The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

• This is often regarded as the greatest LOTR movie, and I have to say, I would agree. It’s the third and final movie of the LOTR trilogy, so it wraps the whole thing up in a really epic and beautiful way. It terms of favorite of the three, I think The Two Towers *just* barely beats this one out as my personal favorite. But I can’t deny that this one is definitely the most well made of them. The final showdown in Mordor, the destruction of the ring, and the conclusions for each character are what make the movie so good. The story is obviously a continuation of the first two, so it picks up right where The Two Towers leaves off. You still follow some separate journeys, until later in the movie, when basically everyone except Frodo and Sam team up for the final battle. After everything goes down, you get to see what happens to each character, which was a great way to wrap up the trilogy. You get some closure, but of course, you have more to look forward to because the Hobbit trilogy gets made ten years later. Like the previous two movies, the cast stays the same, but still extremely stacked. You get fantastic performances from everyone, especially, especially Elijah Wood and Andy “the 🐐“ Serkis. If you thought Andy was good in The Two Towers, just watch this one. His portrayal of Gollum only gets better. The effects and CGI are pretty good, though like with the other movies, there are a couple moments that are a teensy bit questionable. However, they’re still all very good, especially for 2003. All the action sequences are ridiculously well shot, as well as exciting, gripping, and especially thrilling. The final battle is easily my favorite moment from the movie, and I get chills every time. All the character designs and makeup is really good as well. The orcs continue to look so amazingly awesome. The score by Howard Shore is, once again, absolutely fire. Overall, this is one of the best fantasy movies ever made, and I would highly recommend it to everyone. This film is officially Berry Approved, so go watch it now!