elysium v.two.zero

ah...where to begin with this one. its a bit odd writing this review for the third movie when i kind of neglected to write about the two prior movies. oops. this is after all the finale of the trilogy...and one of the greatest pieces of cinematic works ever. with the conclusion of the final movie, the trilogy has been appropriately granted the word 'masterpiece' because there will likely never be anything to match the scale and ambition that went into the lord of the rings trilogy. this is the quintessential fantasy piece..it is the forebearer of the entire genre and jrr tolkien the father of modern fantasy literature. there is just little in the way to compare to this trilogy. the lord of the rings trilogy dwarfs all trilogies that came before it. and that is no easy feat...but given the pedigree of its literary source, its not hard to imagine.

the movie picks up immediately after the conclusion of the two towers. isengard has fallen, and the ents guard saruman in orthanc. aragorn and his companions ride to the dunharrow as the rohirrim gather their forces. gandalf and pippin ride ahead to the white city minas tirith to warn the last steward of gondor, denethor, that a siege is imminent. tho denethor isnt exactly sound of mind and fails to acknowledge the imminent danger, gandalf lights the signal fires without him and rohan rides to the call. all the while sam and frodo are slowly making their way into mordor with gollum as the armies of mordor proceed with their engines of war towards minas tirith. craziness ensues.

i dont think there was any point in the last two hours of the movie save the conclusion where i actually inhaled. how did i breathe? hmm. the initial first hour slowly builds tension as it progresses towards a finality. every step the characters take is towards a conclusion...every word that they utter is towards a conclusion, and every decision they make is to bring about an end to everything. its ridiculously staggering. and when war comes, you forget how to breathe. every second fills your eyes with images youve never seen before...and right as the words "oh shit" leave your breath, you have to catch yourself because youve just seen something to elicit the phrase to be muttered again. the giant war engine grond being wheeled towards the gates of minas tirith (oh shit)...the charge of the rohirrim (oh shit)...the charge of the mumakils (ohhh shit)...legolas badass take-down of one of the aforementioned mumakils (oh shit)...eowyn's vicious smackdown of the witch-king (oh shit)...anon anon. you get the idea. and its not even over yet because then you have to contend with frodos struggles to take the ring to orodruin. i cant even recall specific details at this point because its just a sensory overload. at this point, its pretty obvious that reviews are rather pointless for the return of the king. its just something people should watch, marvel at, and appreciate. tolkien...you rock. peter jackson...you rock as well.

and even though the movie was ridiculously good, for the tolkien fanatics out there...there was ample material to criticize. with so much material to cover, alot was condensed or cut out to make the movie more watchable. this is inevitable with such a kind of work, and should only be seen as a testament to the density of the source book. so even with many things missing from the theatrical movie (eowyn and faramir, saruman, the witch-kings badass fight with gandalf), its reassuring to know that many of the complaints will probably be addressed by the extended version. hopefully tho it wont take a full year for the extended version to be released. that would suck alot...holy shit would it suck.