The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2003
	Director: Peter Jackson (Bad Taste, The Feebles, The Hobbit 1-3)
	Actors: Elijah Wood (Maniac, Open Windows), Ian McKellen (X-men), Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Carribean 1-3), Sean Astin (The Goonies), Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence), Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man)
	Country: USA, NZ
	Genre: Fantasy, Epic
	Conditions of visioning: 27.01.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After the victories at Helm's Deep and Isengard, will men unite to fight Sauron's armies at the doorsteps of the city of Mias Tirith? And will Frodo survive in trying to destroy the One ring?
Review: While watching the third movie of the trilogy, I realized that its image quality is a little better than the second, and much better than the first. Surprising as they were shot at the same time an release only one year apart from each other. I also remembered the times when I was watching The Fellowship of the Ring in VHS (it is one of the last I bought before switching to DVD) on a tiny TV screen. How greatly has home entertainment technology evolved since! In Blu-ray I appreciate the epic action scenes like I didn't since watching the movie at the theater. And I could notice some details I had never seen before. But the image quality made also visible some limitations in the special effects, like the face of the main actors playing Hobbits not well pasted on the body of small persons, the shadows below CGI characters, or the details on Gollum's face. It is however funny that I am still annoyed by the same details: to save some money, sometimes the Hobbit actors play together with the human ones, but they are put closer to the camera, or on their knees to match the height, but it is for me always obvious that their heads and upper body looks too large in such scenes. The only convincing scenes to realize the size of Hobbits are when they are digitally shrunk, but I understand the money constrains. My pleasure in watching again The Lord of the Rings definitely grew when going from The Fellowship of the Ring to The Two Towers and The Return of the King, as shown by the increasing ratings of 7, 8 and 9/10. The latter is without a doubt (at least to me) an Epic conclusion to the trilogy. There are many heroic scenes that still give me the shivers: Gandalf entering Minas Tirith, the lighting of the beacons, the view of the armies in front of the city (much more impressive than in The Battle of the Five Armies), "Become who you were born to be", the arrival of the men of Rohan and their charge, the attack by the Oliphans, the crowing of the King and his bowing to the Hobbits... And contrarily to what is often said, I find it OK to have multiple endings lasting an hour, as it makes you appreciate even more the twelve hours you have just watched in that world you don't want to leave so soon. All those precious moments following the tune of Howard Shore's symphony. What a great soundtrack. I enjoyed it even more when I went to watch it played live at the Gasteig in Munich, for the three movies. I am definitely glad to have watched The Lord of the Rings in Blu-ray, but keep in mind that to appreciate it, you have to like Fantasy in the first place...
Rating: 9 /10