The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (film)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King isthe third and final part of the film trilogy by director Peter Jackson based on the books by JRR Tolkien after The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers .
action
In the last part of the trilogy, you first learn in a flashback how Sméagol became the creature Gollum: Two hobbit-like figures can be seen in a boat. As it turns out, these are Déagol and Sméagol , who belong to the so-called river people. Déagol is pulled into the lake by a large fish. Underwater he discovers something glittering and reaches for it. On land he discovers that it is a gold ring . Sméagol becomes aware of this and desperately wants this ring. When Déagol refuses, a fight breaks out between the two, in the course of which Sméagol strangles Déagol. He then withdraws into a cave, in which, under the influence of the ring, he transforms himself into Gollum over the centuries, which is shown in a kind of "time lapse".
In Rohan is recovering from the attacks of the Uruk-hai -Armee. King Théoden wonders if he should support the kingdom of Gondor , which did not help his kingdom. Aragorn makes it clear to him that there is no other way to withstand the impending new attacks. After Pippin illegally looked into the Palantir in Gandalf's possession - the Palantir establishes a treacherous connection to Mordor - Gandalf recognizes Sauron's next target in Pippin's stories : The capital of Gondor, Minas Tirith . The measures of the ring community are aimed at the defense of this city. Gandalf rides with Pippin to Minas Tirith to Denethor , the father of Boromir and Faramir and at the same time chiefess of Gondor. Once there, Denethor tells them that he knows of Boromir's death. Gandalf wanted to hide the death of his son from Denethor, as he was aware that Denethor would be depressed by Boromir's death. Denethor does not want to ask Rohan for help, fearing that he will then be robbed of his power by Aragorn (the rightful heir to the throne). Meanwhile, Pippin puts himself at the service of Denethor out of guilt towards Boromir. The army of Sauron set out from Minas Morgul to attack Osgiliath , the border town of Gondor first . Denethor no longer seems to be able to fulfill his duties as a custodian. So Gandalf intervenes by having Pippin set the chain of beacons in motion, which King Théoden and his men call for help. Gandalf tries desperately to motivate the discouraged fighters of Gondor. At the same time, Sauron's army is gathering in Mordor.
Meanwhile, Théoden gathers the Rohan warriors to come to Gondor's aid. Unfortunately it soon turns out that there are far fewer warriors than one had hoped, namely only 6000 warriors. Some men from isolated provinces of Rohan had not come. Despite this situation, King Théoden is able to unite his men and rides to Gondor's aid. Unrecognized among the warriors are Merry and Éowyn .
Meanwhile, Sam clashes with Frodo because he doesn't trust Gollum . Watch as thousands of Sauron's fighters leave Minas Morgul and watch the Witch King of Angmar, leader of the Nazgûl , go into battle. However, Frodo is apparently relying more and more on Gollum, who also misrepresents Sam stealing food, and leaves Sam behind. However, he did not expect Gollum's trickery, which lured him directly into the caves of the giant spider Shelob . Frodo is promptly discovered and attacked by her. The spider wraps the unconscious Frodo in a cocoon made of spider threads.
On the eve of the battle, Aragorn is invited into the tent of Théoden. Elrond is waiting for him there. He explains that his only beloved daughter has not traveled to the West and is therefore now dying. He advises Aragorn to request the support of the undead for the upcoming battle , but they only follow the king of Gondor. He gives Aragorn the sword Andúril , the flame of the west, forged from the fragments of Narsil, which is supposed to emphasize his claim against the undead. Aragorn makes his way to the path of the dead together with Legolas and Gimli . These outcasts were once cursed by Isildur as "oath breakers" because they abandoned him despite an oath of allegiance, and now they have to eke out their existence as undead in the mountains until the oath is fulfilled. At the end of the path, in the middle of the mountain, the three companions encounter the host of the undead. Aragorn, the rightful heir of Isildur, demands of them to fight for him and thus to keep their oath. In return, he promises to regard the oath as fulfilled and to release it.
Denethor orders Faramir to retake the enemy-occupied city of Osgiliath. Faramir, however, is hopelessly inferior to the odds with his men. He was the only survivor to return to Minas Tirith, seriously injured. In his desperation, Denethor cannot or does not want to recognize that Faramir is still alive. However, he cannot get over the death of both sons and decides to burn Faramir and himself. Pippin can reach Gandalf in time, and together they can save Faramir from dying in flames. Denethor, however, throws himself down from the fortress, burning.
Meanwhile, fierce fighting rages in Gondor. Thousands of orcs, supported by numerous trolls and Haradrim , advance against the city of Minas Tirith. The warriors of men seem to have little to counter this onslaught, despite Gandalf's efforts. The battle of Pelennor broke out in the fields outside the city gates . When the riders of Rohan arrive in the fields under the leadership of King Théoden, the tide initially seems to turn for the better. They suffer a setback when the Haradrim (southerners) arrive on the battlefield with their gigantic Mûmakil (Olifanten). And the Nazgûl on their flying beasts also support the armies of Mordor.
Meanwhile, Sam has secretly followed Frodo and Gollum and also meets Shelob in the caves. In a bitter fight he can put the giant spider to flight, but is appalled by Frodo's supposed death. When orcs appear, he has to withdraw and watch as they discover the tied up Frodo. Through the conversations of the orcs he learns that Shelob has only stunned her victim this time. When they take Frodo with them, Sam follows them to Cirith Ungol.
In the meantime, the Witch King attacks King Théoden on the battlefield and brings down his horse, which Theodén buries under himself. Éowyn comes to her king's aid and cuts off the head of the Nazgûl's mount. Éowyn also opposes the Nazgûl. She is injured, but Merry can help her by stabbing the Witch King in the heel with his dagger. The Witch King feels invincible in the fight against Éowyn, as legend has it that "he cannot be killed by any man's hand". However, Éowyn is a woman. She kills him by thrusting her sword into his invisible face. She can no longer help her uncle, King Théoden. He's still dying on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the boats of the corsairs of Umbar (allies of the dark ruler) arrive at the harbor, but Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli have taken them over with the help of the army of the oath breakers and flood the battlefield with the spirits. The oath breakers can decide the battle and save Minas Tirith. Aragorn keeps his promise and sees her oath fulfilled.
The orcs who are supposed to guard Frodo get into a dispute over his belongings and mostly kill each other. Frodo wakes up from his unconsciousness and is shocked to discover that the ring is no longer there. Sam enters the tower and tells the surprised Frodo that he has taken the ring because he thought it was dead. The two hobbits make their way through Mordor disguised as orcs. With great effort they finally reach the doom mountain .
While Frodo and Sam march through Mordor, Aragorn decides to use a diversion to draw Sauron's attention to make it easier for the ring bearer. With the armies of Gondor and Rohan he moves in front of the Black Gate. Inspired by his hopes to see Arwen again, he wants to attract Sauron's gaze until Frodo has destroyed the ring.
Since Sauron's gaze is now fully focused on the battle, Frodo and Sam are now able to continue on their way to Mount Doom. But when Frodo wants to throw the ring into the glowing lava in order to destroy it, the ring finally gains power over him. Frodo refuses to destroy it and so fails because of the power of the ring. However, Gollum lurks in the background, who has followed the two hobbits and now wants to take control of the ring. He attacks Frodo, whereupon a fight breaks out, in the course of which Gollum bites off Frodo's finger along with the ring. In doing so, Gollum falls with the ring into the glowing lava and unintentionally destroys the ring.
Mount Doom erupts and destroys Mordor. Sauron's army, the Black Gate and Sauron's fortress Barad-dûr including the Fire Eye are swallowed up by the earth. The dark force is defeated. Sam and Frodo have taken refuge on a boulder in the middle of the glowing lava masses on the slopes of the mountain and are now helpless and cut off from any way out. Meanwhile, Gandalf does not want to believe in the death of the hobbits and goes in search of them with Gwaihir and two other eagles . He can save her and bring her to safety in Gondor.
Aragorn now takes over his inheritance and is crowned King Elessar of Gondor by Gandalf. Arwen becomes his wife. The hobbits return to the Shire and the community dissolves. Samweis marries Rosie.
Three years later: The Elves show the greatly aged Bilbo as a former ring bearer the favor of accompanying them from the Gray Ruins to the immortal lands west of the sea. Bilbo accepts this final adventure. Gandalf and - to the great (and horrified) surprise of Merry, Sam and Pippin - also Frodo leave Middle-earth together with Elrond, Galadriel and their husband Celeborn.
Film music
Howard Shore composed the music in all three parts of the trilogy .
In the soundtrack for the third part of the trilogy, three of the actors received singing honors. Pippin actor Billy Boyd sings the song The Steward of Gondor , Liv Tyler can be heard during the scene in the Houses of Healing (only in the "Special Extended Version"), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) in The Return of the King , in which the words of Elendil are repeated, which he spoke on the landing in Middle-earth. Renée Fleming took on further solo vocal parts (e.g. the piece Twilight and Shadow ) .
The theme song for The Return of the King was written by Howard Shore, with Philippa Boyens and singer Annie Lennox . The title: Into the West . The song was inspired by the fate of the then (2003) 17 year old New Zealander Cameron Duncan , whose lifelong dream was to become a director and actor. Director Peter Jackson became aware of him through Cameron's short film DFK6498 and recognized its potential. He then invited him to filming The Lord of the Rings . Now it turned out, however, that Cameron was suffering from cancer and the chemotherapy treatments were not achieving the desired results. With Jackson's financial support, Cameron was able to complete his second short film, Strike Zone , before Cameron Duncan finally died of cancer on November 12, 2003. This tragic story is reconstructed in the appendices to the Special Extended Edition, and both Cameron's mother and himself have their say.
The music for The Return of the King and the title song Into the West have received numerous awards, including two Grammys and two Oscars .
Reviews
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"Given Tolkien's specifications, Jackson approaches a perfect implementation: the dramaturgy, optics or staging leave nothing to be desired. The return of the king is a truly sublime ending. "
“The monumental film combines spacious landscapes, monumental battle scenes and the broad epic of the final narrative into a multi-layered whole and impressively combines archaic violence with emotionally touching moments, whereby the unconditional motivations and inner turmoil of its protagonists are noticeable. A brilliant homage to the timeless power of myths, which translates the epic breath of the literary model into congenial images. "
Trivia
- Peter Jackson is together u. a. with Andrew Lesnie and Richard Taylor as mercenaries on one of the corsair ships, the scene is only included in the Extended Edition .
- The elephant-like mythical creature Oliphant shown in the film is the largest prop ever used for a film, at an estimated height of twelve meters .
- The Return of the King is the first science fiction / fantasy film to be named Best Picture at the Academy Awards .
- The entire trilogy was nominated for an Oscar 30 times. The Return of the King is one of three films that won eleven Academy Awards. Furthermore, The Return of the King is one of the few films that managed a so-called clean sweep , that is, winning all of the Oscars for which it was nominated.
- In February 2004, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was only the second film after Titanic to hit over $ 1 billion in global box office sales, a total of $ 1,119.1 million.
- After filming was completed, Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis were each allowed to keep one of the rings used in the film . Orlando Bloom was allowed to keep his sheet, which was taken from him at customs when he left the country.
- Peter Jackson's film adaptation is not the first. Rankin and Bass filmed The Return of the King as an animated film for Canadian and Japanese television as early as 1980.
- The orc scenes or scenes in which many similar beings occur at the same time were created with the program Massive , which was programmed by Stephen Regelous on behalf of Weta Digital for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
- On December 10, 2003 the European premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King took place in the Sony Center in Berlin.
Differences from the book
- In the book there is never a split between Frodo and Sam, as it is caused in the film by Gollum at the pass by Cirith Ungol. On the contrary, constant and firm friendship is a central motive. This is one of the serious thematic deviations from the content of the book.
- In the film (extended version) Saruman dies while visiting Gandalf, in the book only in Hobbiton. But both times he is killed by Grima. In the film comes Saruman's voice , a central pillar of its power in the book, not before.
- In the film, Aragorn does not come to the aid of Dúnedain on the paths of the dead. The dead themselves do not attack and refuse Aragon in the book, but simply follow him.
- In the film the army of the dead decides the battle for Minas Tirith , in the book they help to capture the corsair fleet and are then released by Aragorn without intervening in the subsequent battle.
- Denethor is portrayed in the film in a much more negative and rude manner than in Tolkien's original, in which it becomes clear that Denethor, like Saruman, has a Palantir magic stone and thus has a connection to Sauron. He does not take the side of evil, but despairs in the face of the superior power of Sauron, which is shown to him by the Palantir. In the book, for example, Denethor has Gondor's beacon lighted, while in the film Pippin does it when Denethor refuses to give the order. In the film, Denethor plunges down from the fortress on fire, while in the book he burns in the crypt of the bureaucrat.
- In the film, Elendil's sword is only forged in the third part, in the book, however, in the first part, and this is not done at Arwen's suggestion.
- In the film, Merry knows from the start that it is Éowyn who takes him to battle.
- In the book, the Rohirrim win the support of the Druedain, a small, wild people of forest people, before the battle, in order to reach the siege of Minas Tirith on secret paths. In the film, they reach the battlefield unaided.
- In the film, Sam takes the master ring from Frodo, who was believed dead, but does not put it on. In the book, Sam uses the ring, which means that he can better understand the extent of its power and its influence on Frodo. Sam shows himself gracious to Gollum on the slopes of Mount Doom when he has the opportunity to kill him.
- In the film, Angmar Gandalf's Witch King does not stand at the great gate of Minas Tirith, but on one of the walls. In contrast to the book, the Witch King symbolically defeats Gandalf by breaking his staff before the Rohirrim army lures him away. This scene contradicts the representation of Tolkien, which left the outcome of the duel open.
- In the film, Sauron's mouth is beheaded by Aragorn. In the book he flees at the sight of Gandalf's glowing clothes.
- In the film, Merry takes part in the fight in front of the Black Gate. In the book he is too weakened after the attack on the Witch King and remains in the Houses of Healing.
- In the book, after winning the battle for Gondor, Gandalf wants to ride to Mordor to distract Sauron from Frodo, while Aragorn first wants to give the army some rest. In the film, the roles of Gandalf and Aragorn are reversed.
- In the film, Éowyn and Merry drop their weapons when the Witch King is wounded / killed as if they had got too hot, but there are no further consequences. In the book, both come to the houses of healing and only get well again thanks to the "healing hands of the king" Aragon.
- In the film, the fall of Sauron is represented by an explosion of Sauron's eye, while at the same time Barad-Dûr collapses. In the book, Sauron rears up for the last time as a “huge shadow figure”, “taking up the whole sky [...] and threateningly stuck out his paw at you. [Then] she was seized by a strong wind, blown away and scattered; and then it became quiet. "
- In the film the Shire is exactly as they left it when the hobbits returned, in the book it was taken over by Saruman, who is called Scharrer (Carroux) or Scharker (Krege). The returning hobbits lead a revolt and liberate the Shire again. In The Companions , Frodo sees this as a possible future when he looks in Galadriel's mirror.
synchronization
Awards (selection)
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The German Film and Media Assessment (FBW) awarded the film the title “particularly valuable”.
Publications
After the screening in the cinema, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was released on DVD and VHS in May 2004 . These editions corresponded to the version that was shown in cinemas around the world.
In December 2004, like its two predecessors, a Special Extended Edition was released on both DVD and VHS. This extended version of the film contains over 50 additional film minutes and extends several plot elements. The extended version of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was approved by the FSK with a rating of 16+. In addition to the single version, the film was also released in various trilogy editions on DVD.
In 2010 the theatrical version was released on Blu-ray , both individually and in a trilogy box. The Special Extended Edition was first distributed on Blu-ray in 2012 and exclusively as a trilogy.
Gross profit
The film is number 24 (as of August 8, 2020) among the world's most successful films of all time .
literature
- Brian Sibley : The Lord of the Rings, How the Movie Was Made. Klett-Cotta-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-608-93502-9 .
- Jude Fisher , John RR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, The Official Journal. Klett-Cotta-Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-608-93506-1 .
- JRR Tolkien : The Lord of the Rings. The return of the King. Photos from Middle-earth. Klett-Cotta-Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-608-93324-7 .
- Stefan Servos : Space View Fantasy: The Lord of the Rings. A look behind the scenes of "The Return of the King". Heel, Königswinter 2003, ISBN 3-89880-233-7 .
- Mark Achilles : Fantasy Fiction - the search for the true human being in "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings". In: Thomas Bohrmann, Werner Veith, Stephan Zöller (Eds.): Handbuch Theologie und Popular Film. Volume 1. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2007, ISBN 978-3-506-72963-7 , pp. 95-113.
Web links
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at Metacritic (English)
- Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in the online movie database
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in the German dubbing index
- Official website for the trilogy (German)
- The two reviews from filmspiegel.de
- Comparison of the cuts Theatrical Version FSK 12 - Extended Version FSK 16 (DVD-1) , Theatrical Version FSK 12 - Extended Version FSK 16 (DVD-2) , ORF Afternoon - FSK 12 , RTL Afternoon - FSK 12 of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the king at Schnittberichte.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Certificate of Release for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2003 (PDF; theatrical version).
- ↑ Age rating for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ a b rottentomatoes.com at Rotten Tomatoes , accessed on December 16, 2014
- ↑ a b metacritic.com at Metacritic , accessed December 16, 2014
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ Lord of the Rings, The - The Return of the King. In: Filmspiegel.de. Retrieved December 8, 2016 .
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 8, 2016 .
- ↑ TV Movie , Edition 7/2007, p. 14 → Film information
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Box Office Mojo, accessed June 16, 2011 .
- ↑ Peter Jackson. Internet Movie Database , accessed June 10, 2015 .
- ↑ JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King (eBook). Translated by Wolfgang Krege, 5th edition. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-608-10715-9 , Book VI, Chapter 4 "The field of Cormallen"
- Jump up ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on fbw-filmbassy.com
- ↑ Report on "The Return of the King"
- ↑ Top Lifetime big things. Box Office Mojo, accessed August 8, 2020 .