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| Viggo Mortensen in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
The word trilogy, which was handed such a black eye by the Matrix movies, is restored to its proper dignity with Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It all comes together here. Peter Jackson directed the movies one after the other over a period of about a year (except for some pickups and reshoots), and perhaps this explains why they have not only thematic but emotional unity. Taken as a whole, this series derived from the Tolkien books is without parallel as a sustained piece of fantasy-fiction adaptation. I would not want a steady diet of such films�after a while, the invasions of the orcs, the severed heads catapulted into sky-high fortresses, the giant spider with its acidic pincers, and all the bloody rest of it wore me down. (Never forget that Jackson made his cult reputation directing gross-out movies.) But Jackson is rare among the makers of epic movies in that he knows how to do the small stuff, too. The Return of the King has �heart��how else could it pump out all that blood?
I wouldn�t recommend watching it, however, without having seen the first two, even though the set pieces can be enjoyed as pure theater. The film is very plot-heavy. Let�s just say that the hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood) makes his final journey to Mount Doom, the Ring in tow, while Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) wages war to distract Frodo�s enemies and becomes the rightful king of Gondor. For the audience, the return of Ian McKellen�s white-on-white wizard, Gandalf; John Rhys-Davies�s bristly bearded dwarf, Gimli; Sean Astin�s Sam, Frodo�s loyal soul mate; and the sputtery, grotesque Gollum (a computer-generated Andy Serkis) is like a convocation of old friends. I�m afraid that Liv Tyler�s elf princess, Arwen, still doesn�t do it for me�she looks like she belongs not in Middle-earth but in a soft-focus Breck commercial�but then again, I�m not Aragorn. Maybe you have to splatter squadrons of creepy-crawlies before you can properly appreciate her charms.
With George Lucas�s empire showing its age, Jackson seems poised to become the new Lord of the Ka-chings. In the past, he indicated that he wanted to get back to microbudget zombie movies, but I never believed he would�not even Frodo has the willpower to resist Hollywood�s siren song. Sure enough, he�s gearing up to remake King Kong with Naomi Watts. I�m there.
(3 hr. 20 mins.; PG-13)
— PETER RAINER
Opens December 17
• Showtimes
& tickets (movietickets.com)
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