Overview

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is an epic fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson. It is primarily based on the third volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (but also includes material from the second volume), and it is the concluding film in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. It follows The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers and was filmed simultaneously with them.

As Sauron launches the final stages of his invasion of Middle-earth, Gandalf the Wizard and Théoden King of Rohan step up their forces to help defend Gondor's capital Minas Tirith from this threat. Aragorn must finally take up the throne of Gondor and summons an army of ghosts to help him defeat Sauron. Ultimately, even with full strength of arms, they find they cannot win; it comes down to the Hobbits Frodo and Sam to destroy the One Ring in Mordor, who themselves face the burden of the Ring and the treachery of Gollum.

Released on December 17, 2003, the film became a triumph with both critics and moviegoers, and went on to sweep all eleven Academy Awards it was nominated for, which ties it with only Titanic and Ben-Hur for most Academy Awards ever won, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, the only time in history a fantasy film has done so. It also became the second highest grossing movie worldwide of all time behind only Titanic.[1] The Special Extended Edition, containing 50 more minutes of footage, was released on DVD on December 14, 2004.

Plot

The film begins with a flashback of how Sméagol recovered the One Ring, before forwarding to him as Gollum taking Frodo and Sam to Minas Morgul. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Théoden and Éomer meet up with Merry, Pippin and Treebeard at Isengard, now under the Ents' control. They also recover the palantír. Pippin's curiosity gets the better of him at Edoras, and he looks into it: making Gandalf realize Sauron is planning to attack Minas Tirith, and he rides off there with Pippin. In the meantime, Arwen has a vision of her son and convinces Elrond to reforge the sword Narsil that cut the Ring from Sauron's finger long ago. Sam also overhears Gollum's treacherous plans.

Gandalf and Pippin arrive at Minas Tirith to find the steward Denethor mourning over Boromir, and Pippin swears loyalty to him. They also witness a great signal of light from Minas Morgul, where the Witch-king dispatches his immense orc army, heralding the start of the war. Frodo, Sam and Gollum also begin climbing the stairs nearby. The Morgul army drives the Gondorians out of Osgiliath, and Faramir is forced to take a doomed ride to reclaim the city. In the meantime, Gollum convinces Frodo to send Sam home on the belief he wants the Ring. Pippin lights the first of the beacon signals to Edoras, alerting Théoden and the rest of the Rohirrim and prompting them to ride to Dunharrow to prepare for war. Aragorn meets Elrond there, and, with the newly reforged sword, Andúril, he sets off with Legolas and Gimli to brave the Paths of the Dead, to enlist the help of the cursed Army of Dead, and capture the ships of the Corsairs of Umbar. Théoden rides off to war with six thousand Riders, unaware Éowyn and Merry are part of the army too.

The Morgul army begin the siege of Minas Tirith, and many missiles are traded, whilst the Witch-king and the other Ringwraiths on their Fell Beasts also attack. They break into the city using the enormous battering ram Grond. At the same time Gollum betrays Frodo to the large spider Shelob, but Sam returns to fight her off. Sam believes Frodo is dead, but when Orcs from the Tower of Cirith Ungol take Frodo, he overhears that he is still alive. At Minas Tirith, Denethor falls into madness and prepares a pyre for him and the unconscious Faramir, and despite Gandalf's efforts, Denethor dies. The Rohirrim arrive and charge into the Orcs, but the Mûmakil and the Witch-king rout them. Aragorn finally arrives with the undead on the captured Corsair ships and proceeds to annihilate the Orcs and Mûmakil, whilst Éowyn and Merry kill the Witch-king. Théoden passes away, and Aragorn holds the Dead Army's oath fulfilled, releasing them from their curse at last.

Sam rescues Frodo from the tower which is mostly empty following a fight between Orcs over the mithril shirt, and they begin the long trek across Mordor to Mount Doom. Gandalf realizes that ten thousand Orcs now stand on the road between Cirith Ungol and Mount Doom, making Frodo's journey problematic, and Aragorn leads the remaining soldiers to the Black Gate to distract them. Sam carries Frodo up to Mount Doom but Gollum attacks them, just as the Men of the West furiously battle the Orcs. At the Crack of Doom, Frodo, instead of dropping the ring into the lava, succumbs to its power and puts it on, disappearing from sight. Gollum enters the chamber, renders Sam unconscious and leaps on the invisible Frodo. He seizes Frodo's finger, biting it and the Ring off. Frodo charges at him and they both fall over the edge. Gollum falls into the lava flow while Frodo hangs onto the edge of the cliff. Sam rescues Frodo and at last the Ring is destroyed. The Barad-dûr collapses and the Orcs are killed in the ensuring shockwave and earthquakes. Frodo and Sam are stranded until Gandalf arrives with the Eagles, and they awake in Minas Tirith, reuniting with their friends.

Aragorn is crowned King, heralding the new age of peace, and is reunited with Arwen. The entire congregation bows to the Hobbits, prompted by Aragorn himself. The hobbits return to the Shire, where Sam marries Rosie. Frodo, having finished writing the story of the Lord of the Rings and still exhausted from his quest as the Ring-bearer, decides to leave Middle-earth with Gandalf, Bilbo, Elrond and Galadriel at the Grey Havens, leaving his account of the story to Sam, who peacefully continues his family life.

Design

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, prosphetics and creatures, as well as the Art Department which built the sets. Richard Taylor headed Weta, whilst Grant Major and Dan Hennah organized the planning and building respectively.

The city of Minas Tirith, glimpsed briefly in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is seen fully in this film, and with it the Gondorian civilization. The enormous soundstage was built at Dry Creek Quarry, outside Wellington, from the Helm's Deep set. That set's gate became Minas Tirith's second, whilst the Hornburg exterior became that of the Extended Edition's scene where Gandalf confronts the Witch-king. New structures included was the 8m tall Gate, with broken and unbroken versions, with a working opening and closing mechanism, with its engravings inspired by the Bapistry of San Giovanni. There were also four levels of streets with heraldic motifs for every house, as inspired by Siena.

There was also the Citadel, the exterior of which was in the Stone Street Studios backlot, utilizing forced perspective. It contains the withered White Tree, built from polystyrene by Brian Massey and the Greens Department with real branches, influenced by ancient and gnarled Lebanese olive trees. The interior was within a 3 story former factory in Wellington, and colour wise is influenced by Charlemagne's Chapel, with a throne for Denethor carved from stone and polystyrene statues of past Kings. The Gondorian armour is designed to represent an evolution from the Númenóreans of the first film's prologue, with a simplified sea bird motif. 16th century Italian and German armour served as inspiration,[13] whilst civilians wear silver and blacks as designed by Ngila Dickson, continuing an ancient/medieval Mediterranean Basin look.

Minas Morgul, the Staircase and Tower of Cirith Ungol as well as Shelob's Lair were designed by Howe, with the Morgul road using forced perspective into a bluescreened miniature. Howe's design of Minas Morgul was inspired from the experience of having wisdom teeth pulled out: in the same way, the Orcs have put their twisted designs on to a former Gondorian city.[15] Cirith Ungol was based on Tolkien's design, but when Richard Taylor felt it as "boring", it was redesigned with more tipping angles.[16] The interior set, like Minas Tirith, was built as a few multiple levels that numerous camera takes would suggest a larger structure.[12]

The third film introduces the enormous spider Shelob. Shelob was designed in 1999,[16] with the body based on a funnel web spider and the head with numerous growths selected by Peter Jackson's children from one of many sculpts. Jackson himself took great joy in planning the sequence, being an arachnophobe himself.[13] Shelob's Lair was inspired by sandstone and scuplted from the existing Caverns of Isengard set.

The Return of the King also brings into focus the Dead Men of Dunharrow and the evil Haradrim from the south of Middle-earth, men who ride the Mûmakil. The Dead Men have a Celtic influence, as well as lines and symmetry to reflect their morbid state,[12] whilst their underground city is influenced by Petra.[15] The Haradrim were highly influenced by African culture, until Philippa Boyens expressed concern over the possibility of offensiveness, so the finished characters instead bear influence from Kiribati, in terms of weaving armour from bamboo, and the Aztecs, in use of jewellery. Also built was a single dead Mumak.[13] Other minor cultures include the Corsairs, with an exotic, swarthy look, and the Grey Havens, Elven structures adapted to stone, with influence from J. M. W. Turner paintings.

Awards

On January 27, 2004, the film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, Directing, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Song, Visual Effects, Art Direction, Costuming, Make-up, Sound Mixing and Film Editing. On February 29, the film won all the categories for which it was nominated. It tied with Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most Oscars ever won by a single film, and broke the previous record for a sweep set by Gigi and The Last Emperor (See Movies with eight or more Oscars).

However, none of the ensemble cast received any acting nominations, the first Best Picture since 1995's Braveheart to have not received any. The film was the first in the fantasy film genre to win the Best Picture award. It was also only the second time a sequel had won the Best Picture category; the first being The Godfather, Part II. (However, if one counts The Silence of the Lambs as the sequel to Manhunter or Red Dragon, then it is the third.) Furthermore, after winning all 11 of its nominations, the film broke a record previously set by the film Gigi which had previously set the record for winning all 9 of its nominations. It was also the first time that the third movie in a trilogy has won for Best Picture. In the opinion of some critics, however, this accolade was not just for the merits of the individual film, but more a reward for the trilogy as a whole, given that the first two films had not won the major awards of Best Picture or Best Director.

The film won also four Golden Globes, three BAFTAs, two MTV Movie Awards, two Grammy Awards, nine Saturn Awards and the Hugo Award.