One of my New Year’s resolutions is complete. I made it out to see this movie on a nice Saturday afternoon. LOTR is an epic masterpiece covering three movies: The Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, and Return of the King. I have to say that along with everyone else, my interest has increased with each successive movie. I think the series works best when counted all together. Fellowship suffered from having to set up everything, Two Towers was just about bad things happening in the middle of the journey, and Return of the King has to deal with wrapping everything up.
Most people I know who saw the movie complain that the ending really drags, but I think that it is perfect. So many ending chapters just end and don’t show what happens to our beloved characters (notable exception – 9 to 5). If we look at Return of the King as a whole it is a remarkable piece of filmmaking that puts the exclamation mark on a great series. Anything that can make Tolkien accessible to the masses is fine by me. I also like the fact that my brother is a fanatic and can help explain bits and pieces to me. One thing, I have found that I am rarely 100 percent satisfied with the movie versions. I found that the extended DVDs actually make the movies better even if they push the running times up. Since ROTK was already 3h 30min I can only imagine how long the special edition will be.
As far as the acting goes, the triangle of Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gimli (the ever good John Rhys-Davies) and Legoas (Orlando Bloom) for me was the best part of the films. The emotion and humor and camaraderie that they portrayed made me wish that the rest of the people would just get on with it so we can get back to them. Also notable: Ian McKellan as Gandalf and Bernard Hill as King Theoden.
For those of you who are not partial to long rear numbing movies, be sure to check it out of video when it comes out later this year. If you don’t mind the uncomfortable seats, go see it today!