MovieChat Forums > The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Discussion > Weakest of the trilogy.

Weakest of the trilogy.

posted 5 years ago by [deleted]
17 replies | jump to latest

This movie tried and failed. Viggo Mortensen is not exciting as Aragorn
His line delivery comes off as lame and he didn't have a presences that said leader or king.

Frodo's was knocked out for most of the film. Nothing says excitement like seeing your hero knocked out for most of the film.

The ghost army looked terrible. They were stiff and looked like the SFX of 1995
The orcs looked lame in the light. It was like watching a local haunted hayride.

Too many conclusions. Clerks 2, n'uff said.

Screw this movie.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 4 years ago

Well Lord of the Rings isn't a Trilogy but yes out of the 3 parts to this one movie this is the weakest. It's beyond absurd and the plot armor the main characters have is just ridiculous (Legolas is just as much of a Mary Sue as Rey is). Plus I will never forgive Peter Jackson for what he did to the Army of the Dead/Pirate Ghosts.

As for the 500 endings I didn't really mind that but the fake outs are what pissed me off.

[–] blue1981 (7783) 4 years ago

It's a wrap up for three movies and it deserved to win Best Picture.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

I'm not saying it was not a big effort. It was a major movie event and Peter Jackson deserves his accolades.

I still hate the third movie and find that the whole trilogy lost its appeal once it was no longer on the big screen. The third movie lost its appeal completely by the ghost army.

[–] uridon2 (184) 4 years ago

nah ur stupid

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

The "SFX" were pretty much produced with 1995s technology. By-and-large, the films' production ended before the first film was released. There were some minor added scenes after the fact but most of what you see here was probably completed or close to completed by late 2000/early2001.

[–] dirkdiggler (118) 4 years ago

Production, yes, that’s when principal photography wrapped. However, postproduction and pickup shoots lasted well into 2004 (yes, even after PJ had won the Oscar). They were still editing, sound mixing, and adding VFX until weeks before the film was released in cinemas.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

The last film was released in 2003. Not 2004. Or did you expect him to change things that drastically between the release of the films and the release of the extended editions? The latest he could have changed the "VFX" of RotK and not have changed it in the extended edition was probably early 2003. Change the effects and getting the film to release on time isn't like photoshopping a picture and posting it to facebook.

[–] dirkdiggler (118) 4 years ago

I think you misread my comment. When I said 2004 I specifically said “after PJ had won the Oscar.” He did pick up shoots for the extended edition in mid-2004 for the scenes in the Paths of the Dead.

They didn’t finish planning the Battle of Pelennor Fields until early 2003, at which point they continued shooting until just a couple months before the deadline. Jackson and his editor didn’t finish editing the film until early November 2003.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Do you really expect him to change something that was in a released film in a home release? That's why I pointed out what I pointed out. I may be off on the timing of it all but I still think he wasn't going to change the shots.

[–] dirkdiggler (118) 4 years ago

No, he added shots for the Paths of the Dead for the extended addition. He shot these in his own house. That’s why PJ joked that ROTK was the only best picture winner to wrap up shooting after it had already won the Oscar.

[–] blue1981 (7783) 4 years ago

They did extra work for the extended edition and that went on until it was released in the fall of 2004.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

What I am saying is that I wouldn't expect him to replace footage from the original release. Yes, my timeline is bad but do you really think he was going to replace original release footage to make small gains in CGI? I think the fans would throw a fit.

[–] rateater (10053) 2 years ago

i think maybe two towers is the weakest.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Is it just because it doesn't have an full beginning or ending?

[–] rateater (10053) 2 years ago

maybe that's it, it feels like it's just a middle of the story and it seems a little drawn out, like with the tree people taking so long, and walking for a long time.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

"...even the trees walked in it" ~Randall clerks 2

[–] e3e34ifj (1912) 6 months ago

I agree this is the weakest. The first half is just the characters waiting around for the war to start, then the rest of the movie is the war, plus another hour of pointless "comedic" resolutions. Like how many times do we need Gandalf's commentary saying stuff like "the board is set" "the pieces are moving" "this is going to be the war of our lifetime" like shut up bro, we know.