The Lord of the Rings: The Return Of The King (2003) Review

So I have now made my way through The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and that culminates with The Return Of The King, one of the biggest films ever made and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees the forces of Gondor & Rohan fight to protect Middle Earth from the forces of Mordor while Frodo, Sam & Gollum get closer to Mount Doom and their endgame. 

Main Character

Elijah Wood is back as Frodo and I think he does a great job in selling just how tough the journey has been on Frodo compared to the other characters. The ring is just weighing him down and this film in particular he is really struggling with it and finding his mind on the brink. I mean Frodo isn't the most likeable character for parts of this film but I thought Wood did a great job in portraying the anxiety and torment that Frodo has gone through in this trilogy. Viggo Mortenson plays Aragorn and talking about his character is pretty funny, I mean the title of the film spoils his whole character arc but he is still great here and does well in his role and just does a great job as a protagonist. 

Supporting Characters

Sean Astin does a really good job in the first two films but this is the film where he really stands out and for me gives the best performance in the film. There is a line in The Two Towers where Frodo says he wouldn't get far without Sam and you really see it in this film, as Frodo struggles Sam gets stronger and Astin does a fantastic job in this film as the moral centre. Sir Ian McKellen is given more to do here as Gandalf The White and he is great, he gets to see more of the action and nails every moment he is on screen and just adds so much to the film. Andy Serkis is also back as Gollum and the effects are even better here, Gollum looks fantastic and the character is fleshed out here and it even better, Serkis truly deserves credit for his role here and Gollum is also a real highlight of the film. The rest of the cast also do great jobs, Miranda Otto as Eowyn gets more to do here, Bernard Hill as Theoden gets more to do, Merry and Pippin have more to do and they are all fantastic and have really good character arcs, the whole cast really do a great job in the film. 

Story

The story is epic on all levels, more of the characters have interesting character arcs and more time to shine. The story is in three plots really, Frodo, Sam & Gollum, Gandalf & Pippin and the rest of the characters at Rohan, and all of it is really interesting. The film uses its extra runtime to flesh out more characters and makes the story be more epic and have more depth to it then the previous films. It ends the trilogy pretty much perfectly and does it really well with these characters that you will have grown to love over the 9 hours that you have watched. 

Script

The script is great, the dialogue and ways the characters are written takes these larger then life personalities and makes you care about them which is no mean feat. This film knows when to focus on the drama and it knows when to have a laugh, it balances the plot arcs very well and makes the film interesting from start to end. 

Style 

This film is epic on scale, I mean it could be argued that in terms of scale this is the largest film ever, the battle scenes are huge in scale and raises the scale which was necessary for a final instalment of this epic franchise. The film has over 3 hours to tell its story and I think it does a good job of it and keeps the pacing high for pretty much the entire film which is a difficult thing to do. 

Overall 

Overall, I mean this is The Return Of The King so of course it is amazing, this whole trilogy is one of the greatest of all time and if people haven't watched it then they just need to get on it, especially while we are in lockdown. 

Rating - 10/10