Does “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” Stand the Test of Time?

The last army of man’s final stand made a legendary lasting impression upon its release over two decades ago. Does that same sentiment ring true today? Hundred Tomatoes ventures forth to find out.

Disclaimer: For those who prefer the destination over the journey (there will be spoilers in this), you can scroll down to the very bottom to find the answer to this question, along with a “TL;DR” synopsis as to how we reached our verdict.

Riddle me this: What do timeshare sales pitches and Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” possess in common?

Before you throw fists at me for making such a bizarre comparison, let me explain. I see you all in my peripherals, put down the loaded guns please. Death may just be another path, one that we all must take, but I would like to prolong that journey at least until the end of this retrospective.

Throughout the course of life, we hear a lot of outside thoughts about people, places, movies, or various life events, before ever experiencing them ourselves. A few months ago, a company I shall not name (it’s Voldemort, you got me) offered me three free nights at a location of my choice, under the condition that I attend a two hour “presentation”. As I investigated the conditions of this stay, the following briefing repeatedly popped up:

“They’re going to guilt trip you into buying their BS timeshare. The salespeople will bully you, insult you, intimidate you, and get super pushy. Just don’t give them anything to work with. Stand your ground. It is a miserable experience, but worth the free trip if you can survive it.”

Oddly enough, despite all these pre-conceived notions going in, my assigned salesperson ended up being super chill. They did not try to press me too much on the product, asked some questions about my personal life, and gave me some great recommendations for stuff to do around the city. In this instance, the overwhelmingly negative expectation did not meet the reality of the situation.

“Wait… Are you saying that the ‘Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ does not live up to the hype, in the same way the timeshare sales pitch did not live up to its aggressiveness? Maybe this is your not-so-subtle way of telling everyone you bought a timeshare? I am so in the weeds with this ridiculous analogy…” You think to yourself before I unveil the actual answer to this riddle.

Rest assured; I did not buy a timeshare. I got out of that presentation in under an hour and a half. For anyone interested to learn how I accomplished this amazing feat, I can publish a post titled “TIMESHARE COMPANIES HATE THIS PERSON FOR USING THIS ONE SIMPLE TRICK” after going through all these top grossing movies (hint: when asked about my dream destination, I said “North Korea”. Believe it or not, no timeshares exist in that country… Yet).

Unlike the allegedly pushy sales pitch, I heard an endless stream of overwhelmingly positive hype before witnessing “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” for the first time a few days ago. Since going down this nostalgia journey, I kept coming across the following comments:

“’The Return of the King’s a masterpiece!”

“This is hands down the best movie ever made.”

“You are missing out on peak cinema, you HAVE to watch it! You will never see anything like it ever again.”

“I liked (insert either the first or second installment) better, but they are all incredible movies, and you are missing out by not watching them. Easily the best trilogy of all time.”

So on, so forth.

Now, to finally answer the initial riddle: unrelenting expectations behind these first-time experiences left me with some type of lingering emotion in preparation for it.

In the same way I experienced an uneasy feeling prior to that sales pitch, I went into watching “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” with an extreme excitement not felt in years. After all, this is a film with ELEVEN Academy Awards to its name (winning every category it competed for), which ties it for the most victories of all time alongside “Titanic” and “Ben Hur”.

Furthermore, consumers clearly could not get enough of this film at the time of its release. It became the second movie in history to gross over a billion dollars at the box office next to “Titanic” and eventually earned the title of being the second highest grossing film of the 2000s. People will put “New Zealand” high up on their travel bucket list just to go on a tour of the various sets used within the universe.

In fact, statistically speaking, the annual tourist influx to New Zealand, which grew 40%, from 1.7 million in 2000 to 2.4 million in 2006, has been attributed in large part to The Lord of the Rings phenomenon. Aside from Borat’s GREAT SUCCESS at the box office that put Kazakhstan on the map for people, I cannot think of another movie that contributed so profoundly to the image of a country.

As mentioned earlier, the timeshare presentation subverted my initial expectations, but what about this beloved cult phenomenon revolving around this retrospective? Does “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” successfully lead a last stand against Sauron? Or does it get overwhelmed by an endless barrage of orcs? Speaking of orcs, they must be dying to know the answer to these questions. Before delving into everything, here is a legendary plot refresher courtesy of the rubes over at Rotten Tomatoes in case you cannot remember the events of a movie from twenty-two years ago:

The culmination of nearly 10 years' work and conclusion to Peter Jackson's epic trilogy based on the timeless J.R.R. Tolkien classic, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" presents the final confrontation between the forces of good and evil fighting for control of the future of Middle-Earth. Hobbits Frodo and Sam reach Mordor in their quest to destroy the `one ring', while Aragorn leads the forces of good against Sauron's evil army at the stone city of Minas Tirith.

In the words of Gimli, "Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?"

Without further perspective, let’s get to this retrospective!

"We made a promise to ourselves at the beginning of the process that we weren't going to put any of our own politics, our own messages or our own themes into these movies. ... In a way, we were trying to make these films for him (Tolkien), not for ourselves." – Director Peter Jackson on the making of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

In countless cases, filmmakers take original source materials, then try to put their own spin on it. Sometimes, it pays off. In fact, several movie adaptations are considered superior to their source material, either by improving specific elements or by offering a different, yet compelling, interpretation of the story. Some examples include Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, is another example where the film's ending is viewed as more impactful than the novel's. Jaws is also often cited for making the characters and story more compelling and terrifying on screen. Other times, it fails spectacularly. I am sure you can think of some examples that come to your mind.

Many making content today want to be perceived as revolutionaries: creative types that paved the way for newer, bolder ideas to surface in their line of work. Funnily enough though, given the propensity to change content around, taking the more traditional, Peter Jackson-esque approach can in turn serve as that penultimate act in their careers. In this case, does that revolutionarily traditional approach pay off? Given that it won a record tying eleven Academy Awards, we all know the actual answer to that question. But what about the Hundred Tomatoes perspective Internet less Grandmas around the world clamor for?

In case you were wondering, here are the eleven Academy Awards it won:

- Best Picture

- Best Director

- Best Adapted Screenplay

- Best Original Song

- Best Original Score

- Best Production Design

- Best Costume Design

- Best Visual Effects

- Best Hairstyling and Makeup

- Best Film Editing

- Best Sound Mixing

So much ground to cover, yet so little time. All in all, I totally agree that “The Return of the King” utilizes all these elements of filmmaking immaculately. The accolades are well deserved. Essentially, I could just copy everything I said about “The Two Towers”, especially on the aesthetics front, and paste it here. With that in mind, I will try to highlight some of the additional standouts from this film that particularly wowed me in hopes of avoiding redundancies.

Let’s begin with the production design. More settings exist in this than I can count. Between the Shire, Rohan, Mordor, the elaborate stone city of Minas Tirith, each provide their own attention to detail that bring them to life in big, immersive ways. Simply just looking around at the scenery alone leaves a lasting impression from scene to scene. The art design behind Minas Tirith especially, between its various architectural elements, consistent color scheme that shines brightly, and jutting mountain that creates an added layer of symmetry that drops my jaw to the floor. It is easily one of my favorite set pieces in recent memory. The scene where they light the beacon also gives the cinematographers a prime opportunity to show off the beauty of the area. Look for yourself:

I went through these in more depth last time, but the small details in the various costumes, along with the prosthetics/makeup/hairstyling of all the orcs requires a level of impeccable attentiveness. Regardless of the scene, you could pick out any individual in any given scene and feel like they possess a story to tell. It is truly admirable. Overall, they put on a masterclass in aesthetics, so let’s move into the plot elements of the film, along with some underrated elements not mentioned in the last retrospective.

How the editors manage to put together all this footage in such an organized, tonally consistent, artistic way absolutely blows my mind. While a runtime of over three hours can seem like a lot, they help it go by quickly, ensuring that the story gets told, but not at a pace that meanders or detracts from the character arcs or overarching messaging pertaining to the positive aspects of the human spirit.

My only minor complaint stems from the fact that certain CGI and special effects, while likely cutting edge at the time, clearly show their age in this. Practical effects get used for the brunt of the main battles, but for the elephants, Smeagol/Gollum, and other fictitious creates, you can tell the animation has seen better days. Hopefully someone re-masters it, because it would look phenomenal otherwise. They blend in enough practical effects thankfully the outdatedness does not detract from everything.

Personally, I cannot understand for the life of me how Sean Astin, who played the role of Samwise Gamgee, did not receive some type of acting nomination. His ability to display intention emotions just through his eyes alone builds up drama beautifully. He steals the show in every scene he takes part in, with some of his passionate monologues giving me goosebumps along the way. He displays so much loyalty, so much determination and so much care for his friend, eliciting a sympathy for him that makes you want to root for their success. Several other standouts exist in this universe, but his performance moves me the most by far. His range is off the charts.

The writing in “The Return of the King” contains so much depth, consistently evoking vivid images within the dialogue. Between Gandalf’s explanation behind death that inspires me to examine that part of life in a different way, Sam’s word picture he paints for Frodo to help continue his journey so they can return to a peaceful life at The Shire, Frodo’s letter he writes to Sam, along with his description of his inner battle post ring that makes him wonder if he can ever live a normal life again, and Aragorn’s inspirational speech as they make their final stand against Sauron, so many memorable moments stick out positively that provide excellent outlooks on life. You could create so many motivational posters with the notable and quotable lines from this film. For example, take a look at the transcript prior to the final stand at the gates of Mordor:

“Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you”

I could go on and on about the depth behind the dialogue, along with acting that helps take it to the next level, the score that excellently elevate these emotional moments, and so much more. You can tell they put so much effort into everything, all primarily driven by a passion for making art unfold on screen.

Something about the writing in this invokes powerful emotions that makes you feel extremely optimistic about human nature. I absolutely love the uplifting aspects behind these films. Each character represents some element of humanity we want to see more of in modern society. I went on about Samwise already, but when looking down the list of protagonists, every single one of them contributes meaningfully, manifesting character traits such as personal sacrifice for a greater purpose, loyalty to one another, setting aside personal differences to make a lasting difference in the world, and perseverance to endure even the most difficult of unrelenting enemies hoping to break everyone’s spirits.

Easily, my favorite plot line pertains to the power struggles amongst Smeagol, Frodo, and Sam. The way all of them deal with this extremely difficult struggle not to succumb to the absolute power the ring provides contains layers within it that highlights their humanity, but also their determination to avoid the temptations of evil traits seen in society. Their journey contains an absurd amount of depth, to the point where I could probably write an article just dissecting that element of the film. They say “absolute power corrupts absolutely”, but what about those altruistic individuals who circumvent absolute power? I love the way they do not let anyone fully fall for corruption, against all odds. It does come at a cost however for people, including Frodo, who never becomes the same person again after all the hardships he endures.

Not only does “The Return of the King” invoke inherent feelings of unrelenting optimism, it entertains on a wide variety of fronts. The last stand battle utilizes excellent cinematography that captures the fatigue amongst everyone, along with their last-ditch desperation to keep their chances at success alive. The prior battles with the elephants create some well-choreographed moments that highlight the sheer badassery the protagonists possess. So much fighting occurs from a wide variety of angles, be it close quarters or open fields, prompting several variations of choreography that keeps everything fresh.

I keep hearing the term “we will never see movies like these again”, which makes me sad. On one hand, I am glad we get these works of art forever engrained within society. The sheer amount of work that went into this project probably cannot get replicated anytime soon.

However, part of that sentiment serves as a sad testament to the growing cynicism we see in the modern day. One can dream that we get a series of high quality like this in the future. Maybe more filmmakers can emulate Peter Jackson’s, devoting themselves strictly to bringing source material to life as best as they can. My hope is that we can drown out as much negativity in this world as possible, and heed the hopeful words of Arwen:

“From the ashes, a fire shall be woken. A light from the shadow shall spring. Renewed shall be blade that was broken. The crownless again shall be king.”

Anyway, here comes the end of my fellowship with “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”. I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are an evil. If you’ve read up until this point, I guarantee you know the answer to this question, but let’s close the book on the penultimate question of this retrospective:

Does “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” stand the test of time?

Verdict: Absolutely!

TL;DR Synopsis: A phenomenal one-of-a-kind epic that goes above and beyond in nearly every element of filmmaking.

Hundred Tomatoes Score: 93/100

In case you were wondering, here are the Top 10 Highest Grossing Films of the 2000s, and where Hundred Tomatoes stands of them. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” is the ninth entry in the series. Only one film remains: James Cameron’s “Avatar”

10. Shrek 2 – Yes, it stands the test of time for the most part - 76/100

9. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Unequivocally yes it stands the test of time – 92/100

8. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – For the most part does not stand the test of time – 60/100

7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Barely does not stand the test of time – 63/100

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – Aesthetically stands the test of time but not writing wise – 70/100

5. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – Does not stand the test of time – 51/100

4. The Dark Knight – 100% YES to standing the test of time – 94/100

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – Aesthetically stands the test of time but not writing wise – 64/100

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Absolutely stands the test of time – 93/100

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