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It is an impossible task - there are bazillions of Sauran's
servants and only 6000 men of Rohan - but they charge into
battle with one word on their mouths. "Death!"
Oh it is exhilarating. Oh it is inspiring. And oh it is absolutely
the best battle scene ever filmed.
Few things move this stone-hearted history buff, but by crikey
the charge of the Rohan at Pelennor Fields brought a lump
to the throat as the climax of the third installment of The
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was reached.
It is a stunning movie and, without doubt, the best of the
trilogy offered by Peter Jackson.
And that is not to denegrate the preceding duo, it is just
that Return of the King wraps the mammoth tale up with plenty
of pace, excitement, thrills, chills and gives some truly
gobsmacking visuals. (We'll not mention the pulse-quickening
fight against the awful Shelob because that damn spider still
gives me nightmares!)
And for JRR Tolkien freaks most of it is true to the book
- although they did avoid the ruination of The Shire - sometimes
down to the exact dialogue.
After seeing the scene of Eowyn's deeds during the battle
of Pelennor Fields I thought "here's a bit of PC promotion
for the gal" but no, I checked and it followed the book faithfully.
Return of the King is over three hours long and yet it seems
to move much faster than the previous movies.
It has to wrap up the series - and does so at length - but
it is such an epic journey for film fans that I'll bet nothing
will come close to this series for decades to come. If ever.
Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and
that revolting Gollum have their futures decided as do all
the races of Middle Earth. Elves, dwarves, humans, orcs, uruk
hai, hobbits and all the other entities have chosen their
sides and fight it out to the death. Fortunately the non-ugly
ones win.
The visuals for Return of the King are sensational. If you
suffer from vertigo do not watch it on a big screen.
However, the transfer will stand up to blowing it up to sports
stadium screen size it is so sharp. The sound will have your
ears singing with delight at the 3D soundstage and have you
contemplating buying a better sound system just for this series.
And I just cannot wait to have a spare 10 or 11 hours so
I can watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy from go to whoa
in one sitting. It may mean having to pay for a weekend away
for Mrs A and the little ones, but it could be on the cards.
Conclusion: Movie 96% Extras 80%
Continued:
DVD details at a glance >
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