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

 

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

The Return of the King concludes the LOTR trilogy, following the Fellowship in the last stand for Middle Earth, during the final trek of Frodo & Sam’s journey to Mordor to destroy the ring.

And what a final chapter it was, taking everything learned from the previous 2, and building on it exponentially. We get not one, but 2 epic battles in the Battle of Gondor and the final stand at Mordor, both of which are an emotional and thrilling encapsulation of all that our characters have been through up to this point. We also see Sam and Frodo’s relationship get tested further, as the ring takes hold, leading to a hefty sacrifice for Frodo in destroying the ring. Weta Digital once again builds off of their terrific VFX work on the first two, this time bringing huge scale battles, volcanoes, the army of the dead, and even the massive city of Gondor to life. This movie was also more balanced than the previous two, featuring a steady spotlight on the plight’s of both Frodo and Aragorn, who finally claims the throne and becomes King of Gondor.

Again, the cast is stellar, returning with Sir Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin, Miranda Otto, Bernard Hill, Andy Serkis, David Wenham, Elijah Wood, and Viggo Mortensen. Viggo and Wood put forth their best performances of the series, with Wood showing the exhaustion and fury that have overtaken him on the long journey to Mordor, while Mortensen puts forth an Oscar worthy performance, becoming even more of a badass (which seemed impossible) and commanding the armies of Gondor and the Dead Army in a way that only he could pull off.

Peter Jackson really made the perfect trilogy in LOTR, and the culmination of everything in Return of the King makes it such an emotionally powerful and intense movie full of amazing visuals and effects, massive scale battles, and some of the best storytelling and consistency cinema has likely ever seen.

10/10