Synopsis-
Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) finally make it to Mordor, despite the treachery of Gollum (Andy Serkis) and the attack by the giant spider Shelob. The two make their way to Mount Doom, where Frodo claims the Ring for his own.
Frodo is attacked by Gollum, who chews off the finger with the Ring. Gollum steps out too far and falls into the lava, thus destroying the Ring.
Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), King Theoden of Rohan (Bernard Hill) and Gondor's Steward Denethor (John Noble) attempt to protect the realms of Rohan and Gondor from the invasion of the Dark Lord's armies.
A great battle is fought at Minas Tirith, which the combined armies of Rohan and Gondor barely survive. The armies then march upon the Black Gate, serving as a diversion to allow Frodo to approach Mount Doom. The destruction of the Ring, and Sauron, also destroys much of Sauron's army in the tumult, while those that survive run away.
Back in Minas Tirith, Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor, having decended from the Kings of old. Frodo and the other hobbits return to the Shire, but Frodo still is in pain from his adventures. Frodo eventually decided to travel with the Elves to the Undying Lands to be healed. Those going with Frodo include Bilbo (Ian Holm), Gandalf, Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Galadriel (Cate Blanchett).
Review-
The Return of the King is a major improvement over the Two Towers. It still has its faults, but they are far fewer than the Two Towers.
Frodo dismissing Sam, and Sam leaving Frodo simply didn't ring true to me. Sam would never have left Frodo. Peter Jackson, I believe, is quoted as saying that this was added to create tension and conflict. As if facing a deadly giant spider and trying to sneak into the Dark Lord's own realm wasn't enough tension and conflict. Of all the changes that Peter Jackson made in his films, this is by far the one that I found the most upsetting.
The Faramir and Eowyn (Miranda Otto) subplot is missing from the theatrical, and only warrants a few longing glances in the Extended Edition. It's a shame, as it's one of my favorite subplots from the book as I find Faramir and Eowyn to simply be more realistic and interesting characters than Aragorn and especially Arwen.
Arwen (Liv Tyler) is given very little to do in both the Two Towers and Return of the King. While that's mostly true to the book, one has to wonder after building the character up in Fellowship (by giving the Elf Glorfindel's scenes to Arwen) why Peter Jackson didn't use the character more in Two Towers and Return of the King.
The Extended Edition, once again, adds needed material to the story. Saruman's (Christopher Lee) death only appears in the Extended Edition, and that simply makes the Extended Edition the one to watch simply for that scene alone.
Overall, Return of the King is a major improvement and is a solid adaptation of the novel, sitting right in the middle between Fellowship and the Two Towers.
Summary-
It's important to remember that these films are Peter Jackson's adaptation of the Lord of the Rings books. Simply put, if another director had taken on the challenge of making the Lord of the Rings, they might have made different choices.
Of course, Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema were taking a big chance in making these films. While it seems like a no brainer in hindsight to make a live action version of the popular J.R.R. Tolkien book series, prior to their release there was no guarantee that the films would do well.
Indeed, all one has to do it take a look at the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings film. At the time, an animated version of LOTR looked like a no-brainer. The recent Rankin-Bass version of the Hobbit had been popular, and it was to be assumed that an animated LOTR would also be popular. However, the project flopped hard and the intended second LOTR film intended to complete the story simply never happened.
This is why, despite my own nitpicks about the films, I'm very grateful to Peter Jackson for having the courage to making the Lord of the Rings films. Filmmakers who intend to adapt beloved works of fiction would do well to study these films, as its clear that Peter Jackson had a great deal of love for the project. I'll admit I'm looking forward to the next two films in the Hobbit trilogy.
