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The Lord Of The Rings - The Return Of The King (2003) Certificate 12

The Lord Of The Rings - The Return Of The King
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Rated 4.0 stars
Average rating
(80%)
 
Starring: Elijah Wood | Miranda Otto | Ian McKellen | Viggo Mortensen | Liv Tyler | Sean Astin | Billy Boyd | Dominic Monaghan | Andy Serkis | Bernard Hill | Karl Urban
Director: Peter Jackson
Studio: ENTERTAINMENT IN VIDEO
Run time: 192 mins
Collections: 100 Big Adventures | 100 must-see movies
Genres: Action/Adventure | Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Released: May 21, 2004

As Sauron gathers his forces, the kingdom of Gondor is in need of its king, Aragorn. Gandalf sets off to Minas Tirith to try and rally the troops of Gondor, while King Theoden of Rohan brings his forces to help keep Sauron distracted from the movements of the ring bearer. Meanwhile Frodo, accompanied by his friend Samwise Gamgee and the former ring bearer Golem, continues his journey to cast the One Ring into Mount Doom. However Golem intends to lead them not to their destination but into the lair of Shelob.

Rating of 5 stars out of 5
Radio Times

Peter Jackson deservedly won the best director Oscar for this powerful and enchanting concluding episode to his massively ambitious adaptation of JRR Tolkien's trilogy. It also became the first fantasy film to receive the best picture Oscar and won awards in all the categories it was nominated for, equalling the record haul of 11 set by Ben-Hur and Titanic. One staggeringly beautiful sight follows another as the brilliant ensemble cast brings Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece to life, and Jackson mixes man, myth and magic together with astonishing scope and intoxicating invention. The action picks up from The Two Towers with Frodo crawling to Mount Doom to finally destroy the ring, while Aragorn enlists an army of the dead to help Gandalf defend the besieged city of Minas Tirith from the Witch-king and his armies. Jackson's loyalty to Tolkien's over-stuffed text means certain characters get little screen time and the ending does drag on with its series of teary farewells. But these are minor gripes considering his towering achievement in creating a timeless, literate and passionate masterpiece that will live for ever. The Minas Tirith battle sequence in particular will surely go down as one of the greatest in cinema history.

Rating of 4 stars out of 5
Halliwell's Film Guide

Magnificent bravura epic that also works on an individual level: each member of the Fellowship has to struggle to find within himself the strength to continue in what seems to be a lost cause. The final battle ranks with the most thrilling and brilliant s

Highest rated reviews

8 out of 11 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
Why Can't People Give Credit where Credit is Obviously Due? (to Peter Jackson and the entire cast)

Debbie from Scotland, 8th August, 2006

Mr. Carmichael's earlier review giving all the LOTR movies a slating is very descriptive and informative but quite frankly, a load of twaddle. I'm sure we could all pick at movies that were made from books and find changes and parts/characters that have been left out etc. but so what? Can't you Tolkien 'experts' lay of with the obsessive compulsive behaviour and just admit that the LOTR movies are fantastic even though they did't stay completely true to the book? Wasn't it Peter Jackson's privilage to make the movies as he saw fit? And fit they are! Return of the King was fantastic and worth the wait. The atmosphere in the cinema was electric when it screened where I live. The whole audience gave it a round of applause at the start and the end of the movie and my only gripe was that they trilogy was now over! I'm sure the movies have inspired many to pick up a book for the first time in their lives - and others to re-read LOTR again. My Uncle who was dying of cancer loved the 1st LOTR movie so much he talked about it often and said he couldn't wait to see the next one. Sadly he passed away before The Two Towers release but I know he would have loved them both, as I did. A movie that is able to give pleasure to a dying man is priceless. If you have not seen the LOTR movies, (why not???!!) please rent them, chill out and let yourself go in a world of magic, elves, hobbits, wizards, evil power and a gold ring that is decidedly precioussss...

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2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
great ending

Hayley from london, england, 20th October, 2006

this is a fantastic ending to a great trilogy well worth the wait for this film .

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
lord of the ring return of the king

junemay from , 16th October, 2009

This film was amaing!!!!!! Great viewing for young and old...

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
The best bar none

A Customer from London, 26th July, 2007

The best fantasy epic ever made.

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Most recent reviews

Rated 0.0 stars
Lord of The Rings - Return of the King

OrangeSundays from , 4th March, 2010

Well, I thought The Diving Belll and The Butterfly was one of the worst films ever, but Return of The King is just about on a par. The main difference being though, I could only take 5 minutes of this! I was so disappointed, having kind of enjoyed the first of the sequence and skipped through the middle one I expected this film to be a big finale....the grand exit. But all I wanted to do was remove it from my tv screen. It was so dull. Even after 5 minutes I could feel my eyes starting to close becasuse they were redundant. This film has no colour!!! I KNOW IT'S MIDDLE EARTH AND SKIES ARE GREY, AND SO IS EVERYTHING ELSE, but come on. Aside from that, it seemed very disjointed. I could go on but what's the point. Inexplicably, I know there are too many followers of this terrible trilogy for my little paragraph to become significant in ANY way. So, I will say this...if you are a 12 year old boy, an immature but grown man/or woman, a fantasy film geek, a wierdo who obsesses about these odd films (and probably spends too many hours wasting your life away on virtual games too and therefore have no friends!) then yes this is your bag. If however you actually have a grasp of reality and do enjoy a level of entertainment in the films you watch, you will hate it.

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Rated 5.0 stars
Surpasses the imagination

Coolintheman from , 19th January, 2010

Peter Jackson’s third instalment in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is an astonishing feat of storytelling and cinema. PJ’s painstakingly crafted vision of Middle Earth has attracted some criticism from hardcore fans of the books, but the enormity of the task in bringing J.R.R Tolkien’s unfilmable masterpiece to the screen shouldn’t be overlooked. The Return of the King while simplifying the narrative in certain places repeatedly surpasses the imagination and delivers an epic fantasy that will remain unrivalled for years to come.

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*** May contain spoilers ***


Rated 0.0 stars
Return Of The King

A Customer from London, 12th January, 2010

Brilliant Film. Excellent sound and graphics.

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Rated 5.0 stars
Still the best film out there

A Customer from London, 21st December, 2009

This movie is so well made, and I love watching it every time. Star wars is a joke compared to this, LOTR is not cheesy, or making silly jokes, the humour in it doesnt make you think you are stupid. Very well made, my favourite scene is the one with the trees. Just like I imagined it when reading the book.

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