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

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) -- P. Jackson

The final 3 hours (of nine in the theatrical release version of the trilogy - I passed on the super-long extended versions) wraps up the tale of Frodo Baggins and his quest to destroy the one ring of power (with a fellowship of 8 others) and thereby defeat Sauron the evil one. Again, it feels like a non-stop war movie with little time to catch one's breath, except when we cross-cut at regular intervals to parallel narrative threads (which is schematic but probably necessary and arising from the Tolkien novels themselves). The preponderance of characters introduced in the previous film do seem to become more solid here but Elijah Wood does nothing but grimace and the whole effect can be ponderous (although this may be due to my watching this a second time, albeit ten years later). The coda after coda of ceremonies and goodbyes are a bit much. To conclude, I warrant the books are better. (However, thus far I am enjoying the Hobbit trilogy more).  (2008 review)