Return of the King

[Sapphire W34P0N]

Think of the most intense movie you've ever seen. Think of all the adrenaline you felt pumping through your veins...and multiply it by a million. If you can imagine that, you have an inkling of an idea of what I was feeling last night at 12:15 as the New Line Cinema logo shone on the screen. Perhaps the most amazing thing about this whole series is the realism of it all. Peter Jackson has done what very few directors can: take a story embedded in the pages of a book and bring it to thriving, vigorous life. As you're sitting there, in the theater, watching this amazing movie, you KNOW that Middle-Earth is real, you KNOW that the characters, antagonist and protagonist alike, are real, and by the end, you also know that you must leave the theater and associately, this "real" world of Tolkein's imagination.

The battle scenes in this movie are unsurpassable. Helm's Deep in The Two Towers seemed like a signifigant battle (which is actually quite misleading), but it's really nothing compared to the confrontation at Minas Tirith between the last resisting humans and Sauron's massive Orc army. I found myself on more than one occasion staring at the screen with my mouth open in awe during some of these magnificent battles.

There are also a lot of underlying messages throughout the whole story, but they are brought out into the open in this movie more than any other. Frodo's struggle against greed and avarice is almost unbearable to watch, just because you start to feel the burden with Frodo. Sam is an unconditional friend to Frodo, whose devotion to Frodo is pushed to the limit and farther in this film. Gollum is representative of a lost good...he is beyond any hope of redemption, but his schizo personality confuses and highlights this aspect.

The casting for these films was perfect from the very beginning, and that standard is held in highest to the final scene.

Peter Jackson did take a few liberties while filming this movie, but fortunately these deviations from the book do absolutely nothing to give it fault, and in some cases, Jackson's ideas make a bit more sense than Tolkein's did. Which is, of course, good.

You'll need to see this at least twice just to take everything in, then two more times to put it all together, than twice again to catch all the subtle stuff, and then another couple times because the first six were so much fun.

I got teary-eyed a couple times because of this movie's sheer magnitude and brilliance. It's impossible to imagine that I'll ever be this impressed again. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as far as moviemaking goes, and it seems that Jackson has pushed the envelope to the point that epic/fantasy filmmakers have a new standard to meet. It's depressing walking out of the theater not just because the story is over, but knowing that I can never see any other movie that will make me feel the way this one did.

4 out of 4 stars. 5 if I could.

[Symphony]

I felt similarly about "Amadeus"--"seamless" is the word I would use to describe it--tho not just for the effects, which are all well done, or the music, which is of course superb and what it really is about, but more for the story of intrigue, jealousy and betrayal(which is thought in some ways to be true, since no one knows for sure whether Mozart in fact really was poisoned--and, they don't know where he's buried either, since he died a pauper's death).


But rather than a Review, Sapphire, yours reads more like a Soliloquy.

I can't see any reason not to vote for you.  


     

[Willowbirch]

Hm, Ben...does this stunning review have anything to do with the fact that you were out in the littlest hours of the morning?  

Two thumbs up out of two; three, if I could.  

[Allinall]

I must simply say that this movie was one of the greatest movies I've ever watched.  Though Jackson split with the book account on several occassions, I think he has brought the story to the big screen in magnificent fashion.  Marvelous!  I loved it.  Go and see it.  It's very much good.  Yup.  Great flick.


















Did I mention that it was good?  

[sincereheart]

Ben, that was beautiful! I will see it! I will!

but I still gotta wait till I can rent it

Allinall,
Is it a good movie?  

[Sapphire W34P0N]

but I still gotta wait till I can rent it

Pirates is forgiveable. But, all sarcasm aside, if you don't see this in the theater, you will regret it for the rest of your life.

I saw it for my second time today. Unbelievable.

[Symphony]

Two thumbs up out of two; three, if I could.

   

[sincereheart]

Pirates is forgiveable.
 

if you don't see this in the theater, you will regret it for the rest of your life.
 
*wonders if they have a matinee?*

Two thumbs up out of two; three, if I could.
ROFL! Till Symphony pulled it out, it had gone right over my head.... *whoosh*

[Allinall]

Allinall,
Is it a good movie?  

It was stupendous!  Especially the part when Legolas single-handedly slays the crew, driver, and mumakil itself, rides down the death throws of the beast, and steps off onto the battlefield and Gimli says...wait.  You're mocking me, aren't you?  

[sincereheart]

You're mocking me, aren't you?

No way!    Just wanted to be sure I understood!  


Did I mention that it was good?

You did!  

[Allinall]

  Counting the days till I get to see it again!!!  And the pennies I need to collect in order to...think my kids will mind not eating next week guys?

[sincereheart]

And the pennies I need to collect in order to...think my kids will mind not eating next week guys?

Now there's an idea I hadn't thought of! Hmmmm....



Ben, don't give up on me yet! Allinall has given me a plan!

 

[Allinall]

They're young.  They'll adjust.  

[Tibby]

It was a great movie. To long, but great. I felt like I was in a Baptist sermon, it had sevreal endings. IT WOULDN'T STOP! Oh God, please make it end! The whole threatre moaned in unison when they showed Sam with his wife and Kids at the end.

THe other 2, I enjoyed the extended version more, I will never be able to watch the threatre versions after seeing them. But I am dreading the Return of the King Extended version!

[Sapphire W34P0N]

The ending wasn't THAT bad. It didn't ruin the movie or anything.

Trust me, the extended version will be incredible. There are a lot of things they left out of the movie that will be in there, like the Mouth of Sauron, Aragorn revealing himself to Sauron through the Palantir, among several other things that will help the movie to flow a little smoother than it already does.