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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The
New Line Cinema

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The reviews


8.6

based on 42 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 914 votes
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FILM:

GAMES:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and frightening images

Starring Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, and Liv Tyler

Sauron's forces have laid siege to Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor, in their efforts to eliminate the race of men. The once-great kingdom, watched over by a fading steward, has never been in more desperate need of its king. But can Aragorn (Mortensen) answer the call of his heritage and become what he was born to be? In no small measure, the fate of Middle-earth rests on his broad shoulders. (New Line Cinema)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Drama \| Fantasy
WRITTEN BY:	Frances Walsh Philippa Boyens Peter Jackson J.R.R. Tolkien (novel Return of the King)
DIRECTED BY:	Peter Jackson
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 25, 2004 Video: May 25, 2004 Theatrical: December 17, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	210 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / New Zealand

Named Best Picture at the 76th Annual Academy Awards, where it picked up a record-tying total of 11 Oscars, including Best Director (Peter Jackson) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Received a Golden Globe as Best Picture (Drama) of 2003, and Jackson earned another for Best Director. Named best picture of 2003 by the New York Film Critics Circle, Southeastern Film Critics Association, Chicago Film Critics Association, Broadcast Film Critics Association, and the Online Film Critics Society. Included on the AFI's list of 10 best films of 2003.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The conclusion of Peter Jackson's masterwork is passionate and literate, detailed and expansive, and it's conceived with a risk-taking flair for old-fashioned movie magic at its most precious.

100

The Hollywood Reporter David Hunter

An epic success and a history-making production that finishes with a masterfully entertaining final installment.

100

Newsweek David Ansen

The second installment was better than the first, and this one is best of all. It has spectacular action scenes and imaginary creatures, and it’s by far the most moving chapter. The performances have deepened.

100

Time Richard Corliss

The second half of the film elevates all the story elements to Beethovenian crescendo. Here is an epic with literature's depth and opera's splendor -- and one that could be achieved only in movies. What could be more terrific?

100

Variety Todd McCarthy

Represents that filmmaking rarity -- a third part of a trilogy that is decisively the best of the lot. With epic conflict, staggering battles, striking landscapes and effects, and resolved character arcs all leading to a dramatic conclusion to more than nine hours of masterful storytelling.

100

Empire Alan Morrison

Those who have walked beside these heroes every step of the way on such a long journey deserve the emotional pay-off as well as the action peaks, and they will be genuinely touched as the final credits roll.

100

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Labeling this as a "movie" is almost an injustice. This is an experience of epic scope and grandeur, amazing emotional power, and relentless momentum.

100

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Jackson is rare among the makers of epic movies in that he knows how to do the small stuff, too. The Return of the King has “heart”--how else could it pump out all that blood?

100

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The most emotionally satisfying because, in addition to having both more intimate drama and more spectacular battles, it resolves all of the issues raised before.

100

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A majestic conclusion to a nine-plus-hours epic that stirs the heart, mind and soul as few films ever have.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Like all great fantasies and epics, this one leaves you with the sense that its wonders are real, its dreams are palpable.

100

USA Today Claudia Puig

As good as each individual movie is, the third film vaults the work into the stratosphere of classic movies. Key characters are enhanced, new civilizations visited and battles fought more intensely, while feelings and motivations are plumbed more deeply and movingly.

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

As completely real on the psychological level as its up-to-the-moment visual effects have on the physical.

100

The New York Times A.O. Scott

It's been a long time since a commercially oriented film with the scale of "King" ended with such an enduring and heartbreaking coda.

100

Slate David Edelstein

It might be the cinema's most astonishing holy war film. The Lord of the Rings took seven years and an army of gifted artists to execute, and the striving of its makers is in every splendid frame. It's more than a movie--it's a gift.

100

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Jackson had the vision, persistence, insight and patience for this mighty job, plus the smarts to shape stage veterans and overlooked film actors into a seamless cast. He's made himself as immortal as a movie director can be.

100

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Feels like a miracle, a movie that exceeds even the most formidable expectations without straying from its singular path. All hail this King.

100

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

It rises, all on its own, to the realm of masterwork.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

First and foremost, it soars because its grand design and numerous story problems were worked out half a century ago by a guy named Tolkien, and Jackson was smart enough to realize this.

100

Washington Post Desson Thomson

This movie is not only a thrilling experience, it closes the book on a truly satisfying trilogy.

100

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

This film is a miracle, an extravaganza equal to its predecessors and in some ways more stunning. It is a profound testament to the extraordinary power of moving images and sound.

100

Film Threat Clint Morris

A masterful moment in cinema. Jackson has created a film that's deemed to be liked –- even loved -- by almost anyone of all ages. It's destined to become a classic series.

100

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

The deep satisfaction of The Return of the King is in surrendering ourselves to the finale, in letting Jackson's superb storytelling (with due credit to co-screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) surround us like a blazing campfire tale -- which it does, gloriously.

100

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Ties everything together with a dazzling synthesis of pagan animism, heroic quest mythology, orientalism, Pre-Raphaelite imagery, 1950s sci-fi creature features, and Hollywood war epics.

100

Premiere Glenn Kenny

A phantasmagorical slab of epic entertainment that satisfies on every conceivable level.

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

From the acting to the special effects to the landscapes to the cinematography, editing and music, to the details of decor, wardrobe and armaments, we never once feel that we are in anything but the hands of an absolute master of the medium.

100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The invisible wizard Peter Jackson makes use of every scene to show us the meaning of magnificence. Never has a filmmaker aimed higher, or achieved more.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Then, finally, there are the endings, all six of them...For us outsiders, it seems like too much of a good thing...But all those are minor rants: The big fact is that The Return of the King puts you there at Waterloo, or Thermopylae or the Bulge, any desperate place where men ran low on blood and iron and ammo, but not on courage.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

I love Jackson's "Rings" saga despite his propensity for whimsical animation whenever he tries to strike a chord of dread or menace.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

All in all, it's a fitting conclusion to the series, and yet there are disappointments built in. For one, Jackson has opted not to film Tolkien's downbeat "Scouring Of The Shire" epilogue.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Yet what I felt when the lights came up at the end of this visionary, titanic, relentless experience was something different: a strange relief that it was, at last, over.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

There is little enough psychological depth anywhere in the films, actually, and they exist mostly as surface, gesture, archetype and spectacle. They do that magnificently well, but one feels at the end that nothing actual and human has been at stake.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

This is a film in which ideas resonate as well as action. Gandalf’s words to Pippin about death have a muscular poetry.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Peter Jackson has not really made a movie of The Lord of the Rings; he has sprung clear of it to forge something new. He has drawn a deep breath, and taken the plunge. [5 January 2004, p. 89]

Village Voice J. Hoberman

In short, this Krakatoa is at once exhausting and riveting. It's a technological marvel, and for those not with the program, a bit of a bore.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It’s odd and unfortunate, however, that The Return of the King just barely misses the eye-misting emotional wallop of the series’ previous installment, The Two Towers, which had a lyrical subtlety underpinning the vast vistas of growing chaos (and Christopher Lee hardly hurt matters) and hobbits-in-peril.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The [final] battle is vast, and undoubtedly required thousands of hours of matching puppetry, robotics and computer code, but it is not without tedium.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The Return of the King is too long...The various story lines...come together in stilted, episodic ways. The narrative is less-than-seamless.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Though an estimable success overall, The Return of the King has several scenes too many and too great a concentration on battles.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Despite its length, the film only starts feeling as long at the end -- or, more correctly, ends. Serious fans of the novels will be prepared for the serial codicils, but the uninitiated are likely to think the film is over several times before it actually is.

Film Threat Kevin Carr

If The Return of the King was 2 1/2 hours long, it would have rocked. It would have been better than The Two Towers, which is the best film in the series.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Add a lot of dull acting -- except Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis -- and you have an uneven movie with yawns aplenty.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 914 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Tiago M. gave it a10:
This is perhaps the best film ever made! It's the most dramatic an epic end of a great trilogy ever imagined! Tolkien was definitely a genius and Peter Jackson is an excellent director. His vision of Middle Earth is simply amazing and "The Return of the King" shows it very clearly! Fantastic, unbelievable, magic, it's a film from a different world!

s d gave it a9:
To everyone who rated this at 0 or 1(and used the word hoopla)I physically shudder to think of the movies you rate highly.White chicks springs to mind.

Christos M gave it a10:
I used to believe no movie could match the strength of Tolkien's literature but Jackson's passion with the material is so overwhelming that produces a cinematic troumph!There's no bad acting,only faith and obedience to Tolkien's work,presented here in breathtaking landscapes,epic battle scenes and fantastic art direction!

Adrian V. gave it a10:
Everything but the acting was perfect. Not, the acting wasn't bad it was a bit more than ok even. Yes, i agree with that, and everyone who didn`t liked the series, but that isn`t the point! it`s a fabulos story told perfect it` doesn`t need even more exagerations from the actors to ruin it. it was acted as it should have been. Few movies ever made me cry this made me more than cry at the end.

George S. gave it a10:
This movie is supreme in every aspect: visualy, story-wise, directing and with an extraordinary soundtrack. My personal favorite ever since I saw it!

Stabs M. gave it a5:
Look, the movie was good. The best that can be done turning the compelling, but slow-paced and sprawling, Tolkein trilogy into a movie. I loved the books. I liked the movies fine. But I never understood the intense love-a-thon thrown to the movies - they aren't exactly masterpieces of anything but special effects (though the special effects were incredible). It isn't like there's any acting in the movie, and it isn't like they were somehow better than the books, you know?

Adnan A. gave it a10:
I don't remember when I watched the return of the king for the first time, but I know this. Watching it now, I can only say that this movie imparts a feeling which I cannot express it in words. The lord of the rings trilogy is and will always remain my favorite! Story... If you haven't watched the first two then it's gonna be difficult for you to keep up with the story but if you get the plot then it's a story that's gonna captivate you even after the end of the movie. Kudos to J.R.R.Tolkien for creating such a world and Peter Jackson for filling this world with life. Acting... Every character is special and all the credit goes to the actors. Each and every actor, has carried out his/her roles with dedication and devotion. No complaints. Direction... I'd only say that no other person in this universe could have made lord of the rings other than Peter Jackson. Visuals... I don't think any movie will ever be able to come up to the level of return of the king in terms of visuals. It's not easy for a 3 hour movie to keep you entertained for long but this movie makes you beg for more! Such movies are made once in a decade and to not see them is the biggest mistake of your life. THE LORD OF THE RINGS IS A JOURNEY OF EPIC PROPORTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The New Line Cinema

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The
New Line Cinema