A triumphant Return to Middle Earth

On Thursday, Dec. 4, the American Film Institute showed a special one-night East Coast premier of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a fantastic and breathtaking cinematic conclusion to J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy, replete with stunning battle sequences and poignant emotion.

The movie opens with a fascinating scene depicting the shriveled Gollum's (Andy Serkis) acquisition of the Ring of Power and his harrowing transformation from a happy simpleton to a twisted killer who desires only his "precious." Then Return of the King picks up where The Two Towers left off, following stoic hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) as they continue their hopeless trek to Mordor.

Meanwhile, war is brewing on the borders of Gondor, the last mighty kingdom of men. Heroes Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gandalf (Ian McKellan), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) return from their victory at Helm's Deep only to find that they are needed to defend Minas Tirith, the majestic capitol of Gondor.

Despite the heroes' efforts, few hold hope for triumph the impending battle. Not only does Mordor's strength in arms dwarf their own, but their only hope of victory invested in two exhausted hobbits lost somewhere in the wilderness, and one of their own, the Steward of Gondor, Denethor (John Noble), has gone insane and sabotages efforts to defend Minas Tirith.

The fate of Middle Earth hangs in the balance as the main plots effortlessly intertwine to create an awe-inspiring climax to the trilogy.

Return of the King is one of those rare movies that successfully conveys the grandeur of epic events while simultaneously keeping the audience focused on the individual characters. The film includes many touching, deeply felt scenes. Denethor and his son Faramir (David Wenham) have possibly the most emotionally charged scene, Denethor shaming Faramir into a suicide mission. That mission becomes the film's most evocative battle scene, as a thin line of cavalry charges silently into a deadly forest of arrows.

But the centerpiece of the 195-minute epic is, without a doubt, the siege of Minas Tirith. The sheer scale of the armies involved is amazing. Catapults and trebuchets fire enormous stone blocks into the city and back into the lines of orcs, hulking trolls smash through walls and defenders, and thousands of cavalry gallop across the field of battle while foul Black Riders wheel through the sky, plucking up and devouring men. Legolas does a stunt during this sequence that actually made the audience clap.

Despite the carnage, director Peter Jackson never lets his viewers forget that the characters are real people, not just sword-wielding machines. He shows as many of their tears and failures as their triumphs.

The film also presents moral themes and the overarching struggle of good vs. evil without preaching or moralizing. The main characters are heroic but not idolized, and the battles are beautifully filmed but don't gloss over the violence of the conflict. All of the characters and their struggles are exquisitely realistic and believable.

In fact, every aspect of this movie is fantastic. Even the terrific sound work bears mentioning. All of the music is perfectly timed, and the battle sound effects are so well done that every blow and crash reverberates through the theater. Of course, the visual effects are also amazing and unparalleled in recent filmmaking.

The plot of Return of the King has not been significantly altered from Tolkien, and only the post-climax part of the book has been seriously shortened. However, because of time constraints and the difference in medium, the movie does present a simplified and less subtly shaded version of the story, designed to appeal to the masses as well as die-hard fans.

But most of the changes are small and improve the flow of the film, and most hard-core fans will come away feeling satisfied. No review can adequately do justice to a movie of such sheer scale as Return of the King, and to truly appreciate the film, viewers will have to wait for it to hit theaters.

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King will be released Dec. 17 and is rated PG-13 for life-like depictions of violence and frightening situations.