The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King (newmovietop.blogspot.com)

Ok. We all know The Lord Of The Rings The Return Of The King is one of the best movie ever made. And it managed to become 2nd film to crosses the 1 billion $ mark. The Lord of the RingsThe Return Of The King is a 2003 epic fantasy film , written by J. R. R. Tolkien and directed by Peter Jackson.It is the third installment in The Lord of the Rings film series, preceded by TheFellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Two Towers (2002). This trilogy Considered to be one of the biggest and most ambitious film projects ever undertaken, with an overall budget of $281 million the entire project took eight years, with the filming for all three films done simultaneously and entirely in New Zealand. The series was a major financial success, with the films collectively being among the highest-grossing film series of all time.

 The films were critically acclaimed and heavily awarded, winning 17 out of 30 total Academy Award nominations. Especially ; The Return Of The King won all 11 Academy Awards for which it was nominated(in 76 Academy Award), therefore holding the record for highest Oscar sweep With Titanic (1997) and Ben-Hur(1959). The wins included the awards for Best Picture, the first and only time a fantasy film has done so.

The Lord of the Rings; The Return Of The King received rave reviews and universal acclaim, and became one of the greatest critical and box-office successes of all time. It was only the second film to gross $1 billion worldwide against its budget $ 94 million. becoming the highest grossing film released by New Line Cinema, as well as the biggest financial success for Time Warner in general, until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($1.31 billion) surpassed The Return of the King‍ '​s final gross in 2011. The film was the highest-grossing film of 2003 and, by the end of its theatrical run, the second highest-grossing film in history.

 The Two Towers  story continues in this Film. As Sauron launches the final stages of his conquest of Middle-earth Gandolf and King Théoden rally their forces to help defend Gondor. Aragorn finally claims the throne of Gondor and, with the aid of Legolas and Gimli summons the Army of the Dead, to help him defeat Sauron. After a long journey, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum arrive in the land of Mordor, seeking to destroy the Ring in the place in which Sauron created it: the volcanic fires of Mount Doom.

The Lord of the Rings; The Return Of The King directed by Peter Jackson, Produced byBarrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh, and Peter Jackson.And music by Howard Shore, Edited by Michael Horton and Jabez Olssen and Cinematography by Andrew Lesnie. Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Stephen Sinclair, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson. Film released in 1 December 2003 in Wellington, 17 December 2003 in U.S.A and 18 December 2003 in New Zealand with 201 minutes running time. Here is the movie trailer.

Plot

Gandalf leads Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and King Théoden to Isengard where they reunite with Merry and Pippin, who helped the Ents destroy Saruman’s forces. Gandalf retrieves Saruman’s palantír which is viewed by a curious Pippin, allowing Sauron to attack the Hobbit’s mind. Gandalf deduces Sauron will attack Gondor’s capital Minas Tirith, riding there with Pippin. They meet Lord Denethor, who is Boromir’s father. Pippin declares his service to Denethor after Boromir died protecting him. Frodo, Sam ,and Gollum witness the fortress' lord, the Witch-king of Angmar leading an Orc army to drive Denethor’s youngest son Faramir, and his men from Osgiliath. The three soon begin climbing an enormous stairway in the cliff face that would take them to Mordor. Sam keeps a suspicious eye on Gollum and in Gondor Pippin secretly lights distress beacons to signal Théoden to assemble the Rohirrim for battle while Gandalf helps Faramir and men reach Minas Tirith.

While helping Théoden gather his forces, Aragorn is approached by Elrond who tells him that Arwen is dying after she returned to Riverdell upon seeing a vision of her son that convinced her to stay on Middle Earth. Elrond then gives Aragorn the sword Andúril, Isildur's sword Narsil reforged, so he can reclaim his birthright while gaining reinforcements from the Dead Men of Dunharrow. Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli travels to the Paths of the Dead, recruiting the Army of the Dead with the promise to release them from their curse once they fulfil their oath they made to Isildur. Denethor falls into madness when he believes a wounded Faramir is dead , leaving Gandalf to command the city defences against the Orc army under Gothmog.

 But as Gothmog's forces eventually force their way into the city, Denethor tries to kill himself and Faramir on a bonfire. Pippin alerts Gandalf and they save Faramir while Denethor throws himself off the top of Minas Tirith as Théoden and the Rohirrim arrive. Initially having the advantage at the start of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the Rohirrim end up being overwhelmed by the Oliphaunt-riding Haradrim while the Witch-king mortally wounds Théoden. Though Théoden’s niece Éowyn, having posed as a male soldier, slays the Witch-King with Merry's help, Théoden dies of his wounds. Aragorn arrives with the Army of the Dead, quickly wiping out the Orcs and winning the battle.After the fight Aragon released The Death Army free and agree to lead a united front to match towards the Black Gate as a distraction so Frodo and Sam get to Mount Doom.

Meanwhile, Gollum manipulates Frodo into leaving Sam behind before they arrive to the tunnel leading to Mordor. Gollum then leaves Frodo to get killed by the giant spider Shelob. Though Sam returns and drives Shelob off, he takes Frodo's sword Sting and the Ring for safekeeping, believing him to be dead. Realizing Frodo is alive Sam saves him from Orcs. The Hobbits' are attacked by Gollum after they reach Mount Doom. Frodo succumbs to the Ring's power, refusing to destroy it. However, Gollum attacks Frodo, biting his finger off to reclaim the Ring in a struggle that sends Gollum falling to his death with the Ring in hand. 

As Sam saves Frodo, the Ring and Sauron are both destroyed, causing an eruption that consumes Mordor and wipes out most of the fleeing Orcs. Gandalf flies in with eagles to rescue the Hobbits, who later reawaken in Rivendell and reunite with the surviving Fellowship members. Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor and taking Arwen as his queen before all present at his coronation bowing before Frodo and the other Hobbits. They return to Shire and Sam marries Rosie. Frodo, unable to cope with the traumas of his journey, departs Middle Earth with Gandolf and Bilbo and leaves Red Book of Westmarch that details their adventures for sam.

Here is the ending.

Cast

·         Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins

·         Sean Astin as Samwise "Sam" Gamgee

·         Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn

·         Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey

·         Orlando Bloom as Legolas Greenleaf

·         Liv Tyler as Arwen Undomiel

·         John Rhys-Davies as Gimli

·         Bernard Hill as Théoden

·         Billy Boyd as Peregrin "Pippin"

·         Miranda Otto as Éowyn

·         Hugo Weaving as Elrond

·         Andy Serkis as Gollum

·         Cate Blanchett as Galadriel

·         David Wenham as Faramir

·         John Noble as Denethor II

Denethor, the Steward of Gonder, was a more tragic character in the book. Also Battle of the Pelennor Fields is altered: Faramir never goes on a suicide mission, and the conflict is a simplification of the siege of Osgiliath. Extra dialogue in Merry and Pippin's first scene at Isengard reuniting them with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli was added. There is also the final confrontation between Gandalf and Saruman, in which Saruman is stabbed to death by Wormtongue, who is killed by Legolas in turn. The scenes between the end of the Pelennor battle and Black Gate battle are extended.

Production and filming

Jackson found The Return of the King the easiest of the films to make, because it contained the climax of the story, unlike the other two films. Filming took place under multiple units across New Zealand, between 11 October 1999 and 22 December 2000, with pick up shoots for six weeks in 2003 before the film's release. Middle-earth as envisioned by Jackson was primarily designed by Alan Lee and John Howe, former Tolkien illustrators, and created by Weta Workshop, who handled all the trilogy's weapons, armour, miniatures, prosthetics and creatures, as well as the Art Department which built the sets. The film has the most extensive list of re-shoots given for the trilogy. Jackson took his time to re-shoot Aragorn's coronation and re-shot scenes in and around Mount Doom, and Théoden's death, right after Bernard Hill was meant to wrap.

The Return of the King contains 1,488 visual effect shots, nearly three times the number from the first film and almost twice that of the second. Visual effects work began with Alan Lee and Mark Lewis compositing various photographs of New Zealand landscape to create the digital arena of the Pelennor Fields in November 2002. The music was composed by Howard Shore, who previously composed the first two parts of the trilogy. Shore watched the assembly cut of the film, and had to write seven minutes of music per day to keep up with the schedule.

Critical Response And Box office

The film earned total of $1,119,929,521 worldwide adainst it budget $ 94 million. It was the highest-grossing 2003 film and It was the second film in history to earn over $1 billion, making it the second highest grossing film at the time. Also it is the the highest-grossing installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The substantial increase in initial box office totals caused optimistic studio executives to forecast that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King would surpass The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in total earnings. If this proved to be true, then this would be the first blockbuster movie trilogy for each successive film to earn more at the box office than its predecessor, when all three films were blockbuster successes.

The Return of the King holds a 95% "Fresh" rating on the aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 261 reviews, with an average score of 8.7. The film holds a score of 94 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 41 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave three and a half stars out of four and Richard Corliss of Time named it the best film of the year. The main criticism of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was its running time, particularly the epilogue; even rave reviews for the film commented on its length. In 2007, Total Film named The Return of the King the third best film of the past decade behind The Matrix and Fight Club.

Awards

The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Make-up, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing. At the 76th Academy Awards in 2004, the film won all the categories for which it was nominated and it holds the record for highest Academy Award totals along with Titanic and Ben Hur. The film also won four Golden Globes, five BAFTAs, two MTV Movie Awards, two Grammy Awards, nine Saturn Awards.

Reference

1.       Wikipedia “The Lord of the Rings; The Return Of The King”.

Author : Anuradha

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