• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

I watched The Return of the King again last night...

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

Tricky I Shadow

Banned
It had been years since I last saw it...and yep, it’s still the greatest movie of all time. Bow to the king!

The movie is the definition of epic. Some of those battle shots with the epic music playing...hnnnnnng!

The trilogy is the most impressive thing cinema has ever done. I wonder if it'll ever be topped?
NOPE.
 
Dany M said:
The final thirty minutes should have been 5 minutes.
Click to expand...
If the entire extended edition trilogy were a 2 hour movie, the ending would be 5 minutes. That's what percentage it takes up. And if one marathons the films back-to-back, it does work as decompression - which is how it must've been intended.
 
Epically brilliant. The charge of the Rohirrim makes me geek out every single time. My wife says "How many times have you seen this?" And I just shout "Ride for ruin and the world's ending!"
 
"End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path... One that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass... And then you see it."

"Eomer. Take your Èored down the left flank. Gamling, follow the King's banner down the center. Grimbold, take your company right, after you pass the wall. Forth, and fear no darkness! Arise! Arise, Riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day... a red day... ere the sun rises!"

"Let him go, you filth. Let him go! You will not touch him again!"

"I would have you smile again, not grieve for those whose time has come. You shall live to see these days renewed. No more despair."

"For Frodo..."

"I can't carry it for you... but I can carry you!"

"My friends... you bow to no one."

"The last pages are for you, Sam."
Click to expand...

Every one of those scenes hits like a truck on every single rewatch.
 
Reminds me...I bought the books but after reading like 2 chapters I put it down. JRR Tolkien's writing is extremely description/verbose and longform. Wondering if I should give this another shot.
 
Eagles.

I don't care what the books say. If you don't establish a reason why such an evidently 'rule breaking' entity could not go there before, your screenplay is basically telling a story with a black hole where the plot used to be.

(that said, I do actually like the movies and all. Riiiiide)
 
Zeitgeister said:
Eagles.

I don't care what the books say. If you don't establish a reason why such an evidently 'rule breaking' entity could not go there before, your screenplay is basically telling a story with a black hole where the plot used to be.

(that said, I do actually like the movies and all. Riiiiide)
Click to expand...

i made this argument before. the purists will not accept it.
 
Zeitgeister said:
Eagles.

I don't care what the books say. If you don't establish a reason why such an evidently 'rule breaking' entity could not go there before, your screenplay is basically telling a story with a black hole where the plot used to be.

(that said, I do actually like the movies and all. Riiiiide)
Click to expand...

Never understood why Tolkein didn't see it coming.
 
CrankyJay said:
Reminds me...I bought the books but after reading like 2 chapters I put it down. JRR Tolkien's writing is extremely description/verbose and longform. Wondering if I should give this another shot.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat. I adore the movies, especially the extended editions, but I could never get into the books. Tolkien is a creative genius, but his writing style is unreadable.
 
Tricky I Shadow said:
The trilogy is the most impressive thing cinema has ever done.
Click to expand...

I didn't know this was a thread about Lawrence of Arabia/2001: A Space Odyssey/The Godfather/etc.

The trilogy is fantastic but there are many cinematic titans above it whose impact far outstretches it. I'd think that is pretty fair to say.
 
Zeitgeister said:
Eagles.

I don't care what the books say. If you don't establish a reason why such an evidently 'rule breaking' entity could not go there before, your screenplay is basically telling a story with a black hole where the plot used to be.

(that said, I do actually like the movies and all. Riiiiide)
Click to expand...

Couldnt the Nazgul just have killed the eagles trying to carry the ring there on the way.

super relevant
 
I think I've watched the first two, but never made it to the end. I just found it too boring. So I've never seen return of the king.
 
CrankyJay said:
Reminds me...I bought the books but after reading like 2 chapters I put it down. JRR Tolkien's writing is extremely description/verbose and longform. Wondering if I should give this another shot.
Click to expand...

As you read it, you can hear almost him masturbating to his own overwrought hyperbole.
 
As someone who never read the books I was really looking forward to the films. I enjoyed them, but they fell flat, while some battles were awesome, I was just detached from this world, I honestly couldn't care at all if they won or not. With that said, I did enjoy the last movie the most, simply because it brought closure.

And I love all this high fantasy stuff, so its even worst, I really want to get into this world, but is just, for lack of a better words, empty and uninteresting.
 
Tricky I Shadow said:
It had been years since I last saw it...and yep, it’s still the greatest movie of all time. Bow to the king!

The movie is the definition of epic. Some of those battle shots with the epic music playing...hnnnnnng!

The trilogy is the most impressive thing cinema has ever done. I wonder if it'll ever be topped?
NOPE.
Click to expand...

god no.

to all of this.
 
As long as I waited to see that ending I think it was fine. Yes it was absurdly long but I waited 3 movies to get there so at the time it felt worth it and I wanted it to last as long as possible.
 
It's a challenge to bookend trilogy with a great film... the Matrix, Godfather, and Alien franchises all regressed with the third installment. ROTK was amazing, though. All 4 hours of it if you're watching the EE.

"My friends, you bow to no one"

Chills.
 
It was my least favorite of the trilogy, the faramir charge/eating scene was overwrought, the olyphants were dumb and legolas leaping around on them was distracting as hell. The first film captured the feel of the books the best, and the second had the best set pieces.
 
I rented the first one on VHS when it first came out and fell asleep. I was younger then. I've been considering going back and trying it again. I just find the Tolkienverse so basic after stuff like D&D existed.
 
Dany M said:
The final thirty minutes should have been 5 minutes.
Click to expand...

That would have been the most disappointing thing ever after sitting through more than ten hours of these characters. To just wrap up a couple of them and leave all the others hanging would have been unforgivable.

RotK has it's flaws and isn't as good as Fellowship, but it is still a great film.

One of my favourite and most overlooked scenes is when Frodo describes what it's like coming back from war: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EhcQCyqwdo
 
I agree it went on too long.

Coronation should have been the end...with the rest as simple text and still shots on the screen. Perhaps narrated in Bilbo's voice, as if finishing the pages of his book.

I would have left much more moved if the final cinematic moment was the pan away from the top of the castle after the marriage.

THEN, it would have been the best film of all time in my book. The ending in Two Towers was the best ending of the 3, consequently. The battle...that last ride out only for Gandalf to appear just in time...that shit was epic. Too epic.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
I agree it went on too long.

Coronation should have been the end...with the rest as simple text and still shots on the screen.

I would have left much more moved if the final cinematic moment was the pan away from the top of the castle after the marriage.

THEN, it would have been the best film of all time in my book. The ending in Two Towers was the best ending of the 3, consequently. The battle...that last ride out only for Gandalf to appear just in time...that shit was epic. Too epic.
Click to expand...

Then it would have completely ignored much of the theme of the story they were telling about leaving home for war and having to come back afterward.

Nope. RotK ending was pitch perfect.
 
Scullibundo said:
That would have been the most disappointing thing ever after sitting through more than ten hours of these characters. To just wrap up a couple of them and leave all the others hanging would have been unforgivable.

RotK has it's flaws and isn't as good as Fellowship, but it is still a great film.

One of my favourite and most overlooked scenes is when Frodo describes what it's like coming back from war: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EhcQCyqwdo
Click to expand...

Agreed. The ending was comprehensive, but anything other approach risked coming across as anticlimactic. Better to over satisfy than leave people unfilled after investing 8-9 hours engaging your story.
 
Scullibundo said:
Nope. RotK ending was pitch perfect.
Click to expand...

Yep. After that journey it was great to unwind with the characters and every scene was great, emotional, poignant. And it's not really that long in the grand scheme of things.

But gaffers managing to complain about this movie completely explains to me all the numerous times when I'm baffled as to how other movies get shit on. If people on here can dislike Return of the King they're capable of anything.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

I broke my ankle last night, AMA
2
75
2K
RoadHazard replied
King of the Hill season 15 premieres July 20
6
176
Puscifer replied
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King released 70 years ago today
2
63
2K
Atomicfear replied
The Punisher: One Last Kill | Official Trailer
18
471
The Goddamn Mike replied
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Season 2 | Official Trailer | Netflix
3
140
Mengy replied
Top Bottom