The
Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King
2003
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Written by: J.R.R. Tolkien (The book), Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter
Jackson (screenplay)
Main Cast:
Frodo Baggins - Elijah Wood
Gandalf the Grey - Ian McKellen
Bilbo Baggins - Ian Holm
Samwise "Sam" Gamgee - Sean Astin
Aragorn - Dominic Monaghan
Saruman the White - Christopher Lee
Peregrin "Pippin" Took - Billy Boyd
Meriadoc 'Merry' Brandybuck - Viggo Mortensen
Arwen Undomiel - Liv Tyler
Galadriel - Cate Blanchett
Gimli - John Rhys-Davies
Legolas Greenleaf - Orlando Bloom
Lord Elrond - Hugo Weaving
Theoden - Bernard Hill
Gamling - Bruce Hopkins
Witch King/Gothmog - Lawrence Makoare
Denethor - John Noble
King of the Dead - John Noble
Eowyn - Miranda Otto
Gollum/Smeagol - Andy Serkis
Arwen - Liv Tyler
Eomer - Karl Urban
Faramir - David Wenham
Rated PG-13
To sum up: If it can be said that the Fellowship got lost cause they
were all men and didn't ask for directions then it should be safe to say that
based on what I've seen at the jewelry store this past Christmas, it's a good
thing that there were no women in the Fellowship cause that Ring would have
gotten nowhere near to being destroyed.
“Is there any hope, Gandalf, for Frodo and Sam?”
“There never was much hope. Just a fool's hope.”
It's the end. Gandalf (Ian McKellen ),
Aragorn (Dominic Monaghan ) and the rest of the crew have just won the
battle of Helms Deep but the bigger issue is about to start as the Dark Lord
Sauron begins his conquest of Middle Earth. One thing stands in his way, the
human kingdom of Gondor. And so the fate of Middle Earth rests on the
shoulders of men, that frail and corrupt race who is so weak. They know they
can't stop Sauron's armies but the hope is that they can hold on long enough
for Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) who are sneaking into to Mordor
to destroy the One Ring and thereby destroy Sauron and free Middle Earth. Can
two Hobbits accomplish what rightfully should take an army to do?
The journey was fascinating. Exhausting. Exhilarating.
Enlightening. Exciting. It was every other "ing" word you can
imagine (the good ones, not the bad). Now it is finally over. The characters
only went through it once, but at 1,500+ pages, 12+ hours, and who know how
many rereads and repeat viewings, we are finally here. It is the conclusion to
the Lord of the Rings trilogy. For those who haven't bothered to read the
books, it's a chance to see how the story ends. For those of us who have, it's
the opportunity to see visually, in all it's big screen splendor, what only
our imaginations had been able to provide. It's a chance to see how Peter
Jackson will translate what has previously been in print. It's a chance to see
whether it will live up to expectations or fail to satisfy.
Let me say that Jackson has succeeded wonderfully.
He has made a film that, on its own, is an incredible achievement, with enormous
spectacle while at the same time overflowing with strong acting and wonderful
character arcs. That alone would be quite an achievement but Peter Jackson has
done something more, he has maintained a level of creativity that no other
director has achieved for a film trilogy. The third film more than matches the
previous two. To my knowledge and viewing experience, that has not really been
done. The reasons are threefold in my opinion. First is the fact that the
project was green lighted with three films in mind. It was a large story
that would take at least three films to tell well (although Jackson originally
thought he would get at most 2 permitted). It wasn't a trilogy conceived after
they realized how much money the first one had made. It is more like a large
miniseries for the big screen. The second reason is that I believe that since
all three films were filmed at once (with minimal reshoots later), Jackson was
in a groove creatively. Like an athlete having a great season, Jackson was
focused on what he wanted to do from the beginning to the end. He didn't have
time to let the success of his films cause him to second guess and therefore
make a lot of bad decisions. Thirdly - it seems to me that Jackson was
stubbornly focused on telling a story that was true to the books he had loved
for so long. I don't feel that he was willing to bow to studio or public
pressure and was able to make the films that he wanted. He maintained his
creative integrity.
To fans of the books, it is not a perfect word for
word, description for description adaptation. Nor could it be. To follow the
books precisely would produce a large uneven film, too often going down roads
that would cause the film to lose focus. If history could repeat itself or
another telling is later attempted, I'm convinced that a better film adaptation
could not be made.
What is amazing is the emotional punch of this film. While the spectacle is
great, it's not the big, broad, sweeping epic shots nor the incredible battles
that impressed me the most (though they are great). No. While the film is
visually some of the most amazing moments I've seen put on film, it's the
characters that have the biggest moments. They are the center and far outshine
the spectacle. One includes a futile attack on Osgiliath which the Orcs have
just taken. The arrogant and close-minded steward of Gondor, Denethor (John
Noble), has sent his son to lead this attack. He has no care for his son, nor
the futility of the attack and sits there stuffing his face in a "kingly
meal". He turns to Pippin (Billy Boyd), the foolish Hobbit who has
pledged himself to the steward's service, and bids him to sing a song. Pippin
produces a movingly sad rendering (nicely done by Boyd), and with only this on
the soundtrack, we see the riders approach Osgiliath. In the city we see
twenty, fifty, then hundreds of Orcs rise up and prepare for the assault,
ready to let fly with arrows. When the arrows do fly, we are not presented
with yet another thrilling battle, but a simple image of Denethor biting into
a tomato and it's blood red juices trickling down his chin; perfectly
representing the slaughter that has just occurred. Jackson has learned to
masterfully say things without the necessity of showing it and it is both
clever and poetic.
By far the biggest emotional punch for me was the lighting of the beacons
of Gondor to call for the aid of it's neighboring kingdom of Rohan.
"What's a beacon?" you say? Well essentially the are great big piles
of firewood spread across the country, used to call for the help of the
neighboring kingdom. When one is lit, the nearest one to it sees it and lights
their own, until they are all lit and that call goes across the country. Who new
that lighting a fire could produce the same emotional fervor in me that
singing the Marseilles did in "Casablanca"? But I've seen this film
three times and I tear up every time that the beacon is lit. It's a thrilling,
majestic panorama across the country as beacon after beacon comes afire. In
the book it's just mentioned as Gandalf is traveling to the kingdom of Gondor.
But here Peter Jackson turns it into one of the most thrilling moments in the
film.
Those poor Hobbits, Frodo and Sam have been traveling across Mordor
covertly inching ever closer to Mount Doom and the fires therein where they
can destroy the One Ring. But I had to laugh. For every hill whose summit they
reached, every view they had, whether it the castle Cirith Ungol, the plains
of Mordor, Mount Doom itself, and finally the doorway to said mountain, it
appeared that they had another TWENTY MILES TO GO. I've never seen so many in
the distance shots of a journey where even though the characters were walking
and I could see them moving, it sure didn't feel like they were getting very
far.
As I've said, it is the
central characters and character moments that are the focus of the film. It is
also wonderful that the characters produce the strongest emotional moments of
the film. Of all of the characters, four stand out for me. One is Ian McKellen
formally known as Gandalf the Grey but after going through fire and death as
well as a bleach cycle is now Gandalf the White. All of this info given you in
the second film "The Lord of the Rings: The
Two Towers". Ian gets much more screen time in this film and
deservedly so. For it is he more than anyone that is the mover and shaper of
destinies. In short, without his stalwart aid, guidance, and simple interference
Middle Earth would crumble under the onslaught of Sauron and his minions. No
one else could have played Gandalf as well as Ian McKellen. It's a role he was
suited to and a role he has molded into his own. I think he is the perfect
realization to the character in the books. A welcome sight to me also was his
showing a little more kindness and affections towards the Hobbits,
particularly Pippin (Billy Boyd). I didn't always enjoy his lack of patience
and annoyance with him. I always thought it came off a bit meaner than their
relationships in the books. After all Gandalf supposedly loved Hobbits but was
quick to anger with Pippin, who, to me, embodied a typical Hobbit more than
the others. Maybe Pippin is more incompetent than the normal Hobbit but I
wanted to tell Gandalf to not be so grumpy. So what is it was because of him
that you ultimately ended up getting killed in "The
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring". Lighten up. But there
were moments where we get to see Gandalf enjoy the singing and dancing of the
Hobbits as well as a comforting moment or two with Pippin during the dangerous
battle. In all Ian McKellen has created a wise old sage and brought to the
performance humor, grace, authority, wisdom, and respect, bringing to life a
legendary character.
Next is
Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee. Before the series Sean was known to me as Rudy,
the Hobbit sized guy who wanted to play football for Notre Dame in the
film with the same name. Indeed, when I watched him in "Fellowship"
I kept rooting for him under my breath saying, "Rudy. Rudy. Rudy."
Now, when I see him I will think of Sam (and Rudy). Watching his character
evolve from the simple Hobbit to the most loyal character in the films was,
well, a pleasure. From the beginning your heart warmed to him. Sean's
performance was incredible to me as his character experienced all levels of
trials, sorrows, and pains while strongly maintaining his love and loyalty to
Frodo no matter what happened. Frodo was almost literally going into hell and
Sam was going to be there no matter what, aiding him and, at times, carrying
him. His performance is great because no matter what he was experiencing he
was able to portray it in such a way that it was projected to the audience. An
example is Sean's sadness when he is turned on by Frodo. The grief that he
projects carried so well that there were very few dry eyes in the theater as
well. We could feel what Sam was going through as he reached within himself
and did more than he thought he was capable of while never really changing
from the simple Hobbit he was at his core who wanted nothing more than to
marry Rosie Cotton (Sarah McLeod). If Gandalf is the brains of the film then
Sam is its heart.
Third was the brilliant performance by Elijah Wood
as Frodo Baggins. Watching this character evolve from being so full of life to
the shell of a person he is at the end is amazing. The longer Frodo carried
the Ring the larger toll it took on his soul. It drained him, exhausted him,
and very slowly transformed him as it possessed him in ever larger sums, so
much so that the fate of the Ring being destroyed, even by such a good person
as Frodo, hangs in the balance. It is the acting of Elijah that shows all of
this. We see the transformation in his posture, his walk, his face, and, most
importantly, his eyes. The very nature of his performance shows that he is
almost without control of himself being pulled in several directions but
finding it hard to muster his own strength of will. Frodo is becoming a
prisoner of the Ring wanting to let it go but ever so slowly, wanting to
possess it for himself. It is only a question of who will win, Frodo or the
Ring. And Wood comes off as such a nice guy, in real life as well as in the
film, that it's hard to believe that he can pull of the transformation as well
as he does.
If an acting Oscar is supposed to represent a
performance that is above and beyond the norm, if it supposed to represent an
actor who reaches deep within himself and produces a performance that elevates
a character beyond what he was originally intended to be, if it represents
acting so realized that it is difficult to imagine another performer doing
that role, then Andy Serkis as Gollum surely deserves an Oscar nod for
Best Supporting Actor. Since we know that the Oscars don't work like that it's
almost certain that he won't get recognition for his work (and
it has since been confirmed, no Oscar nom for Andy). And that's a shame
too cause Andy has taken a roll that was really supposed to be a simple voice
performance and due to his skills has transformed the part. Serkis created a
voice for a computer generated character to be sure but he was so good in his
facial expressions and body mannerisms that the filmmakers expanded the amount
of work he was to do. Serkis was so good that they used him for the motion
capture system to help animate the character. He was so good that he was the
one to don an all white body suit (jokingly referred to as "The Gimp
Suit") and prance around the set with the actors or alone so that the
scenes could have a proper feel to them when he was later removed and the
Gollum creature animated in. He was so good that they used his face to be a
reference point for the animation of the facial expressions that the
character, even going so far as to redesign the character so that it looked
more like Andy. In short Andy gave his all, and it is certain to say that
without his incredible amount of work Gollum would not have been nearly as
effective as he was.
We have film history here, folks. Something rare
has been accomplished where everyone has decided to create something that is
both literate and compelling while still being as entertaining as hell. They
set aside the business mentality (for the most part) and let the joy of
creating something meaningful take over; giving the world a film trilogy that
will be remembered for a long time. They've also managed to save the possible
best for last.
This one rings true.
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