January 06, 2004
The Return of the King
I went and saw volume 3 of The Lord of the Rings at our local multiplex with a group from work, but Becky decided to join me so we could see it together. Multiplexes suck! We got spoiled very quickly with the level of respect that the Cinerama gives to the films they show and the people they host to view them.
But the movie is as good as I could have hoped. Peter Jackson and his enormous team of craftspeople have built a film in three volumes the likes of which has never been seen. And amazingly he has done it while staying faithful in large part to both the letter and the spirit of Tolkein's book.
The movie starts with a brief spurt of Gollum backstory that lets Andy Serkis actually show his face on the screen—exposure that he richly deserves.
But following that brief aside, Return picks up right where Two Towers left off and delivers more epic excitement than you can shake a gold ring at. Shelob is terrifying. Minas Tirith is awesome. The big battles are jaw dropping.
Don't get me wrong. I could pick nits all day, but they got so much right that I'll let them all go (or at least wait to see if they fix them in the extended version!)
Now what will we do next Christmas?
Posted by jeffy at January 6, 2004 11:15 PM