The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King | ||||
Peter Jackson Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Ian Holm, David Wenham, Bernard Hill, Karl Urban 2003 |
By necessity, writer/director Peter Jackson's thrilling adaptation of author J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" was split into three films, each bringing a book in the seminal fantasy trilogy to widescreen glory. The running time of the entire project nears 10 hours. Although a single installment is a lot to consume in one sitting, the saga is so engrossing and visually splendid that the episodes hurtle past. "The Lord of the Rings" comes to a rousing, satisfying conclusion with "The Return of the King." This preeminent sword-and-sorcery epic does many things well: It's a tale of friendship under duress, as brave Hobbit buddies Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin), accompanied by the duplicitous creature Gollum (the merged talents of actor Andy Serkis and genius computer animators), travel into a dark land to destroy an insidious magic ring. It's the ultimate battle pitting the righteous armies led by grandfatherly wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) against a legion of evil demons and trolls for control of the mystical kingdom of Middle-Earth. It's the love story of a noble human warrior (Viggo Mortensen) and a limpid-eyed elf (Liv Tyler). Well before its plot threads are tied up in a string of touching finales, the trilogy's landmark status is assured. | |||
I'm Not There / Love In The Time Of Cholera / Gone Baby Gone / Delirious / 2 Days In Paris / more... |