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ROTK review (mild spoilers) - Oh man...what a movie
December 17, 2003
Submitted By Ugluk
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Peter Jackson and his team of wizards designed the most epic, amazing battle that has ever been seen on screen at Pellenor Field. It is staggeringly incredible. The amazing visuals are the most amazing things you'll ever see. But, of course, what holds this movie together and makes it a front-runner for the Best Picture award is the acting.
And that, of course, comes down to Frodo and Samwise.
Elijah Wood does a marvelous job as Frodo slowly sinking down into the pits of living hell. He plays each scene perfectly, and by the time they reach Mt. Doom you're prepared for what happens. It's believable. But it's Sam who really steals the show.
Sean Astin, in my opinon, should win Best Supporting Actor for this work. His pain at seeing Frodo reject him, and his rugged determination to keep fighting, even though he can barely walk, is amazingly well done. The acting in ROTK far surpasses the jobs done in the two previous movies.
The only weak point I see in the film (a minor complaint) is near the end, where you keep thinking you're seeing the end and then something else happens. Jackson should have added a bit more dialogue and cut down the slow gaps between storyline. However, as I said, this is a very minor complaint.
For the Tolkien purists there is bits to complain about. Denethor has been changed a lot, into a miserable old man who is even more despicable than in the books. There are several other changes, each made for a good reason, which are all right with me.
Though the plot is very dark, and it is a very dark movie, there is plenty of humor in the dialogue. Provided by our lovable Gimli (no cheesy stuff here) and the two Hobbits, as well as a hilarious line from Eomer, there is enough to keep your heart light for the first half of the movie before the descent into darkness begins.
Return of the King was, all in all, a masterpiece, and well worthy to be favored by a lot of Oscars. It is better than the first two films combined.
Go see it many times.
Three thumbs up.
-Ugluk
P.S. At my theater at least, there was no intermission, regardless of what was said, so make sure you visit the bathroom beforehand!!!!!
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... 5 Comments
I'm going to see it on Saturday, thanks for telling me about Sam, he's my hero. I know now that I am going to love this movie, I can now sleep easy know that Jackson and co. didn't sabotage the greatest masterpiece of the milleinium.
Comment by vanya-vasa - December 17, 2003 @ 1:35 PM
I enjoyed your review and i agree with what you said i am one of them tolkien purist so i will go into a little more depth.
I agree with you the actors were great in these movies in FOTR Sean Bean as boromir stood out to me in TTT i saw Bernard Hill as the good actor and ROTK Sean Astin was just the best in the movie. Sean Astin did a great job as Sam in ROTK whenever he appeared i was anxious to see what he would do. The line "i know i cant carry it for you but i can carry you" really stood out to me. My thumbs up actors are Sean Astin, Viggo, Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Mirando Otto, and David Wenham (felt they just left him out of the film though). You will here my thumb down actors later. I will not go to much into depth here because there were so many great parts in the movie like you mentioned pelenor fields was great, i loved the brilliant city of Minas Tirith, the destruction of Mount Doom and Barad-dur was great. What about the army of the dead i loved how aragorn, legolas, and gimli jump out amongst the orcs and the orcs think "ah its only three" then the whole army just appears and sweep through it was brilliant. I shed some tears in the movie when Theoden died, frodo told sam to go home, and finally at the end. As you mention gimli adds more comic relief and i liked it better then in TTT. But also merry and pippin i loved when they were dancing around the table in the Golden Hall drinking around the men singing.
Now onto the stuff i didnt really care for. My thumbs down actors are John Noble, Orlando Bloom, and Liv Tyler. Now i never really cared for bloom or tyler but Noble surprised me i thought he would come off to me better. I enjoyed denethor in the book he was a man facing lots of problems (doesnt mean i like him for what he did to faramir though). But in this movie i didnt have any sympathy for him at all i didnt really care for John Nobles role and his eating scene ugggh dont even want to mention. When bloom killed that enter mumakil i was sickened i hate when PJ has to make orlando bloom do all these tricks and what not, however one of my favorite lines came from that scene when gimli shouts "that only counts as 1." Another thing is what about the men of rohan, hmm after Theoden died they just kind of werent there anymore. Eowyn kills the Witch King and no one really cares they dont talk about it, and Theoden never announced his heir (in the book it was Eomer). I thought Rohan got the short end of the stick in ROTK. I feel this way because i really liked Theoden in the books and i thought Hill did a wonderful job acting, so it might seem biased in some way. I am upset that there was no scouring, no stand out gondorian soldiers like Beregond or Imrahil, but i know that you cant add in everything.
My favorite scene was when Theoden and the rohirrim charged into battle when the orcs had broken through about 3 levels of Minas Tirith, the rohirrim sweep through kill the orcs and declard victory but then the Haradrim show up and more fighting to go.
I will close with besides some minor squabbles and changes the movie was great i think this will win for Best Picture and i cant wait till i see it again. Good review Ugluk.
Comment by GimliAxeMaster - December 19, 2003 @ 5:37 AM
how can u say that bout orli? for crying out loud, he's the only elf there!!! most elves are supposed to be kinda acrobatic, you make me want to kill a mumak!!!!!(and I really could)don't mistake me, but u really need to lighten up a little bit.
but, now that that's out of my system. TOP REAVIEW UGLUK!!!!! but, i must say, that my fav part is when denethor is on fire and he's running and he jumps off of the platform thing, and it's like the little noise thing that they have on the old cartoon's when sum1's falling!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by alianastigracelane - December 19, 2003 @ 5:50 AM
I didnt think i blew up anywhere. I loved the movie i thought it was great I was just pointing out my own views on the good and pad parts of the movie. In the book Elronds 2 sons were at the battle PJ just cut those to out so legolas wasnt the only one there.
Comment by GimliAxeMaster - December 19, 2003 @ 8:10 AM
Sean Astin deserves an Oscar NO DOUBT!
Comment by Elanor_Morningstar - December 20, 2003 @ 11:59 AM