`The Return of the King' is the third movie of the three-volume novel, `Lord of the Rings' by philologist J. R. R. Tolkien. This fiction is one of the most influential popular novels of the 20th century. Other bases of big motion pictures such as `Ben-Hur' and `Gone With the Wind' can't hold a candle to it as it had an influence far beyond its role as the basis for a movie script. For starters, `Lord of the Rings' has had a large and growing readership from its original publication in the mid 1950s to the present, while I suspect practically no one reads Lew Wallace's `Ben-Hur' any more and few people have recently read Margaret Mitchell's `Gone With the Wind'. Another `Lord of the Rings' offspring is the whole `Dungeons and Dragons' role playing games phenomenon. This game originally appeared a few years after the second blooming of `Lord of the Rings' popularity in 1965, when the books were published in paperback by Houghton Mifflin in response to a pirated copy published by Ace. This is when I first became enraptured by the stories of Middle Earth.

It is impossible to speak of any one of the three movies as part of a trilogy of three independent works related by common characters, location, and history. `The Lord of the Rings' is a single novel which was serialized in three volumes published over two and a half years in the mid 1950's. When the three titles are published in a single volume, it is not hard to see that the work is really not much longer than `Gone With the Wind' and it is certainly shorter than some notable novels such as `Atlas Shrugged'. One virtue we did get from the division into three titles by Tolkien is that Peter Jackson had a valid basis on which to split a single story into three long movies totaling close to 10 hours of viewing time.

Like the movie version of `The Fellowship of the Ring', the `Return of the King' movie leaves off some important chapters. And, unlike the Tom Bombadil / Barrow Wight episodes in the first volume, the deleted `Scouring of the Shire' chapter in `Return of the King' created what was virtually the only real criticism of the movie, because the drama of `the scouring' was left out of the events between the celebrations in Gondor over the defeat of Sauron and the departures at the Gray Havens. So, we get a half-hour of celebrating and saying good-bye. Not too much in relation to the previous nine and a half hours, but a bit tedious in the context of a three hour movie. So, for the three of you who are reading the books for the first time, you have a great `lost' event to look forward to in reading `The Fellowship of the King'. As with the earlier two movies, Jackson has actually improved on virtually every scene he has touched. One of the very best scenes from `Lionheart' is Wallace's exhortation to his troops before their most important battle. Jackson has two such scenes in this movie, and each is both more powerful than anything Tolkien put into words and that Mel Gibson put onto the screen.

One of the easily most important parts of the `Return of the King' book is the very long historical appendix which lays out the major events of the first three ages of Middle Earth. One of the most satisfying aspects of both `The Lord of the Rings' movie and book is the sense of the great depth of history. The appendices show that the history of the One Ring just scratches the surface, as Isildur wrested the ring from Sauron (see the opening scene of `Fellowship of the Rings') at the beginning of the Third Age. There are two earlier ages of Middle Earth from the time of the birth of the elves to the end of the first war with Sauron. It is a knowledge of this history which tells us why a ranger from the distant north is an heir to the throne of Gondor and why Denethor, the Steward cannot be King. One thing which amazes me is that no movie reviewer has noted the fact that Arwen and Aragorn are very, very, very distantly removed cousins, since it is quite possible that Elrond was the brother of Aragorn's great,....great grandfather. This is because Elrond and brother Elros Tar-Minyatar were given the choice of immortality as a half-elf or very long life and a homestead on the island of Numenor, removed from the sorrows of Middle Earth. Elrond chose immortality and `exile' to Middle Earth'. Elros chose long life on the Eden-like island. Another thing which seems to have escaped comment is the notion that kingship and right to rule can only pass from parent to child. It is amazing how quietly people accepted this undemocratic notion, although it would have been entirely logical to a mid-20th century Englishman.

This appendix contains a great many other bits of miscellany. The most important for the movie is the story of the love between Arwen and Aragorn, which is not in the main narrative.

This history is easily one of the most elaborate fictional histories created to date. Other fantasy histories such as Robert E. Heinlein's future history (in which he predicts the turmoil of the 1960's with amazing accuracy) is tiny in comparison.

Truly great ending to the greatest fantasy cinema, ever. One of my favorite questions about movie fantasy is musing over what was the second greatest cinematic fantasy after `The Wizard of Oz'. This great ten-hour movie makes that question an almost trivial query about third place.

I saw Return of the King on opening night and I was blown away by it. Once again Peter Jackson perfectly captured the spirit of JRR Tolkien's epic trilogy. The atypical beginning, featuring the origin of Gollum set a very in-depth tone for the movie. As Frodo and Sam move closer and closer to the fulfillment of the Quest, their friends move to battle the armies of Mordor in the city of Minas Tirith. As with the other two films in this trilogy, there are moments of great action, high adventure, stunning emotion, fine humor and pure movie magic. THe lighting of the beacon's is one such moment. As the theme for Gondor blares, the camera follows the fire as it warns across the country to the kingdom of Rohan. Merry and Pippin once again add in a more mature humor, while the actors once again give masterful performances. The battle of Peleanor fields is a great scene filled with fantastic images and high emotion, while it is balanced by a small intimate scene where Gandalf describes the undying realms to Pippin when it appears that they are going to die. The only problem I really had with the theatrical release was that the palantir in Minas Tirith was overlooked and I felt it would be better if Gollum simply fell over the edge as in the book and not struggle with Frodo. The ending leaves out scenes from the book where the Shire has to be freed, but the movie does not feel it's loss, and the bittersweet ending is beautiful. There will never again be movies such as these and I'm glad I was able to witness their brilliance on the theater screen and the dvd releases.

It's not every day that a movie recieves 11 acadamey awards. I think that Tolkien himself would be nothing short of absolutely delighted to see the work that Peter Jackson has done here. This is a contender for my favorite. Excellent cast, flawless screenplay, profoundly ballanced, full of emotion. Highly (re)reccommended.

Those little creatures with the little furry feet save the day in this final film of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. This movie was my favorite of the three, The Two Towers my least favorite, The Fellowship of the Ring my second favorite. (The timing of the release of The Two Towers kind of gave me the creeps). This film was meant to be the grand finale, and Peter Jackson, the Academy winner in 2003, pulled it off. The supplemental dvd explains a little about the behind the scenes work that went on and explains how faithfully Peter Jackson tried to create the story as the book describes it. I read the entire trilogy as a child when I was 10 or so years old, (a long time ago)! Haven't read it since, yet as I watched the whole series, I began to remember how I had pictured the story in my mind as I had read it decades ago and began to recall (vaguely) what I had read. I think that's a testimony, to me at least, of Jackson's work. (I don't recall the Aragorn/Arwen love story at all; I think Jackson just threw that whole thing in the trilogy to spice things up a bit!) As much as I love watching Orlando and Viggo, this movie to me was a movie about hobbit heroism, and I loved watching the close friendship that had to develop between the hobbit foursome during this perilous quest especially in this last film. None of the actors got any awards for this movie, yet nearly all the behind the scenes crew did. Jackson did a spectacular job all around, and was very careful in picking a cast that would work well together during the 3-4 years it took to complete the Trilogy filming. The Lord of the Rings was written by J. R. R. Tolkien, published in 1954. What I loved about reading the trilogy, was how Tolkien portrayed good and evil throughout the work. The story, yes, and especially in The Return of the King, is about the battle between good and evil, the hobbits, the elves, and humans versus Sauron and his evil band, yet there is evil within the heart of everyone as Frodo (Elijah Wood) must grapple with the ring's power to stir up this covetous/idolatrous character flaw within us all. It's no wonder that Tolkien was raised christian, and this constant inner battle is analogous to the working of the Holy Spirit, the process of sanctification, within those who have given their lives to Christ. I was on the edge of my seat during the final battle scene, nearly moved to tears. My favorite scene was the one where Pippin (Billy Boyd) sings a song a capella whilst the battle rages. No one ever mentions that scene or his singing, but I was really moved by it. So many of the actors were not top billing in any movies before The Lord of the Rings, but they all performed so well. Would that these furry-feeted people really existed, would that the world resembled the hobbits' shire.

The final and last installement to this epic adventure that Peter Jackson had the good grace to make. Like the two proceeding it, Return of the King has awesome battles, wonderful music, and the end to an evil nemesis that plagued Middle Earth for so long.

Return of the King made me wish that it was not the ending, but rather the beginning, its just so darn cool. Its not everyone that can make three movies so wonderful without losing focus on what the books where about. But Peter Jackson is definatly a master of the cinema. If you already haven't seen this movie in theaters, don't delay any longer and try to watch this on DVD. Although I gurantee that the experience will not be the same.