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

With this review, I am happy to report that I have finally finished my reviews of the 85 Best Picture winners from 1928 until 2013.  Now I’ll have to try and decide what my next project will be 🙂

“I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you.” – Sam

Number of Times Seen – At least 10 times (In theater on opening night, DVD and 2 Mar 2014)

Brief Synopsis – The final chapter in Frodo Baggins’ journey to destroy the One Ring of Power.

My Take on it –This is an extremely well made Epic movie that was s o successful that it even forced The members of the Academy to finally give in and award Best Picture to a movie in a genre that was not part of their usual repertoire.

It is also unique in being the only movie sequel to win BP when the previous versions didn’t win.

What’s interesting about this movie is that it really can’t stand alone without the previous two movies since they all together tell a complete story and each part on its own feels incomplete.

This actually makes a lot of sense because all 3 movies were filmed simultaneously over a period of 16 months and were only released in 12 month intervals.

This movie does a wonderful job of tying together all the storylines that ran thru the first two movies and bundles it all in a neat package in the end.

One of the many criticisms of this movie is the fact that it seems to end numerous times and then still continued.  I guess that is partially because of the way Tolkien wrote it, but if you stand steadfastly until the end, you will feel rewarded by an amazing motion picture experience.

This movie is both the Best Picture winner with the longest run time and also the longest title (both in words and in letters).

It is also one of only 4 BP winners to sweep EVERY category that it was nominated for.  The other three are It Happened One Night (1934), Gigi (1958) and The Last Emperor (1987).

It won 11 (of 11) Oscars – Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup, Original Music, Original Song, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects.

It is tied with Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997) for the most Oscar wins for a movie.

Bottom Line – Excellent movie done extraordinarily! Fitting end to the trilogy.  One of the best epics made.  Highly Recommended!

Rating – Oscar Worthy

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