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The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Full Screen Edition)

The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Full Screen Edition)

List Price: $19.98
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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I'm glad it's over...
Review: I gave this trilogy the benefit of the doubt. I read the rave reviews - each one better than the last - and bought into the mass hysteria. I saw each one within days of their release. In each case I sat in packed theaters as those around me behaved like trained seals, slapping their flippers together in appreciation. I really wanted to like these movies, but honestly after the last one, Return of the King, I felt as if my skull had been tenderized with a polo mallet. To his credit, Peter Jackson has given the world the most beloved pack of runts since The Wizard of Oz and some of the most awe inspiring effects ever to flicker across a screen. But after being amazed again & again, being amazed starts to become boring. A jaw can drop only so far before it hits the ground & starts to drag. At times the screen is so overstuffed with visual noise that it becomes a live action Where's Waldo. And no matter how you decide to catagorize the technique & skill of the dozens, if not hundreds, of people it took to produce these images, they are still nothing more than computer generated cartoons. Speaking of which, at no point during the last 2 films did I ever think I was watching anything other than a silly cartoon character whenever that Gollum/Smeagol scurried across the screen. When I think of the man hours it took to animate that thing, and the results are almost as shrill & grating as Gilbert Gottfried but not nearly as funny. But the worst part of the trilogy is not the cartoons but scenes of dialogue. Rarely have I heard such ponderous & bombastic prattle. This screenplay makes the Conan movies seem Shakespearian in retrospect. One final criticism - I am shocked by the lack of attention paid to the saccharine sentimentality of these films, especially when so many other filmmakers are maligned for using one tenth as much (Spielberg comes to mind). The excrutiating coda of this film is shameless & sickening. I, for one, am glad its over.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Get over it! and embrace the hotness!
Review: I dont think that I can say anything that hasn't been said in the other great reviews here except for the tiny minority of you who rate this movie poorly. you should learn that when everyone agrees, and you do not, you are generally wrong, especially about movies. this movie is outstanding beyond belief, and it does have some faults, but get over it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolute masterpiece
Review: I was quite nervous about this film. After all, I'd just seen the Matrix movies fall apart, and the Star Wars prequel trilogy was one of the biggest cinema let-downs in history. And I've been reading Tolkien's work for over two decades; how could a film capture the essence of one of the most beloved books ever written? The answer: magnificently.

Director Peter Jackson took the most complex book in the series, left out what he could and included what was absolutely necessary from the book, plus added a couple of scenes from previous books (the Gollum story and Shelob's lair), and has made one of the most incredible films I've ever seen. My jaw actually dropped at times! The special effects are absolutely astonishing; Gollum is as incredible as he was in The Two Towers, and Shelob (the giant spider) was quite frightening (not for small children!).

Although I've given this film five stars, I don't feel it is quite perfect. There were things in the book that I wanted to see in the film, such as Gandalf's confrontation with the Nazgul king, Faramir and Eowyn's romance, the scouring of the Shire at the end, and especially Gandalf's confrontation with Saruman, which was supposed to be at the end of TTT. As long as this film was (3 hours 17 minutes), I still wanted it to be longer. If you've read the books, you'll know from Tolkien's foreword that the biggest complaint about the written series is the same thing: it's too short. However, some of these missing scenes will be in the extended version, I hear, which I can't wait for. The confrontation with Saruman was left out of the final print of the theatrical release because it detracted from the pacing of the film, but I thought it was a critical scene. However, I was astonished by this film, and by the series, as I never have been before, and am actually a bit sad that it's over.

Here's hoping they drive a truckload of money up to Peter Jackson's house and convince him to do a version of The Hobbit, and make the series complete.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ROTK Review
Review: I believe that this is the best movie produced throughout the 3 movies in the trilogy. This movie expresses everything a movie should be. It shows the hardships that everyone faces. Facing a challenge alone, finding out who you are, or discovering who your enemies really are are just some of the things they express in the movie. The special effects took my breath away and the actors in the movie really worked their hardest on this movie. I congratulate Peter Jackson and his team for creating a movie that I can remember and say to my kids, "Sweetie, did u know that I got to see the best movie ever?"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My 2 cents..
Review: Few things in this world are perfect; THIS MOVIE IS PERFECT. PERIOD.

From beginning to end, this 3 and 1/2 hour epic keeps you glued to your seat. There are so many "good parts" in this film that they number in the 100's. Peter Jackson could have screwed this film up in so many ways, its a miracle that it is this good, lucky for us fans.

Go see this movie, anybody with a pulse will like it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ought to be 10 stars! **(MAJOR Spoilers!!!!)*
Review: This movie was bloody amazing!! But long. Don't touch a drop of liquid at least 2 hours before this movie starts, make TWO safety runs to the gents/ladies and don't sip that concession drink until the movie is at least half way through! I made the mistake of drinking coffee before the movie and regretted it badly.
However!, The cinematography is simply outstanding! The music moving and riveting, the acting first-rate. Sam kicks butt as the best and most loyal friend, Pippin is a hobbit beyond all hobbits and the scene with his song to Denethor is moving and haunting, Eowyn rocks as a female heroine and everything everyone hoped to see visualized is done so brilliantly. John Noble's performance of Denethor WAS great! His character a pitiable, manipulated mess (don't forget he too used a Palantir, unseen in the film, but refered to in a huge nod to Saruman's FOTR line: "I have seen it"). He plays this broken man with strength and Shakespearean dramatic flare.
The bad news: No Saruman! And Legolas' Oliophaunt stunt need not have been so cheesily CG'd into the film. This is just PJ's response to the very popular TT one.
The good news: the destruction of the ring, and final ending are true to the books.
While some editing was sloppy seeming and rushed in feel (no House of Healing, save Frodo's scene, of course, in a moment of meeting that brings all the surviving Fellowship back together in sheer happiness for the first time; no Mouth of Sauron!! but we easily see where this was cut out; and other instances of choppy scene movement).
Shelob will give you nightmares for a week, Gandalf kicks butt wielding both staff and elvish blade in battle, and there's enough fantastic and horrific elements in this movie to keep everyone happy!
The lighting of the beacons is a jaw-dropping work of filming, editing and CGI effects! It alone is worth a second viewing!
Faramir, while his screen time was VERY short, uses the best of his time. He is dejected and hurt and plays this exceedingly well.
If your attention is flagging by the Black Gate scene, then Jackson's narrative has done its job. At that moment, the characters are weary of war, the audience weary, Tolkien was weary of writing war. But it needs to be told and the destruction of the Eye and the falling of Sauron's black tower is a triumph long waited for, and masterfully created and filmed.
The "false endings" that are making would-be fans and critics groan relentlessly serve a purpose too. Remember that Tolkien had many endings, and Jackson makes full use of these (Remember too that Jackson is not the author behind these movies!). I for one was glad to see how PJ cleverly left out and altered the Scouring of the Shire. If only that could have been resolved w/Saruman... but it works anyway. The reluctant ending is just what fans are feeling - a reluctance for their beloved novel/now movie to end. The lingering looks lasted only too long b/c of my "urgency", otherwise there were tender moments and sighs aplenty. It was a beautiful end to a beautiful story. (And hey, did you know that Elanor is actually Sean Astin's little girl! Isn't she cute!! We get to see Astin's huge, fatherly smile at the very end; a true, genuine loving look. That alone is satisfying.)
Stand up and cheer for the finest moment of film-making history!
Unforgettably superb.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!
Review: I'm going to see it tonight and I CAN"T WAIT WHATSOEVER! I heard magnificent things about this movie, and I've been a loyal fan, just like you people probably have. Only...4 1/2 more hours! WHOOT WHOOT! ::sigh:: Why did I have to get tickets for the 7 o'clock one? But, I'm sure you people don't really care about that, eh? OKAY, back to the movie. My mom is having a bet against my dad that Frodo dies. I'm not sure, but I think Gimli dies/ gets seriously hurt. I don't know. Who cares. He's cool, but can't ya just hear him saying in his deep, rusky voice, "No, go on wit' out meh." I can.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I Still Liked Fellowship of the Ring Better...
Review: After six years of waiting, the Lord of the Rings film trilogy is finally complete. After checking Lordoftherings.net daily for updates and downloading every possible preview, trailer or "sneak peak" every year, the movies have finally come to a stunning conclusion in "Return of the King."

Due to finals and the fact that I don't own a car, I was unable to watch Return of the King on the opening day and I had to settle on seeing it the next day. Unfortunately, I watched the movie in between finals and I had a severe headache the whole time. I came out of the movie disappointed and pretty much let down. However, I vowed to give the movie a second chance. After all the time and money I've invested in these films, I figured I should definitely watch it a second time before I actually make an opinion about it. That second time came on Saturday night and I watched it in a very nice (and full) theater with a bunch of friends (after going to the third annual "Geek Fest" lord of the rings party). This time I loved the movie. I knew what to look for and I watched things I hadn't noticed before. It was spectacular. I still think I like the first movie (Fellowship of the Ring) better, but this definitely beat The Two Towers for me. What follows is basically a list of things I liked and didn't like about the movie - if you haven't seen it yet or haven't read the books, you probably don't want to read any further because there may be some spoilers.

First of all, I think this film was a little too violent for me. While the violence may have been an accurate portrayal of the book, I just didn't like it as much. In "Fellowship," the violence is sporadic and is part of a journey while in this movie, the violence is the end of the journey - the goal of the movie was basically to have this big war...and while the war was fantastic, huge and breathtaking, I'm just not fond of...well...war.

  • The movie started out with a very horror-film like scene with Smeagol killing Deagol. This was very disturbing and the following transformation of Gollum was also very disturbing (the shot where he bites into a fish was disgusting and unnecessary...). It was definitely an accurate look into Gollum's past, but it certainly wasn't pleasant. I didn't especially like this part and I don't think it fit into this film all that well. I probably would have placed this in the second movie as some background before the whole Faramir episode. But then, I'm not the director of a multi-million dollar movie and Peter Jackson probably had good reasons for making the movie the way he did.

  • I really, really loved the panoramic scenes of Minis Tirith and Gondor in general. That was fantastic - I loved all the overhead "fly-by" shots of the scenery. I also loved when Gandalf and Pippin took off towards Minis Tirith from Rohan - the friendship between Merry and Pippin was very evident in that scene.

  • Faramir's retreat back to Minis Tirith while being chased by Nazgul was fantastic - seeing Gandalf ride out to meet them was one of my favorite scenes in the entire movie.

  • My favorite scene in the entire movie was the lighting of the signal fires. That was the most amazing film sequences I think I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure I could watch that part over and over and over again.

  • Pippin's song sang while Farmir marches back to Osgiliath was incredible. If I wasn't so macho, I might have cried.

  • The walk of the dead was pretty interesting and it was neat to see Aragorn finally accept his kingship.

  • My biggest complaint about the whole movie would have to be the drawn out ending. I thought it was over several times before it really was and I think I would have preferred to end it right after the coronation when the film pulls back to the map and narrator. Unfortunately, it continues to drag on to the shire and then some. The ending was very, very long...though I guess it makes sense to have an ending that long since it's really the ending to a 12 hour epic, not a 3.5 hour movie...

    Just to reiterate - I really liked this movie, just not quite as much as the first one. I'm a little surprised that the movie only got a PG-13 rating, for the amount of violence and frightening sequences, it seemed like it deserved an R rating. Still, it's impressive that probably the top grossing movie trilogy of all time will have no sex or vulgar language in it.

    Rating: 5 stars
    Summary: 11/5
    Review: This movie was beyond great. and jsut for some people who where down about this movie that was no freakin cat lol. anyways this moive was brilliant it had me teary eyed from laughing and crying. it is definently more emotional then the other two. if u even think u liked the furst 2 (heck my mom saw it and she really doesnt like those movies but she loved it.) i think you should really see it i already saw ut 3 times back to bak lol k bye

    Rating: 5 stars
    Summary: Hail to the King!
    Review: Never have I seen such a stunning trilogy that concludes so flawlessly and keeps you watching at every moment! This isn't one of those "There the trilogy is done" where the thrid one is considerably more disappointing than the other two, but where the thrid film is the BEST of all of them.

    From the moment "Return of the King" opens up with its narration you'll be hooked from every word spoken to every battle scene that takes place and ultimately to the ending itself.

    The characters shine brightly in this final installment and the acting is flawless. Perhap its because the actors have grown to become more than just an actor or actress in their role but instead they've become the character themselves. This makes for flawless acting and a more enjoyable movie.

    This movie certainly didn't need a whole lot of special effects to make it good (nor did it need any hype to get people to see it) but the special effects are brilliant. Everytime I see Gollum I'm still impressed with how they were able to create him!

    What also stands out in Return of the King is how the story has gone from being Frodo's (Elijah Wood) to being Sam's (Sean Astin). Sam is definitely a heroic figure in this movie and not for a moment will you be disappointed by Sean Astin's performance.

    Never have I come to love a storyline like this and never have I come to be so attached to these characters. Sean Astin certainly deserves credit for his role as Sam and Viggo Mortenson also deserves a lot of credit for being Aragon.

    Never has a trilogy come to such an epic and satisfying conclusion. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King is by far the best in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Hats off! Take a bow and Hail to the King of what is now The Finest Trilogy ever made!


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