Ring" more satisfying. The most noticable change in the movie occurs fairly early on, with a sequence that shows the end of Saruman. While it's a pretty elaborate sequence, it doesn't quite work as well as it should have. It's a nice edition and it fills out the story elements a bit, but I can see why it wasn't included in the theatrical release. We also see more of Éowyn (Miranda Otto), Faramir (David Wenham), how Aragorn and the ghost army boarded the boats before coming to the rescue (instead of just arriving, like the theatrical edition) and a scene late with the Mouth of Sauron.
