‘Return Of The King’ Is A Perfect Conclusion

For Jackson’s ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Trilogy

It was a happy holiday season indeed for director Peter Jackson and his “Lord of the Rings” crew, and the fun hasn’t stopped yet.

Not surprisingly, The Return of the King, the final installment of his film trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved novels, has captured the hearts and attentions of filmgoers across the land and has made it the number one film at the box office since it opened on December 17.

But perhaps a bit shocking is the rate at which it is garnering its king’s ransom: the epic fantasy took in the best-ever Christmas Day gross ($14.6 million), and passed the $200 million mark in just 11 days, which is one day faster than its predecessor, The Two Towers. Overall the film has netted more than $312 million dollars in four weeks.

In fact, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won a photo finish with Edward Burton’s new release Big Fish for the top spot at the box office last weekend, taking in $14.2 million to remain the No. 1 movie for the fourth straight weekend. The film’s international total has reached $454.9 million.

Not too shabby, wouldn’t you say?

As I mentioned briefly in my year-end column, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which clocks in at just over 200 minutes (the longest of the series), is the first of Jackson’s screen adaptations to actually feel like a three-hour movie. Personally, I feel it can all be attributed to a very drawn-out ending, which is faithful in structure to the denouement of the book, but doesn’t wholly work for me cinematically (and not wanting to give away the ending to those who haven’t seen it – a reviewer no-no – I will not go further in detail on the issue).

However, that said, The Return of the King is so assured in its storytelling, and its actors have so endeared themselves to us and their take on the fantastic world of Middle Earth, that one would have to be a complete Scrooge to look down their nose at this polished, crowd-pleasing flick which brings the trilogy to such a satisfying conclusion that Jackson’s film has probably become the front-runner for the Best Picture Oscar of 2003.

The adventure continues just as the previous film did... without a recap (so you might want to avail yourself of your local video store and rent The Two Towers if you need a refresher). But there is a fascinating, informative flashback to open the film (to say more would be telling) before we’re thrust back into the present journey of Sam (Sean Astin), Gollum (Andy Serkis), and Frodo (Elijah Wood) and their menacing passage to Mount Doom to destroy the ring that the evil Sauron so desperately craves.

While the intrepid trio travels a treacherous path that includes increasing friction between them as well as a bracingly-staged and frighteningly-real clash with a giant spider, the remaining members of the Fellowship, the noble Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the resolute archer-elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and diminutive warrior Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) gather up the forces of Middle Earth for one final battle with Sauron and his dark forces.

The Return of the King, following suit of Jackson’s previous two entries in the series, looks absolutely dazzling, and its lavish appearance can be attributed as much to the glorious location footage shot in New Zealand as it can to the stellar visual effects work. Jackson closes the trilogy showing the same deft ability to balance the intimate and larger-than-life facets of the saga that he has displayed in the previous two films.

Despite the epic nature of Tolkien’s grand tale, its humanity never gets lost, and in this particular entry, much credit should be given to the ever-confident, reliable cast, especially the efforts of Astin, who is a standout as faithful friend Sam, and Billy Boyd, who gets a bit more to do this time as the inquisitive hobbit, Pippin.

The only drawback is that the strong performances by the entire cast may hinder any particular one of them getting noticed during the awards season, but rest assured their efforts go a long way to making this film (and indeed, this series) more than an effects-dominated fantasy piece.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is rated PG-13 for dark thematic elements, scary moments and some violence.