"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" ••• A fitting end to one of the most impressive film trilogies ever made, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" is receiving accolades from far and wide. And director Peter Jackson certainly deserves being honored, though what he should get is credit for having directed all three films and having been as true as possible to its source: the half-century-old saga written by J.R.R. Tolkien. As a stand-alone film, "The Return of the King" suffers from too many characters, too many story lines and too many similar names (Sauron-Saruman, Arwen-Eowyn, etc.) for the uninitiated to make much sense of. For those who have prepared by seeing the "extended" versions of the first two, this finale is everything it needs to be: sweeping, majestic and as profound as fantasy can be. In terms of acting, the big names – Shakespearean-trained Ian McKellan, studly Viggo Mortensen, angelic Liv Tyler, wide-eyed Elijah Wood – are overshadowed by the lesser characters. And among those characters, Hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan), Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Sam (Sean Astin) are the most heroic. Especially Sam, on whom the whole future of the world depends. Astin, even though looked over by the folks who hand out Oscars, deserved gold for his performance as the loyal sidekick. – Dan Webster. (DVD, 3:21) Rated PG-13 (intense epic battle sequences and frightening images).
