Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

With the final chapter now complete, The Lord of the Rings is now being proclaimed the most successful cinematic trilogy ever.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the jewel in the crown of the masterful trilogy.

The three-part story of courage, friendship, honor and duty – spanning The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King, is ideally suited to epic filmmaking. It is steeped in fast-paced action and grand adventure, yet still grounded in humanity – a rare combination among large-scale film extravaganzas.

It isn’t until now that director Peter Jackson’s efforts can be fully and fairly judged, notwithstanding the monumental box office success of the first two films, which have grossed $1.8 billion worldwide. As good as each individual movie is, the third film vaults the work into the stratosphere of classic movies. Key characters are enhanced, new civilizations visited and battles fought more intensely, while feelings and motivations are plumbed more deeply and movingly.

After the release of the first and second films, one wondered how the trilogy, as a nine-hour film fest, might compare with other cinematic watermarks. In its entirety, The Lord of the Rings surpasses other multi-part sagas such as Star Wars or even The Godfather. Both Star Wars and The Godfather had weak links, whole movies that didn’t work as well as the best of the series. Rings maintains the same standard of excellence with each film and grows more assured with each installment. Of course, some of that escalating power is attributable to the storytelling prowess of J.R.R. Tolkien, upon whose classic novels the trilogy is based.

The books depict the odyssey of the humble hobbit Frodo, whose quest is to destroy a powerful ring that could enslave all the inhabitants of the fictional land of Middle-earth. Helping him accomplish his mission is a heroic cadre of creatures: Gandalf the wizard; Legolas the elf; Gimli the dwarf; Aragorn and Boromir, both men; and three other hobbits, Sam, Merry and Pippin. This unlikely alliance comes together in a spirit of acceptance and tolerance to fight the satanic Sauron and his devilish henchmen.