Fans of serious fantasy movies lost their minds in 2001 when the epic trailer for The Lord of the Rings dropped showing footage from all three films complete with the three back to back to back years promising a short wait between each part. At long last the books many claimed were unable to be filmed were coming to the big screen in glorious live action spectacle. At the time I had never read the trilogy but a work friend had and he was so excited for this that he got me excited for it, so much so that I got in a queue line at the local theater the night before (long before online ticket sales went live weeks before release) and camped out all night to secure tickets for opening day. By the time the box office opened the following morning that line was several hundreds of people long and the show sold out before everyone there was able to get tickets. That’s one thing I don’t miss about the good old days. Lord of the Rings became a phenomenon, racking in about $3 billion across the three films and securing best picture nominations for all three installments, something only The Godfather Trilogy had managed to do in the past. It wasn’t until 2003, with the release of The Return of the King that one of them finally took home the big award, a Best Picture Oscar that was as much for the entire trilogy as it was for the third film alone.
The Return of the King opens up with a brief prequel depicting the corruption of Sméagol/Gollum (Andy Serkis). He and his cousin are fishing when they come across the Ring of Doom at the bottom of a river. Lust for the object causes Sméagol to kill his cousin and the possession of it slowly transforms the hobbit into the creature known as Gollum. Flash forward to where the previous film, The Two Towers, left off. Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) are reunited with Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan) after the two Hobbits successfully raided and overturned the stronghold of Saruman the White (Christopher Lee) with the aid of the Ents, living trees. With Saruman dead it is revealed that Sauron, master of the one ring, is sending his forces against the city of Gondor in a bid to topple the reign of man and draw out the one ring so he can retake it and regain his full power. Gandalf heads to Gondor to render aid and attempt to convince the steward to call for reinforcements. Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli make a detour in a desperate bid to awaken an army of the dead that owes a debt to the King of Gondor, a position Aragorn is inherent to.
While all of this warring and planning for war is going on Frodo Baggins (Elijah Woods) and Sam (Sean Astin) are still journeying to Mount Doom with their plans to throw the ring into the lava and destroy it. They are being lead by Sméagol into a trap however and Frodo ends up captured by orcs. Sam, now in possession of the ring must find a way to rescue him and get the two of them up the mountain and destroy the ring before the forces of Sauron can overwhelm the good men and conquer the land. Epic battles ensue and many heroes fall before all is said and done.
This is by far the longest of the three films clocking in at nearly three and a half hours for the theatrical cut and a full hour longer for the extended. To call it exhaustive would be an understatement. There is really just one major battle but it lasts a majority of the movie and carries with it an overwhelming sense of dread, much like The Battle for Helms Deep in the second film. The Battle for Helm’s Deep however was a night battle and the darkness that comes with that gave it a more foreboding feeling that the one in Gondor doesn’t quite match. For one, all that darkness hides some of the CGI trickery that’s not quite as photo-realistic in daylight. The enemies’ numbers, while much greater than the previous battle, are not as well depicted this time either. There are the orcs, of course, but added on to that are the evil men riding giant elephants. The Nazgûl riders, now on winged beasts, have also joined in on the fighting, too, lead by The Witch King who legend says no man may slay. While the battle itself isn’t as good as the one in Helm’s Deep, it’s still a spectacle worthy of finishing off this trilogy.
The story of Frodo and Sam is more action oriented this time around, too. Gone are the long segments of Sam and Sméagol bickering or traveling through bogs and cooking potatoes. By this point in their journey the heft of carrying the ring is bearing heavily down on Frodo and he has begun to distrust Sam, thanks in no small part to the conniving Sméagol’s machinations. Once he’s convinced Frodo to expel Sam from the group, Sméagol leads Frodo into the lair of Shelob, a giant spider, in the hopes she will kill Frodo so he can take the ring for himself. Only the pure loyalty of Sam foils that plan and Sméagol is thrown into the abyss, presumed dead. Their final ascent up the side of Mount Doom is intense and filled with moments to cheer as well as a shocking twist that diverts from the novel just enough to catch the readers off guard. The final moments with Frodo, Sam and Gollum do play out better on screen than they did on the page, though, making the final destruction of the ring more than just Sméagol dancing around and slipping into the lava by accident.
This was a tremendous undertaking bringing this massive narrative to the big screen. It was a passion project that New Zealander Peter Jackson shopped around as a possible two film production that no one wanted to finance. Eventually New Line Cinemas stepped in. When Jackson met with them he was prepared to accept any deal, including trimming it down even further into a single film although he had no idea how to cut it down that much. New Line, however, suggested that each book get its own film and gave him the go ahead to make it as big and as elaborate as such a series deserved and the rest is history.
If there is one criticism that can be made for the final project it is that it goes on too long. This is especially a problem with the extended cut with its over four hour runtime. Once all the action is over there are at least four endings before the credits begin to roll. These endings amount to more than twenty extra minutes of screen time after nearly four hours of action and swordplay. After all the battles are won we’re ready to take a nap, yet we have to see scenes of Frodo reunited with the others who fought while he was carrying the ring. We get Sam going home, marrying and having kids; The Hobbits getting honored by King Aragorn and the citizens of Gondor; and Frodo going back to the land of the elves to meet up with Bilbo and say his goodbyes. None of these moments are bad but when piled on one after the other it gets to be too much. I heard more than one person getting verbally frustrated in the theater that the film wasn’t over yet.
For three years the world was treated to pure spectacle, a fantasy world totally realized through the clever use of every trick in the cinematic book. Peter Jackson, who was mostly known for his low budget kiwi horror films with demented senses of humor, took everyone by surprise by delivering a truly remarkable piece of cinema that has yet to be surpassed, even with The Hobbit Trilogy, also helmed by him. By using models and makeup instead of the overuse of CGI it lended the film a realism few modern movies have. It also gave it a grittiness that fancy effects cannot replicate. For three straight years these films dominated the December box office and lead in the award season, yet never took the Best Picture Oscar until this final film finally won. Whether that is truly based on the merits of this film alone or an award to cover the entire trilogy is up to debate.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (won)
Best Director: Peter Jackson (won)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson (won)
Best Art Direction: Grant Major, Dan Hannah and Alan Lee (won)
Best Costume Design: Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor (won)
Best Film Editing: Jamie Selkirk (won)
Best Makeup: Richard Taylor and Peter King (won)
Best Original Score: Howard Shore (won)
Best Original Song: Fran Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox (won)
Best Sound Mixing: Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges, and Hammond Peek (won)
Best Visual Effects: Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke (won)
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Release Date: December 17, 2003
Running Time: 201 Minutes Theatrical Cut/263 Minutes Extended Cut
Rated PG-13
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm and Sean Bean
Directed By: Peter Jackson
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