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n. hoop·la fac·tor (h  p lä f kt r)
degree of entertainment attained irrespective of critical worth |
Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
 | Year: 2003 |  |
| Country: New Zealand | ||
| Writer: J.R.R. Tolkien, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson | ||
| Director: Peter Jackson | ||
| Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin |
stuart |
mark |
imdb |
official site |
trailer |
SE DVD review |
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Mark:Well, it finally had to come to an end, and what an end! The third segment of the famous novel, adapted by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, is the best of the three films, and closes the story in majestic fashion. Return Of The King (ROTK) is a stupendous film, easily the best film of 2003, and one of the very best of all time. The film is spot on. It is hard to imagine a better retelling.The two previous films have drawn the characters and the setting in fine detail, and the character arcs have been set in place, with only their resolution needed. The separate story-threads of The Two Towers (TTT) eventually converge at the massive battle of Pelennor Fields, where the doom of all the peoples of the West is to be defeated by Sauron's amassed armies. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam are still labouring toward Mordor, with the help of their guide, Gollum. The outcome is most likely well known to all readers, the book being the most loved novel of all time, but given our spoiler policy, I won't tell it here.  Peter Jackson always said he preferred the third film, for the emotion it contained, and I couldn't agree more. The heart of Samwise The Brave is the heart of this film - his love for Frodo, his Gaffer, and The Shire is the main reason this film succeeds as it does. Astin does a remarkable job in this portrayal, and his snubbing by the Academy only shows them for the fools they are. Were Astin less skilled, or Jackson less sensitive to the emotional development of the characters, the film would be but a shadow of what was achieved here.The score is spectacular, Howard Shore continuing his amazing work of Fellowship Of The Ring (FOTR) and TTT, and completing his thematic development with a flourish. The variation to "Concerning Hobbits' from FOTR SPOILERS: which is then played on the hobbits' return to The Shire END SPOILERS is able to convey the change that has been forced on them all, Frodo in particular. The insertion of melodies from the final ending at a point of major Sam heroism also impressed me. The effects are marvellous - the lighting of the beacons of Gondor and Rohan is the obvious highlight. The battle scenes are spectacular in scope, although none of the battles in this film can match the fight at Parth Galen at the end of FOTR for emotional impact. Costumes, Make-up and cinematography all are superb; at no time does Middle Earth feel anything less than true, nor ROTK history. The only major downside is that some of the characters are less well developed - Legolas, Gimli and Merry all miss out. Arwen is also only minimally involved, one of Jackson's better directorial choices. Pippin, on the other hand, who was previously reduced to comic relief, is allowed to grow and shine. Faramir gets some needed screen time and heroics, although his scenes in the Houses of Healing are strangely absent. The deviations from the book, although frustrating for a purist, should not really affect the review of the film. It stands alone as a great film, even if I and many others would have loved certain sections of Tolkien's plot to have been left unaltered. Perhaps the extended edition will redress this problem, as it did in TTT. Jackson has crafted an exceptional film, one that should be seen by those of all ages. The Lord Of The Rings trilogy has been a cultural milestone, and its effect on film-making into the future can only be guessed at. Its place in history, however, is assured. Rating:   Hoopla Factor: Stuart:It's interesting, but now that I have read Mark's incredibly praiseworthy review, I feel the need to be quite critical, even though I loved this film.Now, it should be established here that I loved Fellowship. I thought the film was near-perfect - it looked awesome, the acting was superb and it was a great adaptation of a great book. Then along came The Two Towers... I was bored shitless for most of the film. I found the first half incredibly slow and boring, and the climactic battle failed to grab me. So I had been hoping beyond hope that the third installment would be better than the second. Thankfully it was. Because Mark has already written his review (possibly one-handed) I'm going to do my best to only focus on certain things that bothered me about The Return Of The King.  Now, I've seen the film twice at the cinema, and loved it both times (although during the second occasion I spent most of the film saying 'I wanna see the elephants!... Hurry up! I wanna see the elephants!' - much in the same way that a whinging five year old would be pulling on their parent's jeans in a zoo). But I've since come to realise that by the time we get to the third installment the film was all about the spectacle. In this way it kinda resembles one of the Star Wars prequels - it's about the WOW factor.I didn't feel that there was as much depth to the characters as previously - there simply wasn't enough time in between all the huge special effects sequences. There are some moments when you want to get up and cheer, but nothing even comes close to the skirmish at the end of the first film. The end of The Fellowship was so full of emotion that you couldn't help shadow boxing in your seat. There were so many changes made in the second film, that by the time we reached number three I didn't really care that they had deviated so much from the book.  Miranda Otto rocked, and did a superb job of being strong yet delicate at the same time. In fact it's interesting to watch because most of the time we have female heroes on screen they're usually fairly masculine and downplay their femininity. This has applied to many characters, from Trinity in The Matrix to The Bride in Kill Bill, (although Tarantino attempted this in Part 2 but failed for the most part). There are cases where the heroes are sexual objects (such as in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) but it's rare to see a female character play the hero in a feminine manner. It's like story tellers start with a traditional male hero and then just give it breasts. I think that this tradition has been selling female heroes short. Rather than simply moulding a female character with overtly masculine traits, it's much more interesting and challenging to actually redefine the concept of a hero. This can lead (and did in the case of ROTK) to a fascinating and original dynamic in battle.Our three main adventurers who took up most of The Two Towers have much less to do in this film, and that's not such a bad thing since I got sick of Gimli's comic relief. (Hey, I respect fantasy stories... dwarfs rock... they don't always walk around complaining with ego's taller than themselves). I guess the main thing part three had going for it was the pacing. Whilst the first film could take its time revealing the world (and provoking a sense of wonder) the second film was most definitely sluggish at times. The Return Of The King, however, moves at a cracking pace, and in fact I didn't notice the extra half hour or so - it seemed the same length as the first two. It is a fantastic, grand-scale film, only occasionally becoming silly and over the top (such as Sam's Big Speech™), and whilst I'm sure it doesn't stand so well on its own, The Return Of The King is a thrilling climax to the series.
Mark's take on the Special Edition DVD: - Alert! This whole review is a SPOILER...Where formerly the SE-DVDs have been released in mid-year, with the lack of a theatrical release to get ready, Jackson and co. have waited until December to release the Return of The King Special Edition (ROTK-SE). Seems they wanted to get it just right, and they may have succeeded.The background I will give is that I thought the Fellowship of The Ring Special Edition (FOTR-SE) was unnecessary, and didn't really work for me - FOTR-Theatrical Release (FOTR-TR) was good enough for fans as it was. The Two Towers Special Edition (TTT-SE) however, was much, much better than TTT-TR - the added scenes were really missing from a large-scale action piece that lacked in the small-scale personal detail that Tolkien was so good at. I have heard friends say they liked TTT best of the trilogy, as it just got on with the action, but for me, the extra character detail was much appreciated. The SE also just made more sense - character's motivations were more fully explored, and even a T-geek like me understood more of why they decided to do what they did. Faramir and Boromir with Denethor was an obvious large addition which really helped, and Pippin and Merry in the foodstore at Isengard was fantastic. Having felt that ROTK-TR at times skipped character development in favour of action, and also had some unexplained behaviours and comments I was sure would be explained in the SE, I was anxiously awaiting it!  I am a LOTR geek, admittedly, having read the books inumerable times, and seen each film many times as well. So I guess I was primed to spot the differences and additions in this version. Thankfully, much of the extra material is like Tolkien-porn for us fans - Jackson always said the SEs were for fans, and the TRs for everyman. There is so much extra heart, so much character development, so much book stuff, it made me glad at heart. For while the ROTK-TR was almost perfect, this is almost perfect in another way altogether.The most obvious addition is more time for Faramir - with Denethor, Pippin and Eowyn at various times having scenes with him not seen in the TR. Faramir emerges in a much more understandable way - his actions, his heroism, more easily explained. I still wished for more Houses of Healing scenes with Eowyn, but it was never going to suit every fan. Gandalf and Pippin also broaden their relationship, whilst Sam and Frodo, although pretty well developed in the TR, is even better explained in the SE. Various scenes not in the TR return for the SE. The Mouth of Sauron is a good example of how the cutting of a scene from the TR left certain things unexplained. Looking at Aragorn's face as he turns to the asembled men of The West in front of the Black Gate, and with a tear in his eye says "For Frodo" before turning and charging, it was never clear in the TR why he was crying. Placing the Mouth of Sauron back where it should have been makes his reaction a lot more understandable.  Christopher Lee, who had been cut from the TR, returns, and it is lovely to see the power of his voice, making the Captains of The West take second thoughts and become insecure - a beautiful nod to Tolkien's literary world. Hopefully, this will pacify Lee, and allow him and PJ to get back on better terms.My favourite additional scene? Eomer finding Eowyn possibly dead on the Pelennor Fields - holding her and screaming and wailing for the loss of his sister. This scene had been in the trailer for the TR, and I had eagerly awaited it, only to leave disappointed it didn't make the final TR cut. Thank goodness PJ saw fit to include it here! hoopla.nu does not write technical reviews of DVDs, or review their extra features as such. I will say, however, that the ROTK-SE is a stunning pack. The film itself is almost perfectly presented, and whilst I am yet to get through all the additional material, for fans of PJ's trilogy it is absolute gold. At almost four and a half hours, ROTK-SE is not for the weak-bladdered, but the time flies almost unnoticed when you allow the scope of this amazing drama to pull you in. For fans, this is an absolute must-have. Rating: Hoopla Factor: |
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