Peter Jackson's 2003 conclusion opens with a flashback to Smeagol's first encounter with the Ring, a reminder of what the One Ring costs before the final reckoning begins. It is a precise and quietly devastating choice. What follows is the trilogy's fullest expression of everything the first two films built toward: the battles are larger, the losses heavier, and the farewell, when it comes, is the most honest the epic fantasy genre has produced.
At a Glance
Director: Peter Jackson
Runtime: 201 minutes
Starring: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, Miranda Otto
Release: 2003
Critics Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 stars, one of the greatest films ever made)
Audience Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 stars, a masterpiece)
Review Breakdown
Plot
The War of the Ring reaches its climax as Aragorn leads the armies of the West against Sauron's forces at the Black Gate, while Frodo and Sam make their final desperate journey to Mount Doom guided and betrayed by Gollum. The film resolves the trilogy's central conflict with a narrative intelligence and emotional force that justifies the six hours and two films that preceded it. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields is among the great action sequences in cinema history, a demonstration of visual and narrative filmmaking of such sustained ambition that it gives the trilogy's central conflict its most visually striking and complete expression. The film's multiple endings, frequently criticised for their length, are in fact the most honest conclusion the trilogy could have achieved, giving each of the central characters the farewell their long journey has earned.
Characters
Frodo is given the trilogy's most complete arc, and his eventual failure at the Crack of Doom is the trilogy's most important single development, a moment of psychological honesty that gives the franchise's central concern with the corrupting power of evil its fullest expression. Elijah Wood plays the character's exhaustion, failure, and eventual departure with a depth that makes this the finest performance of his franchise career. Sean Astin's Samwise Gamgee is given the trilogy's most affecting arc, and his carrying of Frodo up the slopes of Mount Doom is one of the most moving moments in the history of popular cinema, a demonstration of the loyalty and courage the trilogy has identified as the most powerful forces in Middle-earth. Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn is given the trilogy's most satisfying resolution, a king whose coronation is the trilogy's most resonant dramatic moment. Miranda Otto's Eowyn is the film's most significant new presence, whose defeat of the Witch-king is the film's most purely thrilling individual moment and one of the trilogy's most satisfying character achievements.
Tone
Jackson pitches the film at a register of epic triumph and emotional devastation, and the approach is entirely successful. The Return of the King moves between the horror of the Shelob sequence, the epic grandeur of the Pelennor Fields, and the grief of the Grey Havens with a range and assurance that makes the transitions feel entirely earned. The film's multiple endings give the trilogy's central characters the conclusions their journeys have earned, and the Grey Havens sequence is the trilogy's most affecting passage, giving the franchise's central concern with loss and the impossibility of return its most complete and honest expression.
Meaning / Themes
At its core, the film is about sacrifice and return, about the cost of the quest and the possibility of healing. The Grey Havens sequence gives the trilogy's conclusion a tragic dimension the more purely triumphant epic films of its era did not attempt, suggesting that some wounds cannot be healed in Middle-earth and that the greatest acts of courage leave their bearers permanently changed. Frodo's departure is not a defeat but an acknowledgement that the world he saved is no longer fully his to inhabit, and the film handles that suggestion with a depth and care that makes it the most emotionally honest conclusion in the history of the epic fantasy genre.
Direction
Jackson's direction is the finest of his career and one of the great pieces of epic filmmaking in cinema history. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields is the film's directorial high point, a demonstration of large-scale action filmmaking of such visual ambition and narrative consequence that it stands as one of the most striking action sequences ever committed to film. The Shelob sequence is the film's most purely frightening directorial achievement, and the Grey Havens sequence its most quietly devastating. Howard Shore's score is the trilogy's most emotionally rich, giving the film's farewell sequences a sonic grace as distinctive as their visual one and bringing one of the great pieces of film music to its conclusion.
Cultural Reception
The Return of the King received universal critical acclaim on its release, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of its era and winning all eleven of its Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is the only fantasy film ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and its eleven wins without a single loss remains one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of the ceremony. It is now consistently ranked among the greatest films ever made in any genre, and Peter Jackson's trilogy is regarded as the defining cinematic achievement of the early twenty-first century.
Final Verdict: Among the greatest films ever made and the most emotionally complete conclusion the epic fantasy genre has produced. Sean Astin's Sam is the trilogy's most affecting presence, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields is one of the great action sequences in cinema history, and Jackson's direction gives the material a scope and emotional depth the epic genre has never surpassed. The Return of the King earned its eleven Academy Awards and its place in cinema history.