The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Almost perfect
Rare is the movie that one can say has everything. Hollywood used to produce these during the 1960's; classics like Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, Spartacus, and The Ten Commandments. But even these pale to the 4.5 hour epic that is Return of the King. The latter has everything; comedy, romance, action, suspense, drama, a great soundtrack, incredible cinematography, unrivaled special effects, a grand cast, and of course; a happy ending. Unlike other epic movies, this one contains numerous scenes that are of a climactic quality; whether it be the Ring's destruction; the triumphant charge of the Rohirrim on Pelennor Fields, the lighting of the torches from Gondor to Rohan, or even Faramir's charge at the behest of his father. The entire movie makes for an incredible emotional roller coaster. And unlike its two predecessors; this one did get Best Picture, along with 10 other Oscars; all of which were well deserved.

Now that I have heaped the praise, lets point out what could have been improved. First and foremost; for the length of the movie; it leaves out a lot of important material from the book. Better for the story and for the critics to include everything from the book, and brake it up into two separate movies. Conclude the first one with the death of Theoden, and include Sharky's (Saruman) conquest of the shire.

A second letdown was Faramir's defense of Osgiliath during the invasion of Sauron's army. It was portrayed very poorly. From the Fellowship of the Ring up to this point, one gets the feeling that Boromir was the swordsman who preferred intimate conflict while Faramir was the archer who'd rather act from afar. Yet when Faramir prepares his men to repel the Orc amphibious invasion, he has his men take up swords and fight on ground level. A more appropriate defense would be for the men to take refuge on the rooftops and decimate the invading orcs with arrows; nearly all the Gondorian soldiers had bows and arrows. They would have lasted a lot longer, and might have even repulsed the invasion.

The third major failing was Aragorn's triumphant entry onto Pelennor Fields with the Army of the Dead. It seems as if the orcs just line up to be killed by Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. This contrasts greatly with every previous battle scene where the orcs are quite vicious and skilled in combat.

But for all its failings, this is probably the best movie released this decade; and by far the best movie to be directed by a non-American. My favorite part of this movie was its soundtrack. It is quite rare for an action movie to have memorable singing parts; this one had two. The first is by Merry in probably the most haunting scene of the movie. The second is by Aragorn on his coronation. Legend has it that both actors came up with the music themselves; a proud achievement for both of them if true. All in all, a great movie, a great DVD set, and a must own.

Great Product
I really liked this because it had both the regular and extended versions without all the extras. Four DVDs was a bit much for me, so I thought this was a better version for me.

Great Product
I really liked this because it had both the regular and extended versions without all the extras. Four DVDs was a bit much for me, so I thought this was a better version for me.