The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (DVD, 2004, 2-Disc Set, Full-Screen)

It is now at a close. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" has brought the long-awaited trilogy to a grand finish, as epic as one could ever imagine. "The Return of the King" is easily the film that all of us have been waiting for - a sweeping tale of true heroism and chivalry unlike anything I have ever seen before. To say that it blows away the two previous films is only icing on the cake - it confirms that we have witnessed one of the most emotionally overpowering fantasies ever made.

"Return of the King" begins with a flashback to Smeagol (Andy Serkis), a hobbit who discovers his fellow hobbit friend has found the all-powerful ring. Smeagol relishes the ring so much that he fights for it and kills his friend. Slowly, through the years. he is so consumed by its power that he transforms into the ugly, skeletal creature we all know as Gollum. Thus, we are left with other fellow hobbits, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and his best friend, Sam (Sean Astin), as they make their way to Mordor to destroy the ring, the very same ring that Gollum craves. Considering Gollum is along for this journey, he tries to turn Frodo against Sam, claiming Sam wants the ring for himself.

Meanwhile, we return to the heroes of the former battle at Helm's Deep and Isengard from "The Two Towers," which include the powerful wizard Gandalf the White (Ian McKellen), the Ranger and soon-to-be King Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas, the elf archer (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli, the feisty, boisterous dwarf (John Rhys-Davies). All four are rejoined with the hobbits, Merry (Dominic Monaghan)and Pippin (Billy Boyd), last seen in battle fighting along with the Ents in Isengard. There is to be one or two more battles to fight, mainly to distract the fiery Eye of Sauron so that Frodo can complete his dangerous quest. After all, the Eye sees all.

One of the great purchase I've ever made on eBay. If you love the whole LOTR franchise then you must own this DVD. The first Disc contain the theatrical version of the movie, while the second Disc contains various documentaries about The Return of The King that you've never seen before. However, this DVD aren't exactly the same as "The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King 4 Disc DVD" as it contain less 'behind-the-scene' feature than the 4 disc edition. But if you are on a tight budget and wish to have one of the great-movie-ever-made DVD, then this DVD would be a great option for you to have.

Lord of the Rings is full of adventure, noble struggles, and wonderous experiences: so we buy a DVD and dope ourselves up on fantasy for three hours. Hah! If people were only honest, noble, and courageous! The truth is, although we THINK of ourselves as a carbon copy of Aragorn, we are actually selfish, petty-minded, dishonest, ignoble, cowardly, untrustworthy, disloyal, lust-craved, bitter, jealous, unpleasant, and greedy. Neither are real wizards good-guys: real ones are evil. Oh my, do we all need help! So, instead of actually trying to become a noble person (or marrying one), we just buy the movie! Well, this movie certainly does its job - it will hold you spellbound until you come back to reality. Yes, I recommend that you get doped up on "The Lord of the Rings"!

The End of the Trilogy.... best to view this one after seeing the first two movies in a series of night viewings.

Was good in the movie theaters, don't know if it will hold up with repeated viewing in a decade or two.

However, it does take repeated viewings of all three DVDs to catch the full impact of the vision of this movie!

Michael

i love all the special effects. This movie is made very well. Follows the books like magic. I bought it because of how good the movies are made. It has a great story and the director did an execellent job on this film. Its a must have. I watch the series when traveling long distances because the movies are quite long so it makes the trip seem shorter.