Lord of the Rings: Part 3

With the magnificent scale of the first two films there was a lot of excitement for the third film, and it delivered on to an unprecedented degree. It is the only one of the three films to win the Academy Award for Best Picture in its year, and it’s not hard to see why. The stunning conclusion to the trilogy is a marvellous piece of film making, tying up every loose end perfectly, and completing one of the most successful film trilogies in cinema history.

The plot carries on from the end of The Two Towers with Gollum leading Frodo and Sam to Mordor, but planning to kill them on the way. Also, the armies of Mordor are gathering strength and are ready to battle for the future of Middle Earth. We are introduced to Gondor, and the future of Middle Earth is ultimately decided. The scale of this movie is phenomenal, and the audience is never allowed to drift into boredom because there is always something happening.

Now, I am critical of this film in two main ways. Firstly, Frodo’s confrontation with the giant spider, Shelob, doesn’t happen in the Return of the King, but is in the end of The Two Towers book. I guess without the inclusion of this scene in the film there wouldn’t be much to do with Frodo and Sam in this film. Cinematic license once again defeats my criticism, and it’s a welcome addition to the film. My second gripe is another issue with the adaptation from the book. With the other two film adaptations, the bits left out of the book are understandable by their relative insignificance, however, at the end of the Return of the King, the Hobbits return to the Shire and find it is in the grasp of Saruman. I would quite liked to have seen this in the film, but I guess it doesn’t bring anything to the film, and so could be easily excluded.

The Hobbits themselves are the crucial characters in the whole series. The idea that beings so small are capable of destroying the greatest evil in their world, where Men and Wizards cannot is brilliant. As the main character, Frodo is seen to change massively throughout the series. If you look at Frodo at the beginning of the series, and then just before the end of the quest it can be seen how different he is. The credit here has to go to Elijah Wood who manages to make this a gradual development, rather than a sudden snap. Frodo’s friendship with Sam is another central theme of the movies, and Sean Astin conveys Sam’s devotion to Frodo perfectly. The touch of comedy that is added by Merry and Pippin lightens the tone of the films, but they too play a pivotal role in the films, and I especially like the scene in The Return of the King when, just before the eruption of Mount Doom, they are screaming Frodo’s name on the battlefield, and then the emotion they show when the mountain erupts.

Now Gollum is a tricky one. His character must have been difficult to cast, and Andy Serkis is pure perfection. He is such a fantastic and under-rated actor. While Gollum is obviously a computer-generated, I believe that the motion was actually provided by Serkis, and his dedication to the role goes above and beyond any other actor in the films. Also, the voice of Gollum (also Serkis) is exactly how I imagine him speaking. Andy Serkis surpasses himself in the trilogy, managing to play the two different sides of Gollum magnificently, and in relatively quick succession too. For me, the finest thing about the Lord of the Rings is not the location scouting, or the story, or the scale of the films, it is Gollum. People notice the character, but in my opinion, not enough credit is given to the actor.

In The Return of the King we are introduced to the Kingdom of Gondor. While it’s not our first contact with Gondor, it is the first time we see Minas Tirith, the capital. We are introduced to Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring, obviously, but in The Two Towers we see Faramir. Faramir does what his brother could not, and lets the Ring go, and while he’s not in The Return of the King much, due to his being injured for a lot of the film, the scene where his father thinks he is dead and tries to cremate the both of them sticks in my mind. Faramir is a strong character who steps out of the shadow of his brother’s legacy and shows incredible bravery to ride out in an attempt to defend his city. His father, Denethor, is thoroughly unlikeable. A combination of his weakness as a ruler, his lack of defence of Gondor, his denial of Aragorn’s ascent to the throne, or his attempts to burn Faramir add up to leave the audience slightly glad that he decides to burn himself to death. It also means that some resistance to Sauron can be mustered. Gondor is talked of as a great power in the Lord of the Rings, and we don’t really see this until the last half of the last film, but when it does come to pass, a spectacular battle commences and this strength is finally seen.

The whole Lord of the Rings series is unforgettable as a series, and is unrivalled in terms of the production of nearly every aspect of the films. The special effects are something special, and tourism to New Zealand can only have increased as a result of the spectacular scenery seen in the films. The actors are incredible, and the story is told so perfectly that it is difficult to say bad things about the films. All three films have to be must see films, and they are all modern classic masterpieces.