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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 12/17/2003 5:38 AM (GMT -6) |   | Movie Review | 'The Return of the King': Triumph Tinged With Regret in Middle Earth
December 16, 2003
By ELVIS MITCHELL
After the galloping intelligence displayed in the first two
parts of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, your fear may be
that the director, Peter Jackson, would become cautious and
unimaginative with the last episode, "The Return of the
King." Look at what "The Matrix" did to the Wachowski
brothers; the last two were like action movies made for
CNBC.
But Mr. Jackson crushes any such fear. His "King" is a
meticulous and prodigious vision made by a director who was
not hamstrung by heavy use of computer special-effects
imagery. A sequence in which a number of signal fires are
lighted on a stretch of mountain ranges simultaneously is a
towering moment; it has the majesty that every studio's
opening logo shot sprains itself striving to achieve.
Mr. Jackson does take his time, but he's not sloughing off
here. Rather he is building toward a more than solid
conclusion. The grandiloquence that sustained the second
installment, "The Two Towers," with its pounding and
operatic martial fury - a movie that actually created a
state of siege and left audiences hanging - can be found
here.
Yet by its end "King" glides to the gentle bonhomie that
opened the "Rings" movies, with an epilogue that is tinged
with regret. It's been a long time since a commercially
oriented film with the scale of "King" ended with such an
enduring and heartbreaking coda: "You can't go back. Some
wounds don't heal." It's an epic about the price of
triumph, a subversive victory itself in a large-scale pop
action film.
The closest thing to a recap of the previous films, "The
Fellowship of the Ring" and "Towers," this picture supplies
is showing Gollum (Andy Serkis) as a regular hobbit -
Smeagol - before he was subsumed by his appetite for the
glittering One Ring and transformed into a larval creature
that looks like the worm Smeagol is shown putting on a
hook. It's the One Ring that the hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood)
has to transport to Mordor and destroy it there.
The collaboration of actor and director - Mr. Serkis and
Mr. Jackson - for Gollum is a frighteningly believable
realization of computer imagery as performer. Gollum, whose
phyllo-dough skin still masks his abrupt and fully felt
changes of heart, is as emotionally rich a creation as any
actor's work this year. A dialogue he has with his
reflection in a pond courses with invective and
self-disgust. All of Mr. Jackson's glib, funny pranks in
"Heavenly Creatures" and "The Frighteners" - in which we
were never supposed to be sure what was going on - prepared
him for a dramatic application of those techniques here.
(He also employs his haunted-house dexterity in a
formidable sequence with a giant spider.)
Gollum's push-pull, divided between his hunger for the ring
and his fears, makes him the most tragic figure in the
movie. He preys on Frodo's weakened spirit, looking for the
moment he can get the ring away and kill them both. The
cursed ring pecks away at Frodo's humanity, as Gollum
hammers away at the hobbit's remaining panes of will. The
only thing keeping the wizened yet infantile goblin at bay
is Frodo's loyal ally and sworn protector, Sam (Sean
Astin). By making Gollum as integral a part of this tableau
as Frodo and Sam, not only is there an important plot point
at stake, but the movie is also frosted with misery.
That mournful note echoes as Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and
his forces ready for their assault on Sauron's forces, the
orcs. Gandalf (Ian McKellen), in a voice sodden with mellow
sadness, realizes that Frodo and Sam are on a suicide
mission: "There never was much hope. Just a false hope."
Sir Ian's eyes move slowly, filled with mystery and pain.
There is a sacrificial cast to the entire endeavor. The
dwarf warrior Gimli thrives on this fatalistic bent, and is
given a wry heedlessness by John Rhys-Davies; his
charm-offense basso rumble is also the voice of the lord of
the forest, Treebeard. The pitilessly sure elf warrior
Legolas (Orlando Bloom, whose physical élan fills out the
role) observes "a sleepless malice" watching over them. The
hobbit Pippin has a much bigger role in this battle, and
Billy Boyd is up to it, allowing Pippin to mature.
Aragorn has the slinky swagger and dreamy stubble that make
him look like a legend created by Tolkien, Sam Shepard and
Ralph Lauren. Fortunately Mr. Mortensen also has a touch of
modesty as an actor, which allows him to take up space as
if he belongs in the center of the frame rather than
battling the other performers for it.
Pippin's pal, Merry (Dominic Monaghan), joins the fight,
too, pulled along by Eowyn (Miranda Otto, touchingly
ferocious). Ms. Otto stakes a worthy claim for every moment
of screen time, while poor Liv Tyler, as the elf princess
Arwen, is limited to dialogue that sounds like a spoken
portion of a Spinal Tap album. Cate Blanchett's Galadriel
hardly appears at all, and Hugo Weaving, as the elf lord
Elrond, arrives just in time to answer a trivia question.
(Who is the best-known Australian actor to appear in the
"Matrix" and "Rings" movies?)
The actors all look older than they did in "Fellowship,"
and it fits the strategy of employing the same cast over an
extended period for the films. This decision adds fresh
dimension to the lingering sadness, as we can see some of
the bloom worn out of their flesh and sadder, reddened eyes
on all of them.
Their battle weariness is appropriate given whom they are
up against. The orcs and their terrifying behemoths of
burden have a surreal confidence in victory; they even turn
the phrase "Release the prisoners" into a threat. Sauron's
misshapen foot soldiers and their collection of mutated
animal freaks look as if they've crawled out of the sewers
of Love Canal looking for summer work.
"King," which opens round the country tomorrow, features
more prognostication and exposition than its predecessors.
Yet despite all of the setups required, Mr. Jackson
maintains tension. In "Towers," the director and his fellow
screenwriters, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, secured a
spiritual fidelity to the novel. In "King" they manage that
and far more; the last third is especially condensed, and
Aragon's role in the last battle is fleshed out. But the
Tolkien search for purity is central to their "King," too.
And the movie isn't as exclusionary as the books' implicit
Christian forcefulness, which made Middle Earth a
re-creation of the Crusades.
"King" is the product of impressive craft and energy. The
"sleepless malice" is aligned with controlled chaos; the
sizable exertion of concentration from Mr. Jackson is
multiplied by his "Rings" team, including his
cinematographer, Andrew Lesnie; composer, Howard Shore;
production designer, Grant Major; and the battalion of
other artisans responsible for the costumes, makeup and
special effects.
It is evident that the grip of "The Return of the King" on
Mr. Jackson is not unlike the grasp the One Ring exerts
over Frodo: it's tough for him to let go, which is why the
picture feels as if it has an excess of endings. But he can
be forgiven. Why not allow him one last extra bow?
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" is rated
PG-13 for a stunning mastery of violence and intense scenes
of bloodletting.
Correction: December 16, 2003, Tuesday
A review of "Lord
of the Rings" on Page 6 of The Arts today misstates the
opening day in some copies. The film opens around the
country tomorrow, not today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/16/movies/16RING.html?ex=1072672268&ei=1&en=9374d6c77ae3e1b9
Niebuhr thought that sustained moral energy in politics depended on religion's power to mobilize reason along with self-transcending love. The prophetic tradition, meanwhile, gave Jews and Christians some protection against the temptation to identify their social causes with God's will. Lincoln's second inaugural address expressed the prophetic insight, "The almighty has His own purposes." | | Back to Top | | |
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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 12/17/2003 7:01 AM (GMT -6) | | | | |
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Tigress
Registered Member
Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1252
| Posted 12/17/2003 10:17 AM (GMT -6) | | | | |
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Blood Washed Heretic
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2003
Total Posts : 167
| Posted 12/18/2003 5:00 AM (GMT -6) | | loved, Loved, LOVED this movie...
Of course, there was little chance that I wouldn't  . But still, amazing stuff. It took awhile to get going, but once it did...
Wow.
OK, I'd better go, or I'll talk forever, and wind up accidentally spoiling something for those who haven't seen it.
And I would deserve punishment for that.
In essentials, unity; In matters of opinion, liberty; In all things, love. | | Back to Top | | |
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Tigress
Registered Member
Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1252
| Posted 12/18/2003 7:33 AM (GMT -6) | | | | |
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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 12/19/2003 6:44 AM (GMT -6) | | | Give away what? I don't know anyone seeing the movie who doesn't know the basis plot and the ending...it's not as if Jackson is going to change anything THAT major... | | Back to Top | | |
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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 12/19/2003 11:08 AM (GMT -6) | | | Wow, you are the first I've met...however, to me, the movies are a bit confusing if one hasn't read the books. But that may be because I have read the books. | | Back to Top | | |
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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 12/19/2003 12:42 PM (GMT -6) | | | Tigress: I've never even BEEN to those states. I'm out California way. Perhaps its my age. I have a couple of sisters who were children of the 60s and everyone read them back then. Maybe thats it. Anyway, all those different names and creatures are confusing on the screen to me and I read the book. But maybe its just I'm losing my memory? | | Back to Top | | |
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timlings
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2002
Total Posts : 130
| Posted 12/21/2003 11:50 AM (GMT -6) | | Honorman, I agree with you criticisms of the film. I did think that the ending was overlong (it didn't really know how to end, and was not as tight or well written than the rest of the film). I also thought the banter between Legolas and Glimli was sometimes a bit too Hollywood, and a bit out synch with the epic feel of the rest of the film. D'oh!
But, as you say, nothing is perfect.
As the Psalmist says (119:96), "To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless." We don't have to expect it, and can kinda expect it. Only God's word is gonna have it all...
I saw ROTK on Saturday evening, having watched FOTR and TTT (extended versions) on DVD via video projector. Nice...the entire trillogy in a day. It works well, but I think I'll like watching it again myself in little bits, like with the book.
Oh, and I got the coda refernce, but that's because I do music.
love
timlings | | Back to Top | | |
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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 12/21/2003 12:14 PM (GMT -6) | | Apparently most people think its pretty good as well.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/weekendboxofficer.html | | Back to Top | | |
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Blood Washed Heretic
Registered Member
Date Joined Jul 2003
Total Posts : 167
| Posted 1/2/2004 8:19 AM (GMT -6) | | All of the people leaving on that ship were ring-bearers. Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel had the three elven-rings, and Bilbo and Frodo were the final surviving bearers of the One Ring.
Also, it is a "homecoming" trip for Gandalf of sorts; the wizards are really maiar (angelic spirits) incarnated as old men who were sent to oversee and assist in Sauron's final defeat. Gandalf is the only one to complete this task faithfully, so he is allowed to return.
Bilbo and Frodo are mortals, but are given this unique grace because of the corrupting power of the Ring. Valinor is indeed a "paradise", but still is a physical place, so Bilbo and Frodo will die once they have found peace and healing.
Hope that helps...
In essentials, unity; In matters of opinion, liberty; In all things, love. | | Back to Top | | |
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