The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King

It's not everyday you leave a press screening to face hundreds of screaming fans waiting outside for the premiere and pleading for your press kit.

The Return of the King is the biggest, most spectacular and eagerly anticipated film of the year. Director Peter Jackson's epic conclusion to one of the most inspiring trilogies is released on Wednesday. Could it possibly disappoint? Let us explain why The Return of the King might well be film history in the making.

The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers smashed paramount expectations and raised the bar so high, there's no escaping why this final instalment is the most crucial in verifying just how amazing we believe the triology to be. The Return of the King truly epitomises film entertainment at its best! Living up to grand finale we imagined it to be, Jackson has snuck in a number of surprises that will shock and shake you from your seat.

The scenes with Shelob the spider are astonishing

The concluding chapter sees the fellowship's journey come to a testing end as Sauron's malevolent and inexorable forces scream fear and attack on mankind. Time is running out as hundreds of thousands of bloodthirsty armies rain across Gondor clambering for their next kill. Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) desperately tries to pull armed troops together while King Theoden of Rohan (Bernard Hill) moves his resistance forward, unaware of the real whereabouts of his niece Eowyn (Miranda Otto) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan).

Elsewhere, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) is aided by Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys Davies) but feels covered by a veil of self doubt and ambivalence to fulfil his role as leader or heir to the throne. From this they hatch a crucial plan to give Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) a chance to destroy the ring as Gollum (Andy Serkis) guides them pass the eye of Sauron.

Let's cut to the chase for a moment and discuss how the digital effects have improved since Towers. The bottom line is, those who marvelled at the technical supremacy and visual effects of Gollum or the striking battle of Helm's Deep have really seen nothing yet. The production's painstaking advances on blending Gollum onto the screen are instantly obvious and absolutely stunning. The team are a lot more adventurous and this is apparent in both the detail of his movements and fluidity of his interactions with the environment. The thrill of watching Gollum again was instantaneously revived onscreen in the first act - breathtaking stuff.

Generally the fight sequences feel more polished than The Two Towers and are quite fast paced from a nick of a sword to a stab from an arrow. The scale and flair of Weta Digital's creative CGI work continues to be so compelling and authentic that you forget that it's all post-production. The stark brutalities of each battle are jaw-dropping, realistic, overwhelming and really are unfathomable until you see it on screen. A massive eruption of applause shot through the cinema after Legolas's famous fight scene, giving a true testament of critical praise. I got goose bumps from just being there.

One of the most exciting things must be the new enemies we encounter including the Fell Beasts (flying guards), Mouth of Sauron (guard of the Black Gate) and the much hyped Shelob, the giant spider. It's difficult to describe too much about Shelob and the stunning tunnel sequences without spoiling it but I'd say it was one of my favourite scenes of this film. She encapsulates the fears of any arachnophobe, truly entertaining as far as enemies go.

The film's aesthetic seamlessness is partly due to the awesome gelling of atmosphere spilling through the backdrops and colours, as well as the valued accompaniment of dramatic scoring and sound effects. Watch out for Jackson's sweeping landscape shots that amplify each striking production set into almost characters themselves. Locales such as Minas Tirith that unfolds as Gandalf rides through the 700 foot 7 tiered city shows amazing detail of living and breathing fictional towns composed mostly of CGI.

As the first act is played out, The Return of the King is emotionally charged. Stakes are raised and the intricacies of friendship, faith, hope, courage and trust come under fire in the pressure cooker. Thankfully there are also moments of light-heartedness, banter and humour written in.

Notably, performances by Wood, Mortensen, McKellan and Astin are at their best and carve a much needed insight and depth into the divided fellowship. The friction between Frodo, Sam and Gollum magnifies as the burden of the ring weighs them down and as they close in on Sauron. Serkis continues to be powerfully convincing as a slave to the ring and remains as the true star of this trilogy. Impatient movie goers will also be booing Frodo off-screen as he again weakens to its powers, but I think the emotional scenes between Wood and Astin are some of the best performances seen in all three films.

What's more, I was pleased to see a much-needed jolt into the fate of Merry, Pippin and Eowyn as they realise the roles they play in the war. I felt Legolas and Gimli were maybe a little underused in the film and Christopher Lee's Saruman had no absolutely part to play in the final edit at all. Although that was deliberate, I'm a little unsure whether it was a mistake or not.

There's a nice balance between action sequences and poignancy than the second film and this invites audiences to become immersed with the heroes in their victories, close calls and defeats. I got quite restless watching The Two Towers, I didn't enjoy some aspects of Merry and Pippin's adventure and nearly dozed off at Arwen and Aragorn's love story, so deserved applause goes to the fantastic screenplay and editing that provides great pacing between the different character strands of story in Return of the King.

My main criticisms of pacing in the second film are somewhat resolved and Jackson has kept the storytelling predominantly fresh in this chapter. There were a couple of minor qualms I had with the lengthy closure of the film, Pippin's singsong and the sexually charged end scenes with Frodo. Was all that hobbit titillation really necessary? And do we really care that much about the damn Shire? Breathe a sigh of relief though because it doesn't really spoil the enjoyment of the film too much... moreso it shows a little of overindulgence on Jackson's part as a genuine fan of the Tolkien trilogy. We certainly look forward all of the deleted scenes on the DVD.

The Return of the King rules all as the movie of the year.

Transistor Sister
Reviewer, Kikizo Movies