The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
By Peter T. Chattaway
AND SO it ends, as all things must. Several stories run through The Return of the King, the final chapter in Peter Jackson's epic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings, and each one is given a thrilling, action-packed climax. But the triumph is tempered by a lingering sense of loss; our heroes have been changed forever, and now they must bid each other -- and us -- farewell.
At least the new film begins on a slightly happier note than the previous film did -- well, once we get past the flashback showing how Gollum (Andy Serkis) became possessed by the One Ring of Power and killed his brother, centuries ago, so he could get his hands on it.
As we saw at the end of The Two Towers, the traitorous wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) has been defeated, and his army of super-orcs destroyed. (We won't see what finally becomes of Saruman until the extended Return of the King comes out on DVD next year.) What's more, the hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) are finally reunited with Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the exiled heir to the throne of Gondor, and his companions Legolas the elf (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli the dwarf (John Rhys-Davies).
With the resurrected wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) at their side as they celebrate -- the hobbits' mirth and music bringing back a welcome taste of the Shire before the fighting resumes -- the Fellowship of the Ring is nearly whole again.
But not quite. As the film begins, the two other hobbits, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin), are still trying to enter the land of Mordor, home of the evil Lord Sauron and the one place where they can destroy the Ring that gives Sauron his power. And they still have the duplicitous Gollum, who would like nothing better than to kill them both and take the Ring back, as their guide.
And so the fate of Middle-Earth is still very much in doubt as the story moves, with ever larger displays of grandeur and power both military and supernatural, towards its ultimate resolution.
Jackson's film is certainly a spectacle to behold. The first film gave us glimpses of Minas Tirith, the capital city of Gondor, and Mount Doom, the volcano where the Ring can be destroyed, but barely hinted at the sheer scale of what we see in The Return of the King. The enormous creatures that Sauron's troops ride into battle are also more terrifying here, as the fell beasts swoop down on the soldiers and the towering oliphants brush the cavalry aside with their gigantic tusks.
Jackson's special-effects team also serves up some perfectly chilling horror-movie moments, as Frodo is attacked by a giant spider and Aragorn sets out on a mission to call on the services of a race of dead warriors whose ghostly-green flesh fades in and out on their bones.
But the fact that Jackson is so in love with the special effects and action sequences, to the extent that he amplifies their role in the story much more than Tolkien did, is, itself, a problem for some viewers. So, too, is the fact that Jackson has rewritten some of the characters in ways that seem to undermine Tolkien's moral vision.
To be sure, Jackson's films are basically action-adventure movies, and he has had to simplify some things in order to bring these stories closer to the conventional structure and time constraints of a feature film (though the new film, with its multiple epilogues, does clock in at nearly three and a half hours).
Thus, the relationship between Denethor (John Noble), who sits on the throne of Gondor not as its king but as its "steward", and his sons Boromir (Sean Bean) and Faramir (David Wenham) has been reduced to a simple tale of a grumpy, despairing father playing favorites with his children; there is barely any trace of Tolkien's idea that the two brothers represent opposite ways of thinking and being, one of which is more humble and righteous than the other.
Similarly, Jackson and his co-writers, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, crank up the conflict and tension whenever they can, and in doing so, they risk subverting the purity of Tolkien's characters and concepts. These changes can be especially awkward when the conflicts they introduce have to be resolved immediately so that the story can point back in the direction it was always going in the first place.
But despite these problems, the films are remarkably true to Tolkien's deepest themes; victory is ultimately achieved not through shows of strength, but through sacrifice and mercy.
And although the new film may not be as colourful as the films that came before it -- instead of the somewhat natural greens of the Shire and Fangorn Forest, we have a special-effects stand-off between a White City and a Black Gate -- it still has moments of breathtaking beauty, from Edoras at night to the lava-soaked slopes of Mount Doom. It even acknowledges the role of music in Tolkien's world, as Pippin and Aragorn break into song, which is a first for the theatrical versions of these films.
It is too early to render a final verdict on this film, as an expanded version will no doubt be out on video within the year. But as it stands, The Return of the King is a magnificent conclusion to a series of films that may not be perfect but are certainly much better than anyone could have hoped for, and which may rank as the greatest mainstream movie trilogy ever made.
Internet Movie Database | Movie Review Query Engine
USA: PG-13 | BC: 14A | ON: 14A
