It's hard to imagine that anyone would join 'The Lord of the Rings' saga so late in its on-screen life, so if you've never heard of this tale (there must be at least one of you!) then I suggest you begin with 'The Fellowship of the Ring' and take it from there. However, if, like the rest of us, you've been closely following the story of 'Middle Earth' where two innocent hobbits are carrying an evil ring of power to its destruction, then you'll be desperate to see how it ends. Although, based on what most people seem to think about the trilogy overall, 'The Return of the King' appears to be most people's favourite (worth noting that mine is 'The Two Towers!').
Maybe it's because the source material (J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy of novels) has already been written that the concluding chapter is so good. Many stories start out with much promise and tend to die off (see the last series of 'Game of Thrones!'). Luckily, this doesn't happen here. Everything and everyone that made the saga great comes together and gives the audience the perfect ending that they deserve.
Yes, purists of the book may argue about the odd creative liberty here and there which has been taken when transferring it to the big screen, but, more often than not, everything lands where it should. Re-watching the trilogy today (nearly twenty years after its release) I noticed that some of the special effects in the first film ('Fellowship') didn't look quite so good as they did at the time (i.e. more green screen-ish), yet this final chapter seems as perfect as it was in its day.
There are so many fine performances in 'Return of the King' that it's hard to pick a favourite. In the first two movies I always preferred the human characters, such as Gandalf and Aragorn (and, of course, the computer-generated Gollum in 'The Two Towers'). Yet now, I really felt more of a connection to the two hobbits - Frodo and Sam. Following their journey I really did get a sense of how much they'd suffered here - a rare feat nowadays when so many on-screen heroes seem to be able to absorb inhuman amounts of punishment with barely a ruffled head of hair (and don't get me started on Disney's 'Star Wars' trilogy).
As I said before, you really need to watch the first film to know if you'll truly enjoy its conclusion and, if you do, then 'Return of the King' will certainly not disappoint. It has everything from great character-acting, to excellent special effects and a perfect setting and direction. Not since the ORIGINAL 'Star Wars' trilogy has a set of films come together so spectacularly.
10/10 The Monty Python Knights of Camelot are currently looking for this
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