The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King

[Find Your Magali]

thought of something else: am i wrong or is Bilbo writing his book ONLY in the extended Fellowship of the Ring?  because that means for everyone who hasnt seen the extended version (or read the books), Frodo 'finishing' the book at the end of King is completely pointless.  because they never saw Bilbo writing in it in the first place.  is PJ THAT tired?  or did he not realize that?

No, if memory serves, there's a short scene of Bilbo writing the book when Gandalf arrives in the regular FOTR. ... And either Gandalf or Frodo is looking at some maps at one point.

I think the part of ROTK that is much richer if you've seen TTT:EE is the whole Denethor arc. ...

[Sleuth]

I've never seen the extended edition, so yes, that was in the original

[©brad]

well here's what happened to cbrad this afternoon...

last exam was yesterday, so went on a drinking binge. went downtown, then to an after party. at about 5 in the morning i decide it is time to hit the hay. me and 3 buddies all agree to get up early and see the 2:45 pm show.

i wake up around 1:30pm, and i call everyone up. two of them answer. the others were still passed out. i pick up one of them and we get to the theater at about 2 to buy tickets, thinking that showing up 45 minutes early would give us the sufficient amount of time to obtain tickets. i mean, this is athens georgia, right? no way it would be sold out, especially the afternoon showing on the first day. right?

WRONG.

not only was that showing sold out, but EVERY SINGLE MUTHER EFFIN ONE for the whole night!! in all my years and experience of going to movie theaters, i have never seen anything like that. there was a guy, no joke, that was even scalping tickets for $20!!!

so, we start to freak out and we call our other two buddies and they wake up and freak out with us. we haul ass home and call the only other theater in athens. no answer. we get in the car and head over there, even though we knew it would probably be sold out as well.

i double park in front of the theater. i tell my buddy to wait in the car while i go check and see. "if i come back smiling, u'll know its good news" i say. i start to walk to the ticket counter, and from the distance i see a sold out sign. fuck me. i turn around and walk back, my head sunken, my shoulders slumped, my penis flacid. there goes my day, i thought. there's no hope.

however, something strange happened.

as i was walking back to my car i got this strange feeling. i can't exactly explain it. all i know was something told me that i should walk back and check the ticket window one more time. i don't know what it was. (perhaps and act of god, or better yet, the ring?) i turn around and slowly walk back to the ticket counter. i turn the corner, and i read the sign:

8:00 & 9:00 showings sold out[/size]

i look at my watch. it's 2:50pm. there's a showing at 3:30. it's not sold out!!! success! i run to the ticket window like the strung out, desperate, film dork on too much caffiene that i am. "4 tickets for the 3:30 showing!!" i yell. the ticket dude says "$20 dollars." i open my wallet. i only have a $10 dollar bill. fuck, why didn't i think to stop at the ATM? lucky enough they took credit cards. i slapped one down. the ticket dude says there will be a .75 cent charge to use a credit card. i say "i-don't-give-a-flying-shit, it's-fine,-i-just-want-to-see-the-fucking-movie-keep-the-card-if-you-want-thank-you.

and the rest is history.


soo, the movie...two words and a punctuation mark...

god....damn....![/b]

this is why we go to movies, for experiences like that. i couldn't even count how many times i got chills down my back. i don't really know where to begin. i want to see it again and get my thoughts together before i start breaking it down... on second thought, i'm not sure i want to break it down anytime soon. it's just too good for words. (and yeah, i may sympathize w/ some about the multiple endings, but a minor complaint)

if u haven't seen it yet i don't know what the hell u are waiting for. go now. now now now now.

...and no i'm not drunk.

[Ghostboy]

Themodernage, I felt kind of like you did right after I saw it. There's no denying that the denoument is drawn out. But sit with it a while...I can't imagine being satisfied without those endings. What I'm hoping is that in the extended edition, PJ smooths them out and makes them more unified. But I wouldn't wish for the exclusion of a single one.

The movie gets better the more you think about it. Until you see it a second time and it gets even better.

[MacGuffin]

Strong opening for Rings finale

The final film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy has raked in $8m from midnight screenings on its first day of US release, its distributor has said. Midnight takings for The Return of the King amounted to almost half of the first film's entire US opening day box office receipts two years ago.

Distributor New Line hopes the movie, released on Wednesday, will break the $1bn global box office barrier.

Titanic holds the current box office record, taking $1.83bn in 1997.

New Line also said takings from Wednesday's midnight screenings equalled nearly a third of the $26.2m first day takings for the second Rings film, The Two Towers.

Executives hope the latest movie's fast start will propel it beyond worldwide totals made by The Fellowship of the Ring ($861m) and The Two Towers ($921m).

"This thing is so gigantic, we really don't know where we're going," said New Line head of domestic distribution David Tuckerman.

After its midnight debut, The Return of the King went on to be shown in more than 3,700 US cinemas during daytime and evening screenings on Wednesday. New Line also reported strong ticket sales for those later showings.

[oakmanc234]

Just came back. How the fuck does a movie get THAT good! Jesus. Movies are called 'masterpieces' all the time but this picture defines whats meant by a movie masterpiece. And it did the impossible; it lived up to THAT much expectation. Incredible. Faaaar from perfection but really, who expects absolute perfection? I'm in the mood right now where you feel like your words just won't do it proper justice.

Fave bits (MAJOR SPOILERS)

* The climactic Mount Doom struggle (that shot of Gollum falling with the ring: WHOA)
* Yeah that Pippen singing montage was nice
* That hilariously brilliant scene with Shelob sneaking in on Frodo
* Actually, any scene involving Gollum
* Sam being excluded from the pack (Astin is sooo good in this)
* Any battle scene

Actually, I can see right now that I'd just keep going on til each scene is listed! So yeah, love this movie. The best in the trilogy to me (it eclipses the others in my eyes) and as far as the Oscar's go, give it all the statues right now, there's no competition, its sure as shit the greatest picture I've seen in ages let alone this year....

[Redlum]

I saw this yesterday at the first available (10.30am) screening at my local, where fotunately and to my suprise I found that I was not the only one. In fact the cinema was packed. More importantly, they weren't just nerds or geeks, a whole cross section of people: couples of many ages, people on their own, pensioners, groups young kids, families. So to sit amongst these people and all love this movie was fantastic when in most other circumstances there would be twenty empty seats around me.

One of things that made this the best cinema experience I've ever had (and probably wont experience again) is how aware I was of its importance. As a filmmaking exercise, a personal three year cinematic journey, a study in brilliant filmmaking, and one of the best stories ever told. Most of these parts of the Lord of the Rings didn't really hit home until afterwards where I asked myself 'when am I going to see it again'? I suddenly realised that I didn't want to see it again, mainly because I'd just be trying to recapture something that isnt possible. Which was that despite having read the books, I was watching the story unfold in a kind of 'real-time', savouring every moment because I knew it would be the last time I could do it. I'm sure this nonsense will wear off soon, and I'll be back at the cinema undoubtedly with the same problems you had, Cbrad.

This is a brilliant film. Perfectly constructed.

Favourite moments:

Lighting of the Beacons
What has happened to my son?
Faramir going back to defend the river.
Smeagol splitting up Sam and Frodo
...Shelob
Merry and Pippin second to charge after Aragorn
Every single scene in Mordor
Bowing down to the hobbits

All the good-byes.

[Raikus]

I was very excited to see this, but when the movie first started I got very apprehensive. It seemed very choppy the first few minutes. The Smeagol/Deagol scene was pretty long and everyone was anxious to get to familiar faces. Momentum needed to be picked up again after the victory at Helm's Deep, but it seemed stringed along. Luckily the feeling passed about 20 minutes in. And by the end I could hardly remember my reservations.

SPOILERS WITHIN:

The scope of the movie is breathtaking. I was skeptic about people saying they were crying but I welled up a couple of times. The Lighting of the Becons was simply powerful. I don't know why it was so powerful--it just was. There are a few lines in this movie I shall endeavour to remember. Some that I just loved and I have no reason why. "Shadowfax, show them the meaning of haste." I found Gandalf's "death's journey" talk with Pippen very touching and calming as well. His metaphor for heaven was simple and heartfelt. It was neat to see Gandalf go all Jackie Chan with the staff too. I guess living for centuries and centuries make room for some Kung Fu lessons somewhere in there.

Eowyn's scene took me completely by surprise and it was completely perfect. Not very much Gimli and Legolas, but of the scenes they were in they made the most of it. "Certain death, small possibility of success... what are we waiting for?" The whole elephant/Legolas scene was a bit... inflated. But I guess Elves are like the monkeys of middle earth. Still worked with Gimli's line, however.

The sound in this movie as well. Wow. I've got to give props to the sound engineers and Jackson when they settled on the sound of the nazguls. It made the audience uncomfortable every time they screamed and you could understand why every character was holding their ears. Also, during the battle scenes when you could hear the arrows hitting the ground like rain--it really worked.

As for the ending(s), I liked all of them save the final. It was depressing to see the elves, Gandalf, Bilbo and Frodo departing for the sea. I would have liked it if it had ended with Frodo finishing his book. Of course, that's not a big complaint, just being picky.

Maybe someone can answer this: I was under the mistaken impression that Frodo died at the end. I read the books when I was in fourth grade, so  I can't remember much, but for some reason I just knew it was going to happen and suddenly... it didn't. Is there any reason why I should have thought that?

[NEON MERCURY]

um..... this is a great film......





i like

SPOILER.....AHEAD


the green ghost army

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!


..but this is the best...epic....annnd it should win many awards...like seabuscuit......

[analogzombie]

I loved this movie!!! But I think I have been spoiled by the extended cuts. While watching ROTK I couldn't help but feel that a few scenes seemed to need more development. And i really wanna see that Saruman scene that was going to be in the beginning of the movie. BRING ON THE EXTENDED CUT!!!

and yes the ghost army is amazing!

[Gamblour.]

My fellow film student friend tried to tell me he didn't like the dead army because it felt like a deus ex machina. I proceeded to bitchslap him.

[rustinglass]

continue to bitchslap him

I just got back from it...holy mother of god!
no point repeating what has been said many times

I honestly never thought that peter jackson would pull it off so well. He did a great job. I consider the film to be pure genius.
SPOILER
I think I spotted jackson's cameo... he is a captain of the mercenary ships when gandalf is describing the evil army to pippin.

It's very late. I need to get my shit together.good night

[Ghostboy]

I think I spotted jackson's cameo... he is a captain of the mercenary ships when gandalf is describing the evil army to pippin.

I saw that, but wasn't sure if it was him or not.

[Gamblour.]

Yup that is definitely him. I remember him jumping off the screen, I wasn't even looking for him specifically. He had some rad hair, hah.

[ProgWRX]

Im at a loss for words right now, ill just say i went thru the whole range of human emotions while watching it. My heart raced, my hands trembled, i held back tears, i felt like cheering, etc. Honestly one of the most, if not THE most intense and rewarding viewing experiences ive ever had...