RETURN OF THE KING - 1st review

[Terry May]

Saw this yesterday so thought I'd drop you all a short review.


STORY
Frodo & Sam attempt to finally destroy the ring before sauron and his forces finally take over Middle Earth and Viggo Mortenson (ot at least his character) takes his rightful place as King.

PROS
Impressive effects
Battles as stunning as we saw in The Two Towers
A moving love story
If you're scared of spiders watch out for the squirm inducing Shelob!

CONS
Too long
Where's Saruman


VERDICT
This is epic story telling at its best if you can remember who's who , what's what and why who's doing what! This is hugely enjoyable even at 3 hours and 20 minutes but I've 2 complaints. Sarumen (Christopher Lee) was such a strong character and its a shame they wrap up his story in the way they so ( though no doubt this will all be on the extended DVD).

But secondly and perhaps more importantly it's too long but only by 10 minutes. After the climax and the obvious end point in the denouement it just goes on and on to such a degree that you begin to think there's another film on its way. This is a major fault and could well cost it its much desreved Oscar next year.

Despite all that I would urge you to see this. After the disappointment of the Matrix sequels here finally is a sequel worth waitng for. Although I would add that after watching all 3 epics I certainly don't intend to sit through them all again (unlike The Godfaher trilogy) but they are definitley worth catching for the first time on the BIG screen with a good sound system.

[mart]

Don't know what you mean by "First review".
It was fantastic being here in Wellington for the premiere on the 1st (I wonder who sat on me - I'm a seat donor in the Embassy Theatre where it was held). I went to the airport the following day, most of the celebs. were flying to LA. I'm not usually a rubber-necker but it was a great experience.
I've booked at the Embassy to see the 1.00pm screening on the 18th here in Wellington (I don't understand why its being released on the 17th elsewhere).
Saw the extended version of The Fellowship last week, ditto the Two Towers this week.

Journos - one asked at the Wellington Press Conference if there were any plans for a "novelization" of the movies.

Mart

[Terry May]

haven't seen any other reviews on our forum hence first review. Easy really when you think about it!



Looking forward to see what Peter Jackson will do with his King Kong remake!




(Insert meaningless phrase here)

[The Last Word]

Keep to the original 1930's setting, so I hear.

--
"Let's do it..."

[Terry May]

Thank goodness for that - memories of the appalling 70's remake still haunt me and the least said about the 80's sequel the better!

[Terry May]

Cheers magoo - they're just a guide line really for anyone about to spend their hard earned dosh on going to see what ever film it is. I hope that i can save someone a small fortune by avoiding some of the absolute crap I've seen ( just check out my 'Stuck on you ' review).

If its any help I'll post a Peter Pan & The Last Samurai review soon.

[Terry May]

.... don't get me started.........AAARRRRGGGHHHHH....I'm starting to froth at the mouth...arrrgghhhhhh.

[jj]

Actually I quite liked it.

[Terry May]

Now it's been out for a couple of days I was wondering what others thought.

Is it the best of the three?