#16 Return of the King

When I returned (no pun intended) from my two-year LDS mission in Canada I found that my dear friend Christopher was quite obsessed with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  And, wanting to spend time with him, I think he made me watch The Return of the King 4-5 times in a two month period, since it was the most recent of the Trilogy that had been released.  Then, I had several other friends who wanted me to watch it with them throughout that first summer. So, I initially had a bad taste in my mouth for this movie, having watched it so many times.  But, over time I grew to appreciate it more and more (especially after watching the extended edition on Blu-ray).

SYNOPSIS
If you haven't seen this movie or know what it's about, I feel sorry for you and recommend that you leave the rock that you've been living under for the past 15 years.  It's based on the the third and final novel in the genre-defining fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings.

REVIEW
What makes this movie great?  Almost everything.  The story is one for the ages, which is why it has lasted so long.  It is a true battle between freedom and tyranny, extinction or genocide, light vs dark. It highlights the perseverance of the human heart and how two small people can overcome unbearable odds.

The acting is spectacular with everyone giving the performances of their lives.  Sean Astin really did deserve the Best Supporting Actor nod he got.  I think Viggo Mortensen should have received Best Actor, ESPECIALLY in the extended edition.

I consider the cinematography and music in all of the trilogy to be the among the finest every filmed/recorded.  The cinematography is eye candy of a celestial nature.  And the music is everything a soundtrack should be: it evokes emotions, is quite memorable, and is very fitting of the scenes.

TRIVIA

• WETA (The special effects shop that worked on all LOTR films) was quite intimidated by the rendering of Aragog, the giant spider in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. They felt when creating Shelob they should at least live up to that standard that HP set. 
• Peter Jackson has very intense arachnophobia and based the designs of Shelob on the spiders he is most scared of.
• All the beacons were CGI-created except one: that one was dropped by a helicopter and then lit. 
• This film had an almost record breaking amount of CG shots at 1488.  A normal film has at most 200, the first film had 540, and the second one had 799.
• The dead oliphant (giant elephant) is said to be the biggest prop ever built for a motion picture. 
• Film reels are often shipped to theaters under false names in order to retain its secrecy. This one was shipped under the name 'Till Death For Glory'

CONCLUSION

I recommend that you watch this movie, but first watch the preceding two (which are higher in my top twenty).  And enjoy the 9 or so endings that it provides (my brother tells a funny story of a family in his same theater that got up after the first ending to walk out of the theater and ended up standing in the aisle for about 20ish minutes waiting for the movie to end, and end, and finally end). 4.85/5 Stars.