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Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009
The final chapter completes "The Lord of the Rings" series in thrilling style -- and restores faith in the idea that popular entertainment can soar to majestic heights.
Dec 17, 2003 | Computer graphics made Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy possible, and for that we should always be grateful. Even a generation ago, no one would have tried to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic as live-action cinema. (Someone might have given it a whirl in the 1920s, had the tale existed then, but that was another age and another kind of movie.) Without digital wizardry, we'd never have seen Jackson's fearsome Wargs and mighty Ents, the pits beneath Isengard where Saruman bred the Uruk-hai, the Ringwraiths on Weathertop, the mines of Moria, the white city of Minas Tirith or the terrible creature who guards the pass of Cirith Ungol -- none of it.
And we'd have been poorer for it. With "The Return of the King," Jackson, his remarkable cast and his enormous ensemble of collaborators have found victory at the end of their improbable quest. Like the indomitable hobbit heroes Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin), who eventually find their way to the Cracks of Doom where Sauron, long eons ago, forged the Ring of Power (in deference to those of you who haven't read the books, I won't discuss what happens there), Jackson and company have accomplished the near-impossible. While remaining true to the spirit (if not the letter) of Tolkien's books, "The Lord of the Rings" is also a prodigiously exciting film entertainment, a redemption of the spirit of popular spectacle that has seemed so cheapened, corrupted and bastardized in recent years.
Packed with passion and heroism, the grimness of death and the hope of salvation, this final chapter flies past with the speed of Shadowfax, Gandalf the wizard's legendary white horse. None of us is ever again likely to encounter a 200-minute movie we are so reluctant to see come to an end. Expectations for "The Return of the King" are of course outlandish -- if it does not become the highest-grossing film in history and win the best-picture Oscar, it may be considered a disappointment -- but as unfair as they may be, I expect to see them fulfilled. Although I'll always have a soft spot for "The Fellowship of the Ring," which made us all believe that this implausible endeavor might actually work, this one is Jackson's crowning achievement. It marks "The Lord of the Rings," without any serious question, as the greatest long-form work in the history of mainstream cinema. (Do I hear any other nominees?)
By their very nature, endings are occasions for sorrow, and Jackson honors the elegiac spirit of Tolkien's epic by infusing the triumphant tale of "The Return of the King" with a deepening sense of sadness and loss. As the author's devoted fans know already, the end of this saga marks the passing of much of Middle-earth's beauty (symbolized by the doomed magic of the Elves) and the beginning of the Age of Men -- in other words, the inauguration of our world, with all its grime and mess and morality in murky shades of gray.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
Directed by Peter Jackson
Starring Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd
As we walked out of the theater, my viewing companion expressed a more direct sadness: There will be no new "Lord of the Rings" film next Christmas! (There are rumors that Jackson may make a film of "The Hobbit," Tolkien's prequel, but I suspect that may be the denial that marks the first stage in the Kübler-Ross process of grieving.) Yes, these movies, like Tolkien's books, will be with us forever -- and the DVD versions may last forever -- but the vast popular audience that has embraced this amazing series will now share that Baggins-like bittersweet sensation of travelers who have ventured to the edge of the world and find themselves with no new lands to conquer.
More than Tolkien's books, Jackson's movies are first and foremost grand entertainments; in his screenplays (co-written with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) the high-flown rhetoric and mythological heavy lifting have, thankfully, been kept to a minimum. But Jackson hasn't lost sight of the fact that the "Lord of the Rings" universe is not entirely imaginary, and that its realism -- its sense of distant but tangible connection to our own world -- is what lends it much of its power. So while this series would never have come to fruition without the magic of the digital age, that does not begin to account for how riveting -- how real -- Jackson's portrayal of Middle-earth is.
In fact, I'll go further than that: The special effects in these movies are something like the One Ring -- perhaps a necessary evil, but a great evil nonetheless, one that constantly threatens to undermine the creative spirit. Sure, some of the series' effects are absolutely essential: the thrilling battle scenes in "The Two Towers" and in this film, the marvelously pathetic creation that is Gollum, the ancient and horrible Shelob (literally, in Middle English, "female spider"), who brings Frodo and Sam to their darkest hour of the entire saga. The list could go on.
But, listen, as much as I love these movies, it's time to be honest. We're among friends here. We can admit that the cheeseball factor is set at least 10 percent too high.
