Incredible ROTK Review (No Spoilers)

[Black Breathalizer]

A new ROTK review from AICN with spoilers deleted:

Hi Harry,

I was fortunate enough to see a media screening of ROTK last night at The Lowe's Kips Bay theater in New York City. I've never sent you a review before but after reading the reviews you posted so far I felt I needed to. Although ultimately positive, most of these reviews have felt underwhelming. If anyone were to ask my opinion (which I know they are not) I was expecting to see movie history made with ROTK. I was expecting to see the movie event of the past 10 years. I was expecting to be blown away so to speak. These are probably the highest expectations I've ever placed on a film before. It would seem that I was setting myself up for disappointment. Ever since the Phantom Menace I've had to adjust (lower) my expectations for films. But I couldn't do that this time. I had to go in with my emotions at full throttle. These films have meant too much. And almost unbelievably, ROTK fulfilled all of my expectations and then some.

ROTK is an exquisite film. By far the best of its genre. By far the best film of the year so far. It is absolutely incredible. It's mindblowing, exhilirating, moving, and exhausting (in a good way). The scope of the film is massive and yet the character moments are intimate. The film is such an accomplishment on so many different levels, I will be shocked if it doesnt clean up at the Oscars. Whew! Ok, let me get a hold of myself again.

When I walked out of TTT a year or so ago, the first things that came out of my mouth were the problems I had with the film: Sam and Frodo not having enough screentime, Shelob being moved to ROTK, Faramir's character not being fleshed out enough (they should not have cut the flashback of Faramir, Boromir, and Denethor). But when my buddies and I walked out of the theater last night we walked in quiet awe for a few minutes. Then one of my friends looked at me and asked "what was your favorite moment?" What followed was an hour long conversation of all of our favorite moments in the film. They were so many great moments in the that we couldn't recall them all. I remembered seeing something great in the film and thinking I'm gonna talk about that later and then not being able to recall what it was. It really is that overwhelming.

Before I get into spoilers I just want to say that the most important aspect of the film for me was that, like the books, ROTK really centered on the hobbits. They all get there time to shine and rightly so. The story is after all about the smallest person being able to to make the biggest difference.

T-gun

The excitement is building! This film is going to rock.

[Khamûl]

If anyone were to ask my opinion (which I know they are not) I was expecting to see movie history made with ROTK. I was expecting to see the movie event of the past 10 years. I was expecting to be blown away so to speak. These are probably the highest expectations I've ever placed on a film before.

Those were my exact sentiments going into TTT. Was I blown away? No. I had mixed feelings. It was an awesome movie, but many parts were not the Lord of the Rings I had come to know and love.

Call me jaded, but I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude into RotK. I'm excited, but trying to keep my expectations realistic. So many reviews like this one got my hopes up on TTT only to leave me disappointed. Would I like to be moved to tears by the ending of what is arguably the most epic film trilogy of all time? Absolutely. Will it actually happen? Only time will tell.

[cassiopeia]

As I said in another thread, I want to love the ROTK. I am very excited right now, even though I won't be seeing the ROTK until after Christmas when it's released here. This review gives me hope.
I know some Tolkien lovers who are going to see the movie today (4th), so I'm looking forward to what they say about it.

[Dúnedain]

Before I get into spoilers I just want to say that the most important aspect of the film for me was that, like the books, ROTK really centered on the hobbits. They all get there time to shine and rightly so. The story is after all about the smallest person being able to to make the biggest difference.

That's like the 3rd review I've read that has said that same thing. Hopefully some of the people here that have complained about the hobbits not being as important in the movies will get what they wanted

[Arathorn]

As for me, all I want to do now is to lower my expectations, if possible, below those I felt before FOTR. I went to the moviehouse near midnight in an obscure moviehouse with a fairly good crowd just wondering what the moviemakers did to this story that has captured our hearts and, of course, we were pleasantly surprised with many of the scenes even though almost all of use were quite disappointed about the Ford scene. A bump in the road but we enjoyed the film and it brought us close to other fans we might never had had a chance to be friends with hadn't the movie brought us out of the woodwork.

Then TTT came a year later. We raised our expectations thanks to the hype. It was still enjyoyable but the details didn't overwhelm as much as the first. There were more scenes that had me thinking more than once.

I want to enjoy ROTK but the 2 previous films taken together was a mixed bag but still enjoyable and repeatable on DVD as well as the Extended versions.

So I just tell myself now as I wait for the 19th here where I live. "It's just ROTK, they probably won't top the action in TTT nor most of the plot and details in FOTR. Think about the 2 Matrix films that betrayed your expectations".

[Lizra]

After TTT, I'm sort of expecting to be let down. I hope I don't get real emotional and start crying or something! That would be totally funky. I better bring some hankies.....

[Artanis]

Every review I've read so far have been overall positive, even those written by fans of the book. It gives me hope.

[Black Breathalizer]

Posted by Artanis:
It gives me hope.

Arwen from TTT:
There is still hope.

Aragorn from TTT:
There is always hope.

Black Breathalizer:
I don't hope, I KNOW in my gut ROTK is going to blow us all away.

[Artanis]

Let's hope we will not be disappointed BB.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

Originally posted by Arathorn
I just tell myself now as I wait for the 19th here where I live. "It's just ROTK, they probably won't top the action in TTT nor most of the plot and details in FOTR. Think about the 2 Matrix films that betrayed your expectations".
______________________________________-

ROTK should be comparatively much better then MatriX III. I almost got the impression that the Matrix producers didn't expect sequels and jury rigged elements to make II and III. Perhaps analagous to the way Tolkien had difficulty starting his "Hobbit sequel" since he hadn't anticipated writing one. By contrast, the LOTR movie people were presented with one intricate story, not a matrix-type trilogy, so it has an internal coherence and developed storyline. That is, assuming PJ's people don't botch the syoryline and characters too much. For example, even in the TT dvd they missed a chance to clarify Denethor's attitude towards Faramir by giving him a throwaway line to Boromir like: "How can I trust your brother? He is a wizard's pupil. His allegiance lies more with Gandalf Stormcrow than the Steward of Gondor."

[Katie of the Golden Wood]

Yay!

That review is a confirmation of my way-too-high-expectations. I almost hope they are lowered before it comes out...than the amazing will seem perfect.

Moriaty from AICN is coming out with a review soon, but he said on a different message board (can't remember which):

"Its amazing. Its better than you think its going to be.
It is astonishing. There is a strectch in the middle where PJ hits an emotional crescendo that lasts almost an hour and a half...I don't think I've ever been so worked up in a movie. I didnt know whether to stay in my seat or jump up or what.
It's preposterously great.
Take all the emotional power of the first one...and double it.
Take all the battle intensity of the second...and double it.
Then put them together.

Kind of hard to lower expectations after that!

Katie

[Falagar]

I agree with Arathorn. I enjoyed the movies, but I think I had too high expectations. Don't want to be dissapointed after having watched RotK, so I've lowered my expectations (haven't read any of the reviews so far, but haven't been able to avoid the titles and dicethrows on the frontpages of all newspapers around here.)

Kind of hard to lower expectations after that!

[inner struggle]Must...not...read...[/inner struggle]

[Black Breathalizer]

A review from TIME magazine:


The king in the story is the hunky human warrior Aragorn (Mortensen). But Jackson is the true lord of these Rings. The New Zealand auteur spent seven years on the trilogy, collaborating on the scripts with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. He chose and directed this perfect cast, orchestrated the smashing visual effects — Tolkien's bestiary on the march in fantastical realms. In Return, the giant trolls, four-tusked elephants and flying, screeching serpents of Mordor will amaze adults and may startle small children. The spider monster Shelob, creeping up on Frodo and mummifying him in a silken straitjacket, offers a delicious horror-movie frisson.

Viewers don't play this movie like a video game. They are seduced to live inside it. In one brilliant visualization, the hobbit Pippin (Billy Boyd) manages to light a bonfire at the top of Gondor to alert his distant comrades to a military victory. On a far hill, a second fire is lit, its flame echoed on farther mountaintops, on and on into the dawn. At last, it's wartime.

The Ring films, like Master and Commander, celebrate old-fashioned martial virtues: honor, duty, comradeship, sacrifice — soldiering on, under an immense, sapping burden. Though the trilogy percolates with bracing adventure, it is a testament to the long slog of any war. Pain streaks the faces of the film's stalwart warriors. They know the enormity of their foe and know that the child hobbit who bears the Ring is far from them — surely in peril, perhaps lost forever. At one point Aragorn asks Gandalf, "What does your heart tell you?" and in a little movie epiphany, the wizard's face briefly warms, brightens, and he says, "That Frodo is alive."

The boldly choreographed battles are really a diversion from the story's great drama: three little people — Frodo, his companion Sam (Sean Astin) and the ex-hobbit Gollum (Andy Serkis and a lot of CGI geniuses) on their way to Mount Doom with a mission to destroy the Ring. Cringing and crafty, Gollum is the rebellious servant, subverting Sam's selfless impulses, trying to twist allegiance of the pallid, ailing Frodo away from his friend. (So poignant are Gollum's turbid emotions, and so persuasively is this computer critter integrated with the live performers, that he deserves a special acting Oscar for Best ... Thing.) The devotion of Sam is inspiring. His plea to Frodo--"Don't go where I can't follow!"--makes him the film's real hero.

At 3 hr. 20 min., The Return of the King occasionally slows to a trot. There's a long middle passage where half a dozen characters in turn muse and fret at length. After the climax there's a plethora of meetings and farewells, most of them extended versions of the goodbyes in The Wizard of Oz. But Jackson is entitled. He surely felt that he and his companions of the Ring had waged their own hard, heroic battle and that sentimental adieus were earned.

They are, too. The second half of the film elevates all the story elements to Beethovenian crescendo. Here is an epic with literature's depth and opera's splendor — and one that could be achieved only in movies. What could be more terrific?

[Nurvingiel]

Though I do not want to detract from your enthusiasm for the movie, this particular glowing review is of very poor quality. The writing is sub-par, and the author does not seem to have much knowledge of the movie.

Originally posted by Black Breathalizer
The king in the story is the hunky human warrior Aragorn (Mortensen).

Hunky? Generally bad writing makes me doubt the authenticity of this review.

... flying, screeching serpents of Mordor will amaze adults and may startle small children.

One can only assume this person is talking about the fell beasts the Nazgul ride. "Serpents" is really pushing it. Actually, it's just plain wrong.

Viewers don't play this movie like a video game.

Insert appropriate sarcastic comment here.

His plea to Frodo--"Don't go where I can't follow!"--makes him the film's real hero.

Sam rules! He will shine in RotK. I had to end on a positive note.

[Elvengirl]

We can only hope

But I don't know what to expect. I loved FOTR, hated TTT, I'll be very surprised if I like this better than FOTR.

I wonder if that review was written by one who has read the books.

[Black Breathalizer]

A goose-bump producing review with only minor spoilers:

The Return of the King: Jackson's crowning glory

By Russell Baillie. (5 stars out of 5 stars)

We come to it at last, the great film of our time. The film which makes the heart leap, the tears flow, the adrenaline race like never before.

The film which makes you laugh out loud, cower in fear, feel dizzy with vertigo, and at the end - and be warned, it sure does takes its time to finish - feel exhausted, dazed and slightly thankful it's all over. At least, until those compulsory further viewings.

It's the one that makes you wonder: how did we get so hooked up in this imaginary world with its labyrinthine legends and its allusions to everything from The Bible to British history, its creatures great and small, its grand scheme of things.

Well, if memory serves, there were two films before this - in my book, one brilliant, one not quite so, in that order - and a certain hefty work of fiction before that.

So far as his history-making adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's book goes, Peter Jackson and his crew have saved the best and the boldest for last. And that's despite the final third of Tolkien's original work being where his story unravels.

Performance-wise, many of Jackson's cast - some of whom were previously sideline characters - shine like never before.

Among them Sean Astin as Frodo's companion Sam, whose character becomes something much more than the loyal simpleton of earlier episodes.

Likewise, Billy Boyd as Pippin gains in stature and sings a couple of songs while he's at it. Also outstanding is Bernard Hill as King Theoden, whose character has transformed from a wizened Lear to a heroic Henry V. He also delivers one of the great speeches to the troops ever committed to celluloid.

There are more deeper, darker Shakespearean overtones to this, as Middle-earth politics, loyalties and blood ties become more complex.

That resonates especially in the sub-plot involving the Steward of Gondor, Denethor (John Noble) and Faramir (David Wenham), the son he wished were dead rather than his slain brother Boromir.

The Return of the King may be following several strands of story - part of the slight undoing of the previous film, The Two Towers - but here it interweaves them with deft precision, using what it needs from the previous books and pacing most of its long running time in exact swings of tension and release.

We are every stumbling step of the way with Frodo, Sam and Gollum as they head towards Mt Doom. We're also there, with the rest of the scattered fellowship, preparing for the showdown against the mounting might of Sauron.

"We come to it at last, the great battle of our time," says McKellen's Gandalf as he sees the forces mount on the vertiginous city of Minas Tirith. It is a great battle. It makes The Return of the King a great war movie - the thrill of the horse charge of the Rohan warriors, the chill caused by the devastating stomp of the elephant-like Mumakils as they counter-attack.

It takes a certain matinee idol elf to bring one down in an eye-popping action sequence. It's topped off with a priceless one-liner by his short mate Gimli.

The Battle of Pelennor fields also comes with troll-powered catapults, and pterodactyl-like beasts piloted by Nazgul led by the Witch-king Angmar, the baddest of the Lord of the Rings baddies yet, though he has some competition from Orc captain Gothmog whose visage seems a tribute to the Elephant Man.

If it's a great war movie, it's quite a horror film, too. First there's the Army of the Dead who are summoned by the man who would be king, Aragorn, for the final showdown. Some business to do with an old curse apparently, but they are a visually arresting bunch whose special effects hark back to Jackson's The Frighteners.

Then there's Shelob, the giant spider into whose lair Frodo is led by the treacherous Gollum. It could have gone all very B-movie at this point, but with the combination of creature and choreography, it's something more akin to Alien.

But there are visual moments that are arresting for their simple beauty, such as the lighting of the beacons - mountain-top bonfires which presumably used the Southern Alps as their backdrop and on screen look like a high-concept art piece.

As in the book, it does take a while to find its ending, even without including episodes such as the scouring of the Shire, which were discarded by Jackson and his co-writers.

If it takes a while to wrap up, then again it is the ending to what is effectively one very big movie. It should be allowed a few curtain calls.

If it takes its time to roll the end credits, for much of the film it is beyond exhilarating and certainly the best of the three, effectively elevating the series into the greatest trilogy in cinema history.

Peter Jackson started off filming a legend. Now he is one.

[Nurvingiel]

Originally posted by Black Breathalizer
So far as his history-making adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's book goes, Peter Jackson and his crew have saved the best and the boldest for last. And that's despite the final third of Tolkien's original work being where his story unravels.

Happily, this indicates that this movie reviewer read the books. He can also write. But I wouldn't describe Return of the King (book) as the story unravelling! It's where the character's story arcs are resolved, very well I might add. This is unlike a certain movie director. *Ahem* Saruman.

Among them Sean Astin as Frodo's companion Sam, whose character becomes something much more than the loyal simpleton of earlier episodes.

I'm very excited about Sam. He's always been one of my favourite chacters, first in the books, and throughout the movies.

He also delivers one of the great speeches to the troops ever committed to celluloid.

What does he mean by that? I'm puzzled.

It takes a certain matinee idol elf to bring one down in an eye-popping action sequence. It's topped off with a priceless one-liner by his short mate Gimli.

Gimli has had some priceless lines already.

Then there's Shelob, the giant spider into whose lair Frodo is led by the treacherous Gollum. It could have gone all very B-movie at this point, but with the combination of creature and choreography, it's something more akin to Alien.

This, and other descriptions of the movie, indicate to me that RotK really is just an action movie, though a very good one. That's what it all comes down to. However, this review does make me feel excited about watching said action movie.

[Valandil]

Originally posted by Black Breathalizer
A goose-bump producing review with only minor spoilers:

The Return of the King: Jackson's crowning glory

By Russell Baillie. (5 stars out of 5 stars)

C'mon BB, fess up... your REAL NAME is "Russell Baillie", isn't it???

[squinteyedsoutherner]

led by the Witch-king Angmar

Please tell me that's a typo