Return Of The King

[coalescent]

Return of the King is just about as good as everyone's saying it is. There are a few weaknesses - the dialogue gives up any pretense at sounding realistic about half-way through the film, and there was a slight case of 'well, the extended edition will fix that, and that, and that', and I'll get to a couple of other gripes further down - but on the whole, damn. It's an epic fantasy, and it's up there on the big screen, and it works.

The visuals are almost always perfect. The Nazgul, after their slightly naff appearance in The Two Towers, work again. They're terrifyingly effective. Faramir's charge was just beautiful. The lighting of the beacons was stirring. And as for the battle of the Pelennor Fields: If it's not the greatest battle scene ever filmed, it's certainly got to be in the top five. It's big, brutal, and it matters, and even the utterly gratuitous Legolas Moment (tm) can't take away from it.

There were a couple of things I didn't like. I wasn't wild about the ghost army; as with the Ents in the previous film, there was just something about the way they looked that didn't quite work for me, and I haven't put my finger on what it was. And at the end, in Mount Doom, when Gollum jumps on Frodo - in my mind, that scene was crying out for a shot from Frodo's perspective. Partly to get inside his head, but mostly because without it, you've just got Gollum bobbing around in mid-air whilst dramatic music plays in the background.

In addition, I'm now convinced that Aragorn is by some distance the least interesting character in the trilogy, with the possible exception of Arwen. Of the commanders, I warmed more to Theoden, and to Faramir; for heart, the Hobbits take the prize; and for sheer coolness value nobody matches Gandalf, particularly in this film. Aragorn, as kingly as he may look, is for the most part just there.

Lastly, my suspension of disbelief started to buckle slightly, which of course meant that I started to think slightly more than I should have done about what was happening. It struck me about half-way through the film that, well, Middle-Earth is pretty damn small, isn't it? Somewhere along the way, I lost the sense that a whole world was about to fall under the sway of the Dark Lord, and instead it became about a few hundred men fighting a last stand at the black gate. What's more, those few hundred seem to be all the men that are left; that's got to play havoc with a kingdom's demographics. Then there was the re-emphasis that Aragorn is born to rule; he's Just Better. And the glorifying of the hobbits started to shade ever so slightly into the obnoxious.

To be fair, those sorts of flaws are as much down to Tolkien as they are to Jackson; and it's probably not fair to compare this film with the more complete extended editions. But I think, on balance, as things stand right now, that by the barest of possible margins The Return of the King is the weakest of the three films.

Which is, of course, not to say that I'm not going to go and see it at least three more times, and that I won't sit there each time with a big, stupid grin plastered all over my face. Believe me: I will. The good in this film far, far outweighs the bad, and it deserves to sweep the board of every awards ceremony for the next twelve months.

ETA: Trailer notes: Big Fish = woohoo! Peter Pan = eh. Harry Potter = mildly interesting. Thunderbirds = WOOHOO!

Comments

[snowking.livejournal.com]

the dialogue gives up any pretense at sounding realistic about half-way through the film

This is, without a doubt, the weirdest comment you've ever made on anything.

The Return of the King is the weakest of the three films.

I diagree. Comparing it to the other straight cinema editions, I think it shades FotR, and TTT is behind both by quite a margin.

I was amazed and delighted by Pelennor Fields. I didn't think they could get much better than Helm's Deep without it getting boring as it drags on. But I was transfixed. So many good moments. I can even forgive TLM because of Gimli cracking wise. Because other than that the poor elf was returned to his role of Captain Obvious. "The horses are restless and the men grow quiet." No shit, big ears.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

This is, without a doubt, the weirdest comment you've ever made on anything.

Badly phrased, perhaps. Obviously, the dialogue throughout the trilogy is highly stylised - but a lot of it is much more clunky in this film. There's great stuff, like Theoden's speech, and rubbish stuff, like anything that Denethor says.

Comparing it to the other straight cinema editions, I think it shades FotR, and TTT is behind both by quite a margin.

I can no longer remember the cinema editions. So like I said, I may be making an unfair comparison.

I was amazed and delighted by Pelennor Fields.

Oh, hell yes. Just...wow. Every Warhammer battle I've every wanted to play. ;-)

Because other than that the poor elf was returned to his role of Captain Obvious.

I'm not saying it wasn't a cool moment. I'm just saying it was utterly and obviously gratuitous. :-)

[green-amber.livejournal.com]

Right now, on cinema releases, I'd put FOTR as clearly the best - in that it had charactrerisation as well as epic sweep - and TT as clearly the worst (despite having perhaps the best battle scenes.)

In other words, par for epic trilogies - the middle one always suffers by being the middle one, the last may well suffer by having to pack too much plot in to even a liberal running time.

I d look forward to the EE of ROTK.

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

in my mind, that scene was crying out for a shot from Frodo's perspective.

*clicks fingers*

You're quite right. I'd have liked to see the world from Frodo's eyes at just that moment.

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

And at the end, in Mount Doom, when Gollum jumps on Frodo - in my mind, that scene was crying out for a shot from Frodo's perspective.

YES

I had to supress giggles at the sight of Gollum bobbing around in midair.

[fba.livejournal.com]

Not seen it yet - but just out of interest - how many of the spoilery plot points did you remember when you came to watch it?

Stuff like:

Theoden dying
Eowyn killing the Witch King
Dethenor's suicide
Shelob

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Theoden dying

No idea. Was quite upset by that. Liked Theoden.

Eowyn killing the Witch King

Didn't know beforehand, but as soon as anyone said 'he cannot be killed by any man!' it was a bit obvious what was going to happen. I've seen Angel devouring his son, I know how these things work. ;-)

Dethenor's suicide

No idea. More importantly, I had no idea what Faramir's fate was going to be. Hell, I didn't even know if he made it out of Osgileath alive.

Shelob

I did remember that there was a giant spider. And I did remember Sam being a ring-bearer.

[fba.livejournal.com]

I find this interesting - these are the *real* spoilers. I've known people get upset when I've baited them with 'the ring gets destroyed at the end you know' - IMO that is a given (personally I can't see any other outcome). How the ring is destroyed isn't even that interesting - it is the circumstances that lead to it falling into the fire that is the spoiler. The Eowyn thing is telegraphed somewhat - but as you say, you've seen Buffy/Angel and know how tricksey prophecy is ;-)

It must be difficult to come to LotR clean - as it is pretty ingrained into British culture now. I guess that means that Tolkien suceeded in creating a fantasy mythology for Britain.