The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Film Review)

I was 4 years old when my parents got me off my room to see this small film called ‘The Lord of the Rings’ in our small television on tape. At the time, I considered ‘The Sorcerer’s Stone’ as the single greatest movie ever, and the magic brought by that movie changed my childhood and believed that nothing is impossible—“trains taking you to a school of wizards”, anyone? But it wasn’t until I lay my eyes off the first few minutes of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, and it shaped the way I am right now. 

The opening alone in ‘Fellowship’ shows the history of the “one ring”, how it came to be and what made it as the powerful ring to rule Middle-earth. And enter Frodo Baggins, a young Hobbit who later in the film possess the “one ring”, and seeks a journey with his companion grouply-referred to as the “fellowship” (comprises of Gandalf, Sam, Gimli, Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir, Merry and Pippin) to Mount Doom—the only place where the ring can be destroyed. Throughout their trip, they are confronted by walking trees, orcs, ghosts, eagles, and a strange-looking creature named Gollum. That’s all I can say, because there’s so much happening at least in one film, which is the reason why each of them spans 3 hours.

Long as it may seem, it didn’t feel like it since like I said, there’s a gargantuan amount of events happening in one scene that you became invested in a story only to find out you just finished a 3-hour film—no, no, no. Let me rephrase that: A 9-hour epic (13 hours if you’re counting the contents from extended edition.).

This movie was so epic that the set-up was already big itself. The scope of this thing was huge; I mean it’s literally a clash of this-and-that and that-and-this. Plus, the action scenes are enthralling. Though the latest “Hobbit” movies loses its edge when it comes to its set pieces (BTW, “Battle of Five Armies” this Friday!) because of its computer-generated effects, ‘LOTR’ though has everything on hands still decided to go practical, using CGI when it desperately need to. This became the reason why it felt more real with its fantasy setting. Can I say I still geek out when Legolas shoot down that elephant in ‘The Two Towers’? Damn, you still should be.

The script is obviously tight-written, and it got the characters very right. How the writers approached their characters, especially those of are just supporting roles made you attached so well, for when something disastrous happened you felt the oomph and emotion running through them. My main complaint, though not really necessary, was the lack of Sam in the ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’. I just wished they played more with him because he is definitely my favorite among the bunch. 

The score by Howard Shore in this film will remain one of my favorites. It’s majestic and added more epic to an extremely epic movie. And the track ‘Concerning Hobbits’ brings that homely vibe that makes you a part of this world, that Hobbiton can become your second-home.  

The performances by the cast were all great, you probably know that already. The ending of ‘The Return Of The King’ is the best way to cap off this trilogy. The most honorable way, I mean. Literally, the ending lasts 20-30 minutes with ending after another. And the funny thing is people would be standing in their seats after holding their pee in for four hours to find out it’s not yet done.  

Perfect and epic in every sense of the word, ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ will be my favorite movie trilogy of all time. If I could only give this an 11 out of a 10, so let’s just go with a 10/10.

And if you’re gonna ask me how I rank the films, I’ll go with “The Fellowship of the Ring’ as my favorite, followed by “The Return of the King” and “The Two Towers”.

See ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ this Friday, 12th of December, in 3D, HFR 3D, IMAX 3D, and 2D cinemas nationwide from Warner Bros. Pictures! So buy your tickets now before you end up being thrown into Mordor.

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