3.3 The Return of the King

This section is concerned with the third and last part of the movie trilogy.

3.3.1 Theatrical
The tickets to The Return of the King were not released on November 17 here in Sweden as was expected. The reason was that the movie had not yet received its age rating. On November 18 it was announced that the tickets would be released on December 8.

Here in Lidköping the tickets to The Return of the King were released at 14:00 on December 8. I was at the theater at 13:20 and the queue started just outside the doors to the theater, but soon it had grown quite long. Still, it could have been much worse. I estimated that there were about 45–50 persons in front of me in the queue, and I was a bit nervous that I would not get a ticket for the premiere. When it was my turn, only the two front rows and a couple of seats here and there were available. Fortunately I found a good seat. Just as I was about to leave they announced that there were about 30 tickets left. So, about an hour after I arrived, I left the theater with a ticket to the premiere of The Return of the King: December 17 at 19:00 (I know—there was no midnight run in Lidköping; it would have been fun if there had been). The theater would have a giveaway where three winners would be randomly selected among the premiere audience (seat numbers).

I awoke on the morning of December 17 with an unusual feeling: this was the day I had been looking forward to for so long. The hours seemed to just rush by, and at 18:30 I was at the theater. I actually did not expect any people would be wearing costumes, but some of them were. As I sat down in my seat I was full of anticipation in a way that I have never been before for a movie. At 19:00 the manager came in to draw the three winners of the giveaway; each received a huge Return of the King poster and free movie passes. I was unfortunately not one of the three lucky people. After that the manager quickly exited and the room went dark. The final part of The Lord of the Rings was about to begin.

Everything went fine to start with, but after a while someone started crying angrily. More and more people became annoyed and shouted, and eventually a man got up and told the mom that she was responsible for the kid and that they should get out of there now. The mom and the child left, and I do not know if they came back in.

On the row behind me were a few young girls who—judging from their comments during the movie—were obviously not familiar with the story. It was interesting to hear their whispers regarding what happened on the screen.

When the movie was over it certainly did not feel like three hours and twenty minutes had passed until I got up and began to walk. I noticed the changed credits: a changing background image (previously there had only been a black background). It was not until the next day that I fully realized what I had seen and the effect it had had on me.

I thought The Return of the King was a fantastic movie. The overall impression was as high as it could possibly be. I incredibly much enjoyed seeing it. I had read a number of reviews of The Return of the King before I saw it, so I had sky-high expectations, expectations which were satisfactorily met when I saw The Return of the King. My biggest complaint was that The Return of the King felt too rushed and a bit thin in some places. I wanted more. The movie left out parts that I felt were important for the overall impression.

I saw The Return of the King once more in the theater, on February 8. I had a movie pass that was about to expire, so I decided to use it to see The Return of the King again. The movie was even better the second time.

This was the end of the theatrical experience of The Lord of the Rings, and what an end it was. One of my first thoughts after seeing the movie was that The Return of the King really was a worthy end to Peter Jackson's movies. It was magnificent, excellent, beautiful, emotional, impressive, and fantastic in all aspects. It was a spectacular movie the like of which had never before been seen on the screen. An epic tale had reached its end, with great sacrifices having been made for what had ultimately been gained.

3.3.2 DVD
The theatrical edition of The Return of the King was released on May 25, 2004, but as I only wanted the extended edition I did not purchase the theatrical version. I preordered the extended edition collector's box on August 27. One thing I found interesting was that the release date was December 10 in Sweden (and some other countries) and December 14 in the United States (and some other countries).

The package arrived at the post office on December 10, but I did not receive a dispatch note until Monday, December 13. I could probably have picked it up without the dispatch note, but I had some things to do over the weekend that I wanted to finish before I immersed myself into The Return of the King, so I waited until Monday. I watched the movie for the first time that afternoon.

The same day, December 13, I read in a review of the movie on a DVD store Web site that there was a watermark in the movie in the form of the number 821 a little more than 21 minutes into the movie. When I read this I immediately inserted the first DVD into my computer's DVD drive and watched for about a minute from 21 minutes into it. I did not notice any watermark, so I figured I would wait and see. The next day I read that the region 2 and region 4 PAL versions were indeed watermarked: the number 821 appears very briefly at 21:31 into the movie. The watermark is not noticeable if you do not know about it, but now that I do know that it is there, I will always notice it whenever I watch the movie.

3.3.3 Specific Scenes
Saruman's absence in the theatrical edition works pretty well, but it does feel a bit weird not to see his ultimate fate since he is a major evil character. Fortunately, Saruman is in the extended edition.

One great scene is the one where Gandalf and Pippin come to Minas Tirith and ride through the city to the Citadel where Denethor dwells. The visuals and the music go so well together, and Minas Tirith looks really amazing. Shivers go down my spine ever time I watch it.

The scene where the beacon fires are lit is great. Stunning visuals and very suitable music make this scene memorable and, I think, quite emotional. Just as with the scene described in the previous paragraph, this one also makes shivers go down my spine.

The scene where Gandalf rides out from Minas Tirith to protect the incoming people from the Nazgûl and his staff lightens up is great, but I wonder why Gandalf brings Pippin with him. Is Pippin not safer inside the city walls? Perhaps not. One explanation could be that it is easier to get Pippin and Faramir to meet this way. Also, on the "Director and Writers" audio commentary for the extended edition, they mention that originally, Gandalf and Pippin were supposed to see the soldiers being attacked as Shadowfax rode up over the hill and Minas Tirith came into view, and Gandalf protected the soldiers as he and Pippin rode with them to the city.

A powerful and emotional scene is the one which alternates between Pippin singing to Denethor as he eats and Faramir et al. riding toward Osgiliath on a hopeless mission. The stark contrast between the visuals and the soft singing as the riders approach Osgiliath heightens the scene and shows that loud and powerful music for this kind of scenes is not always the best option. The scene which precedes this one, where Faramir et al. ride toward the gates of Minas Tirith as a pan flute melody is heard, is equally powerful and emotional.

I do not fully approve of the scene where Gandalf knocks down Denethor when the latter orders the soldiers to abandon their posts. It just does not seem to be something Gandalf would do.

The battle of the Pelennor Fields is breathtaking and makes the battle at Helm's Deep in The Two Towers seem rather small. The scene where the Rohirrim arrive at the battle and, after Théoden's great words, charge down the hill is a favorite scene of mine.

The fight between Gandalf and the Witch-king was pretty cool, though I am not convinced Gandalf that would have lost as easily as he does in the movie, nor do I think that the Witch-king has the power to destroy Gandalf's staff, at least not at a distance. Gandalf does not appear to be at a disadvantage in the book, but we will never know since the Witch-king leaves before anything happens between the two.

One scene I will probably always be annoyed at is where Denethor runs like a human torch to his death. This is a scene where I feel that the book should have been followed. Peter Jackson does, however, say on the "Directors and Writers" audio commentary for the extended edition that this scene was one he really wanted to see despite the fact that the distance to the end of the prow is too long for the burning Denethor to run.

A full explanation of Denethor's madness is not given in the movie. In the book it is quite clear that he has used his palantír several times and what he has seen has been planted in his mind by Sauron to weaken Denethor; in other words, Denethor sees what Sauron wants him to see. Denethor's character gets some more depth in the extended edition, but the fact that he has used the White Tower palantír is only hinted at.

The scene where Gandalf and Pippin talk about death as the enemies are about to break into Minas Tirith is one I liked a lot, even though what Gandalf is saying is not entirely in accordance with how things work in Tolkien's universe. Perhaps he is saying this just to comfort Pippin, in which case Gandalf need not be completely accurate.

Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli's arrival with the Army of the Dead is another scene I enjoyed, as is the earlier scene in the extended edition where the Army of the Dead ensures victory over the Corsairs of Umbar arriving in their ships. The first demonstration of the Army's deadliness when they defeat the Corsairs does reduce somewhat the impact of their appearance at the Pelennor Fields, but that is better than not having the Corsairs scene at all.

It appears Merry is able to hurt the Witch-king with a normal blade, but in the book he uses one of the special blades of Westernesse that he and the other hobbits acquire in the Barrow-downs in The Fellowship of the Ring; the Witch-king cannot be harmed by ordinary weapons (though obviously he becomes vulnerable to such weapons after Merry sticks his blade into the Witch-king's knee). It is difficult to explain this in the movie.

It is not clear that Aragorn has healing powers by virtue of being the king of Gondor. This is very clear in the book, where Ioreth says The hands of the king are the hands of a healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known. I would have liked to see this made clear in the extended edition of the movie, but as it is now it does not seem like Aragorn is doing anything special to heal Éowyn.

The Mouth of Sauron scene was one of the scenes I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately it did not turn out to be as powerful as it could have been, and I was a little disappointed that the Messenger just throws Frodo's mithril mail to Gandalf rather than, as in the book, Gandalf showing his powers and taking the mail from the Messenger after everybody thinks Gandalf is finally defeated. I do, however, realize that if this had been done, things would not have looked quite as hopeless since Gandalf triumphs over the Messenger, but that triumph means little in the greater scheme of things: they still believe that Frodo is captured and that the quest has failed. Also, if that had happened, there would not have been any real reason for Aragorn to approach and decapitate the Messenger, and perhaps that was something the filmmakers really wanted to include in the movie. By the way, what happened with the body of the Mouth of Sauron since it is not there when the gate opens?

Aragorn's speech before the Morannon, the Black Gate, is yet another memorable scene.

The destruction of Barad-dûr and Mordor is quite a majestic scene and a suitable end to the evil that has been present throughout the story.

A powerful scene is the one on the slopes of Mount Doom where Sam says that he cannot carry the Ring for Frodo, but he can carry him.

One of the most rememberable scenes is where the hobbits bow to Aragorn after he has been crowned king and Aragorn says, My friends, you bow to no one, and then he, together with everyone else, bows to them. A great scene that always sends shivers down my spine.

The Grey Havens scene at the end of the movie is beautiful and really emotional, both as the end of this movie and as the end of the entire Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

I cannot understand people who complain that the movie has many endings. It is not only the end of this movie that has to be told but also that of the previous two movies, and there are things that need to be told for the story to end in a satisfactory way. I have no complaints on how the movie ends.

[IMDb • Metacritic • Amazon.com • Discshop.se | Movies]

3.3.4 Poster and Soundtrack
I was unable to get the Return of the King theatrical poster from the theater because they had no posters left at the time I asked them (too late). Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on the poster on my birthday 2004 as I got it as a birthday gift, and the poster had been obtained through the same acquaintance that had provided me with the Fellowship of the Ring poster.

I received the Return of the King soundtrack on November 26 (preordered it November 15) and listed to it the first time the same day. The last track, "Into The West," was made available for download on November 18, so I had already listened to it several times. Hearing the last track was moving and it conveyed a sad feeling. I could imagine hearing the song as the credits rolled on the screen at the movie theater. As with the two previous soundtracks, this one was excellent and contained beautiful and powerful tracks. There was of course new music on the CD, but there were also bits and pieces of music from the other two soundtracks; a successful combination of new music and previous tracks.

http://pericson.com/archives/lord-of-the-rings-my-story/