Movie #24: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Movie #: 24
Movie Title: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Year Released: 2003

Director: Peter Jackson
Notable Cast: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, Karl Urban, David Wenham, John Noble, Ian Holm

Short Description: Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #9
Ranker.com: #24
Lifed.com: #47
Empire.com: #34
FilmCrave.com: #7
FlickChart.com: #79



Date Watched: 11/12/2016

Grade: 5 out of 5 (Exceptional)

Rationale: Wait, Sauron doesn't take the ring from Frodo and plunge Middle Earth into eternal darkness? While the happy ending of The Return of the King doesn't come as a surprise, the journey to that point is still incredible. Peter Jackson somehow manages to increase the scope of The Return of the King compared to The Two Towers without losing any of the focus on the various groups of main characters and each important storyline. Visually, The Return of the King is as good if not better than its predecessors as armies of thousands both on horse and foot needed to be rendered in a believable fashion with CGI while still maintaining a semblance of realism with actual costumes, props, and locations. The final goodbyes may feel super drawn out in the closing minutes, but after 3.5+ hours of just The Return of the King and 11+ hours of the entire trilogy, a few additional minutes can be forgiven.