The Return of the King surprised me. My recollection of the LOTR movies was that they got sequentially worse. (Perhaps that's because I'm remembering the Extended Editions that I watched.)
Whatever the reason, I enjoyed the Return of the King almost as much as the Fellowship, if not just as much. Perhaps it resonated with me more this time because of the current state of affairs in the U.S. The theme of the movie is clear -- people riding out in the face of certain death to face unspeakable odds. The Return of the King is about a volitional act, about people deciding they have had enough of the bullying and riding out to meet it. (Note the contrast of the boxed-in survival of the Two Towers.) Rather than waiting for the enemy to come, King Theoden rides out to certain death with his armies -- because it's the right thing to do, and it's better than waiting around for the end to come. The battle scene does not disappoint; the elephants are fun to watch and add a nice flavor to the battle.
In turn, Frodo and Sam's subplot was also far more interesting than in the Two Towers. Gollum is up to his old tricks again, and leads the hobbits into Shelob's lair. At the top of the Stairs of Cirith Ungol, Frodo says he doesn't want to go on. Gollum has a moment where he is baffled and doesn't know what to do; for a moment, it looks like all of Gollum's scheming has come to naught. Gollum simply says, "Go in, or go back." Frodo recognizes the folly of not going on and replies, "Well, I can't go back." A fun exchange to watch. Inside the lair, the spider is delightfully foul, and Frodo struggling in the webs was probably the one of the best scenes of the whole series in terms of creating an actual tense moment.
The film also hits a high point, just like in the book, when Frodo hangs over the edge of Mount Doom, deciding whether to drop the ring into the fires, but is not able to cast it away. Instead, Frodo claims the ring as his own. A truly chilling moment.
At the same time, the rag-tag remains of Rohan and Gondor face the hordes of Sauron at the black gate, ready to die. When Gollum steals the ring from Frodo and falls into the abyss, and Sauron's armies flee, the moment truly feels earned.
In short, I didn't really have much to criticize about this movie. A fun romp with a feeling of stakes. And a great way to end the journey of blogging through every chapter of Lord of the Rings.
