Lord of the Rings.....(a review)

What do i say, where do i begin.

"Here, at the end of all things", perhaps?

I just watched Return Of The King, the concluding chapter in the Lord Of The Rings saga.

The Matrix trilogy...over...

Lord Of The Rings trilogy...over...

Has the golden age of movie geekdom passed?
Who knows.
So, is Return Of The King an effective conclusion to the Lord Of The Rings saga?
Nope. Absolutely not.

It's so much more than that. So, so so so so much more.

In fact, its the worst sort of conclusion ever. I hate you Peter Jackson. You can't end this series, you can't. It can't be over...

Keep making Lord Of The Rings movies forever and ever and ever. More tales of Frodo Baggins, Samwise The Brave, Aragorn son of Arathorn, Legolas of the Woodland Realm, Gimli Son of Gloin and of course, Gandalf The White...

I'm lost for words...plain and simple.
More importantly, i think the english language is lost for them...

I could sit down with a thesaurus and dredge up as many synonyms for spectacular, brilliant, awesome, incredible, breath taking, epic, legendary, beautiful, moving... and i still wouldn't have done justice to the movie.

You know how you feel when you win a race, a competition of some sort, top your class...anything?

You know how you get a particular feeling, one that you just can't explain in words?
This is one of those movies. This is one of those feelings.

I'm sitting here and my brain is trying to come up with words, phrases, anything to describe the movie...but it can't...
Because Return Of The King isn't about brains, its about heart.

Lord Of The Rings, on the whole, is about heart.
LOTR isnt a story about a hairy-footed hobbit called Frodo Baggins who set out to rid the world of a particularly nasty ring.
Oh no siree bob.

It's a saga of courage, extraordinary courage, a tale of honour, finding yourself... it's about standing up and being counted, its about doing your part, its about friendships, the ties that bind, the loyalties and love that sees us through the deepest, darkest days of our lives.

That whole para up there sounds cliched, i know...but its true... thats what its about...

Like Sam says to Frodo in The Two Towers, its about holding onto something, about holding onto the hope that there's still good in this world...

So, Return Of The King, as a movie, a cinematic experience...
Unbelievable. You've never seen anything like it before, you'll never see anything like it again.

It's a gigantic film, even by Hollywood's extravegant standards. It's a cliched film, even by Hollywood's cliched standards. It's a deeply emotional, even melodramatic film.
And thank God for that.


But this film, this entire story, is about so much more than battles.
It's about the people who fight these battles, the journeys and quests they undertake.

Frodo Baggins, ring bearer extraordinaire. What a brilliant performance by Elijah Wood as someone totally consumed, wrecked, utterly destroyed by his quest, by his journey, by the responsibility he's taken upon himself. His once happy go lucky character gets darker and darker and darker...and Wood excels. The character Frodo, is so fantastic, as someone brought to their knees by what they've undertaken...by doing the right thing. Someone practically destroyed by having to choose between right and wrong, good and bad.

Aragorn... The King himself... the character is a true leader of men. Bold, fearless as a leader should be... as upright and honest as a saint... his utter devotion to the quest, to protecting Frodo and then Middle Earth is beautiful. Viggo Mortensen is pitch perfect in his part.

Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan, as Merry and Pippin. Man.... i love the chemistry between these two guys, they feed off each other, play off each other, working beautifully together, bringing genuine innocence and playfullness to their characters... what i love most about Pippin and Merry is the fact that realistically, they, more than anyone else, have no reason to be where they are... they're a bunch of irresponsible pranksters who just stumble into the quest...but once they're in... they're in all the way. Their devotion to Frodo and more importantly, to each other, is deeply touching... love these guys...

Orlando Bloom as Legolas... extremely controlled performance by Bloom. Legolas is one of those characters that rarely breaks into huge displays of emotion. His elven face is impassive, calm, collected. This guy lets his actions do the talking. The best word i can come up with for him, is Cowboy. Legolas is essentially, Middle Earth's very own cowboy. There's this thing he does in Return Of The King (you'll know it when you see it), that'll just send your jaw to the floor, first class, no return.

Gimli... John Rhys Davies... lovely performance, both comic relief as well as core member of the Fellowship. Davies effectively brings out the stubborness of the dwarves, and their sheer resilience and unconditional courage... take a bow mate...

Gandalf...Ian McKellan... what do i say about this guy? About every subtle facial twitch, every solemnly delivered line of advice, every ominous piece of news. Wizard, mentor, champion... that's Gandalf for you... the cornerstone of the fellowship, the cornerstone of Middle Earth's fightback... that's Gandalf for you...
While everyone is downright brilliant, there's one character and performance that just wins you over, right from the start...

Samwise The Brave... man oh man. Sean Astin is just incredible... innocent, faithful...dogged...and most importantly... the single most courageous character in the story.

Samwise The Brave. The epitome of courage. Here's a guy who would do anything at all for his friend and master. Anything at all. He'd do anything it takes...he follows Frodo to hell and back... in fact, when Frodo isn't strong enough, he takes him by the hand and LEADS him into hell and back. His loyalty is heartbreakingly touching... There's this one line he has in Fellowship Of The Ring, when Frodo leaves alone, he follows him into the water and almost drowns...why? "Because i made a promise Mr Frodo...a promise. Don't you leave him Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf said... and i don't mean to Mr. Frodo, i don't mean to."

That sums Samwise up... plain and simple. He is a man of his word, a man of honour...his entire existence, he's known nothing more than his peaceful little Shire, and here he is, thrust into a quest that will decide the fate of the world. A daunting task for the hardiest of men. But Sam rises to the occasion like an absolute champion... because that's what he is.
The friendship that he and Frodo have... it's the sort you'd love to have in your life... pure loyalty, devotion, love. "I can't carry the ring for you Mr.Frodo...but i can carry you." That says it all. Frodo may well be the central character of the story...but Samwise is it's hero... it's Champion.
The loveliest part about the Hobbits is that, their whole life, they've known nothing beyond their utopian Shire. It's a small world, a happy one...paradise, you'd call it. And suddenly, there's a world they have to fight for, a darkness they have to fight against. There are decisions they have to make, consequences they have to bear... And every single one of them stands up and does their part...more than their part.

Like Aragorn says when they bow to him... "You, my friends... bow to no one"
I could go on forever, honestly i could. I already have in fact.
But Return Of The King, please please please please please go watch it, it's a piece of legendary cinema, one that the world will never ever forget. It's an epic, in every sense of the word. Cinematically, it is perfection all the way.
Brilliant screenplay, masterful editing, special effects unlike anything we've ever seen, cinematography that has you gaping, a background score that damn near moves you to tears...and most importantly, extremely large amounts of heart... good, old fashioned heart...
Peter Jackson, take a bow... you're The King mate... You bow to no one...