Seigneur des anneaux : Le Retour du Roi (Le) (english version)
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The Return of the King
États-Unis, 2003
De Peter Jackson
Scénario : Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh
Avec : Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, Elijah Wood
Durée : 3h20
Sortie : 01/01/2003
Frodo, Sam and Gollum are getting closer to the poisonous lands of Mordor while Aragorn is trying to league the race of men together against Sauron. Everything is complicated by inner strife, while the Orc armies prepare to launch their final assault on Minas Tirith, the city of the kings of Gondor.
HAIL TO THE VICTORIOUS DEADS
The King is back. Aragorn is standing above the battlefield. With his loud, clear voice, he enthrals the few ones who were crazy enough to follow him. The long road that started in the comfort of the Shire has led to this turning point, where the world is about to be torn in two, leaving only one group to see a new age of the world. This simple dramatic canvas is used by Peter Jackson at its best. All the fat is gone away, and this Homeric struggles survives on screen in a way which is both pure and simple, and yet staggeringly complex. Jackson wanted only one thing with The Return of the King: to make the best of the three movies, the apotheosis of all the tears and swords. The long ending is where the most powerful moments appear. The Return of the King has its feet in the mud but its head in the stars.
SAURON STRIKES BACK
Though there’re a few slow patches in the beginning that boast sub-par special effects, Jackson gets his boat sailing and never lets go after that. After seven years of work, probably hours and hours of doubt, Jackson has achieved the best part of the trilogy. The balance is perfect between numerous and well fleshed-out characters, and moments of jaw-dropping visual imagination. The scene of the Paths of the Dead is probably one of the strangest of the trilogy. From Star Wars to Evil Dead, without forgetting Indiana Jones, the movie is full of smart cinematic winks to his colleagues. And he often goes beyond that to create his own icons to adorn the pantheon of epic movie-making. After the editing problems that The Two Towers suffered from, Jackson managed to get his back-and-forth rhythm just right between the different storylines. Everything that’s at play is perfectly clear and blends together into one goal: to destroy the One Ring and ensure survival of the free peoples of Middle-Earth.
BLUE HARVESTER
Always wanting to breathe life into Tolkien’s work, Jackson doesn’t hesitate to change things. Not go against them, but instead light them sideways. Tolkien for example stayed rather distant from his female characters, but Jackson ensures Eowyn is not left out and gives her one of the most striking scenes of the movie when she confronts the Witch-King. Peter Jackson knows that Middle-Earth is our Earth and goes a long way to try and show the horrors of war (which he already hinted at in The Two Towers). This first-degree look at things, this faith in Tolkien’s creation is wonderful and serves the movie in every scene with the authenticity it tries to bring to this fantasy world. Every single element has a reason of being there, be it an elvish tattoo or a Gondorian piece of steel. Many people compared Jackson to a Hobbit because of his curves, but Gandalf or Aragorn would be more proper comparisons. Like them, he’s galvanised hundreds of artists into working on one of the most gigantic projects you could imagine.
THE LORD OF THE RHYMES
At a time when the lights of movies are going out, we need to look back on Jackson’s achievement. Contrary to the ill-fated Matrix franchise, The Lord of the Rings seems to be the work of a modest and intelligent crew. We shouldn’t forget the contributions of Jackson’s wife, Fran Walsh, and their writing partner, Philippa Boyens. They’ve put together three movies that ooze with love of movies and of simple yet effective tricks. Their wonderful actors and intelligent work of adaptation were used to the best to write a new page of movie history, probably without even knowing it. Peter Jackson can now close his own Red Book of Westmarch. And we’re now forced to leave the shores of Middle-Earth, orphaned movie-lovers who were well taken care of.
