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

So Return of the (strikethrough)Jedi King is finally here. Of course it doesn't disappoint & is obviously everything you'd expect from the rousing finale of an almost perfect trilogy. Almost. At nearly 3 1/2 hours long the film is hard going on the butt cheeks, an agony accentuated by a succession of will-it-ever-be-over endings. Realistically, Jackson could've/should've (?) taken four films to tell the tale comfortably but obviously this defeats the purpose of being a trilogy. And this, the director's dutiful adherence to Tolkein's pages is the ultimate sticking point of the final film.

Although Jackson has succeeded in conjuring a masterful vision from page to screen, it proves self-defeating by shackling itself to the original medium. The conclusion may have worked well on paper, but after 2 and 3/4 hours of scopophilic bliss, the book's ending leaves you wanting. As the story races to its conclusion, we are deprived of our ultimate expectation - close your eyes now if you haven't seen the film - the final confrontation between Sauron & the King. Whether a great filmmaker (and Jackson has put himself in the running for such a title) should have took the book one step further and stamped his mark on the work is a question you can debate in your chatrooms for as long as I don't care, but in my opinion, from that of a film scholar, it lacked the heady climax it deserved. In cinematic terms, we anticipate a grand finale & a neat wrap up before we are able to catch our breath. We want to leave the cinema gobsmacked, panting for more... Instead, the grand finale comes half way through & the end takes an eternity to arrive. We leave the cinema dazed, thinking: "Christ, I'm glad that's over..."

Face facts: film is a different medium from literature, with different forms, mechanics & expression and you can't escape the fact that The Return of the King's swift denouement will eternally slight as that niggling stutter at the final hurdle that spoilt what was, 'til then, a perfect race.

It's a shame, all is said & done, that Jackson will probably get an oscar for what is the weakest of the three films.

RATING:

(c)Limer 2004