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Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Friday night movie for one: $10. Popcorn and Pop: $8. Watching Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in digital surround sound on a 60 ft. high screen: Priceless.
Go see it! There, I've said my piece. Really, though, if you're going to see any movie this year, LOTR:ROTK should be on your list. Winner of 4 Golden Globe awards including "Best Picture", and nominated for 11 awards by the Academy of Motion Pictures including "Best Picture", again, this movie is the final installment in, and the climax of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. |
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"Return of the King" follows closely on the heels of the first two movies of the trilogy, "The Fellowship of the Ring", and "The Two Towers". As space doesn't permit me to elaborate on the first two movies, I'll simply say "Go see them!", too. The basic plot of the third movie is that Frodo (a hobbit of the shire, and the main character), and Sam (Frodo's gardener) have to journey to "Mount Doom" set smack dab in the middle of the most evil place in Middle Earth: Mordor. Their quest: destroy the "one true ring". Not only do they have to endure foul weather with practically no food or water, but they also have the creature, Gollum, tagging along and being as annoying as ever. Oh, yes, along the way they also encounter orcs, and various other creatures bent on havingthem for dinner. Very nasty stuff, precious*Elsewhere in Middle Earth, their friends are making allies, and enemies in an attempt to save Gondor from the epitomy of evil: Sauron, a cool-looking, all-seeing eye. With his armies, he plans to take over Middle Earth.
Alright, enough banter already, let's hear the good stuff*ok, here goes: Easily the best movie of the trilogy, although someone will always debate me on that, it doesn't disappoint in story, characters, creatures, or being just plain awesome. Whether you're a fantasy geek or not, you can't debate the awesome landscape of New Zealand where the movie was filmed. It perfectly fits into the world that J.R.R. Tolkien envisioned in his books.
Ok, so the landscape is great - so what? I'm not going to the movies to look at rocks, flowers, and birds, right? Right. That's why the battle scenes are truly spectacular, on a scale never before attempted in movies. By spectacular, I mean that they are stunning, impressive, amazing, fantastic, fabulous* Word has a thesaurus, so why wouldn't I use it, right? When the army of Mordor descends upon Minas Tirith, and the camera pans across the scene, the only word that escapes from your mouth is "Whoa!". That coupled with digital surround sound where the elephant's trumpeting blasts shake the theatre seats. Again, one word describes it: cool.
Now you're probably saying, "Ok, you've got my attention, but why would I spend 3 hours and 21 minutes of my life sitting in a theatre?" Answer: In all likelihood you're watching the movie that will win picture of the year, set in a place that you will probably never get to visit in your lifetime about a story that has been treasured for over 50 years. More simply put: because you could have spent the same $10 on "You got served". Chew on that one for a minute*
To sum up the movie, I'll use the words of Peter Jackson, the director of all three movies in the trilogy: "Well, these films are truly timeless. That term is used a lot, but the themes are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago when Tolkien wrote the book. They were relevant 500 years ago. It's basic human emotional stuff. It's friendship, it's courage, it's loyalty, it's love, it's fear, it's good vs. evil."
Well, Peter, I couldn't say it any better than that.
Justin Taylor |
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Friday, November 21st, 2008 
