Saturday 26 September 2015

Film Review: The Return of the King, Part 2

Time for the next part of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, it's the second part of The Return of the King today. Aww, the beginning of the end.


48. Last week we kind of recapped on what each separate group was doing; Frodo, Sam and Gollum are in enemy territory and things aren't going well for them; Merry and Pippin were reunited with Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn and Gandalf; we also saw the end of Saruman. It was a bit messy.

49. This week Pippin is causing trouble, prompting Gandalf to cart him off to Gondor.

50. Sleepover in Rohan.


51. Well, almost everyone's sleeping. Aragorn's wandered into the room where Éowyn is sleeping alone to make sure she's properly tucked in. Watch it Aragorn, people will talk.

52. Éowyn's had Faramir's dream. Perhaps that's a subtle way of saying they're meant to be together. Quick fact: That's also a dream that Tolkien and one of his sons also had.

53. I like Éowyn's dressing gowny-robe thing.

54. Aragorn's not the only one up. Legolas is outside looking at the sky. He's talking in riddles which basically mean Sauron is looking for something.

55. Actually, lots of people are up. Pippin's got up now as well. And Merry's awake too.

56. It looks like Gandalf is awake, but it turns out he just sleeps with his eyes open, a little like my crazy labrador. It's so creepy when she does that.

57. Pippin's got his hands on Gandalf's giant marble. Unfortunately when he starts playing with it he discovers that Sauron's eye is looking out at him. Then the ball erupts in fire and everything goes into slow motion.


58. That is until Aragorn grabs it off of him and Gandalf yells at Pippin.

59. Aww, poor Pippin.

60. Pippin got a vision of a dead white tree in a burning city and Sauron spoke to him.

61. Time for a counsel about what has to happen next. And Gandalf finally mentions the name of the big marble; it's a Palantír.

62. And that means it's time for another roadtrip. Everyone's got to go to Minas Tirith.

63. Except Aragorn has to go a different way to everyone else.

64. And Pippin's going with Gandalf.

65. But he doesn't get everything so Merry's having to spell it all out to him. Oh, I just want to give Pippin a big cuddle. He's just a very young Hobbit. He didn't even understand that Gandalf was just taking him and he was being separated from Merry.

66. Poor Merry too. He's feeling a bit lonely now. At least he's got Aragorn to help him feel better.


67. Meanwhile, the Elves are slowly leaving Middle-earth. Really slowly. They're just sort of walking ethereally through the woods.

68. That is until Arwen is interrupted by the vision of a little boy and Aragorn.

69. They could not have picked a better child to play Aragorn and Arwen's son. He looks just like he could have been Liv and Viggo's child, it's something about his eyes, nose and lips. He's actually the son of one of the guys who plays a Dwarf in The Hobbit.


70. That's enough for Arwen though, she's off, she's got a bone to pick with her father. Strangely none of the other Elves do anything to stop her or even accompany her back.

71. Turns out Daddy didn't want Arwen to have that future, he wanted to take her away to the Undying Lands with him. Elrond is a bit of a dick sometimes.

72. I love Arwen recitation of the poem. She says it's time to reforge the sword.

73. Elrond had better get it done too because he's just realised that she's given up her immortality. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

74. So he might be a big of a dick, but he does love his daughter really, since he gets the sword reforged so her husband-to-be has something to go into battle with.

75. Back to Gandalf and Pippin, who are now in Gondor.

76. Apparently some people were trying to raise money to build a real life Minas Tirith. I would live there. You'd get plenty of exercise walking from top to bottom.

77. I think it looks an awful lot like a whiter version of Dale from the Hobbit films.

78. And look, there's the white tree.

79. I know they're serious guards but the Gondorian soldier's helmets are kind of funny looking.

80. I love how Gandalf starts giving Pippin advice about what he should and shouldn't say and then is jut like, 'you know what? Don't say anything.'


81. Denethor's not really interesting in what Gandalf has to say though, because he's got Boromir's broken horn, so he just wants to know what happened to Boromir.

82. Pippin promptly forgets everything Gandalf said to him, tells Denethor just how Boromir died and pledges his service to Denethor. Gandalf is not impressed. He actually whacks Pippin with his staff!

83. Gandalf wants Denethor to light the beacons to call to Rohan for him. Denethor's not keen to do this though, he seems to know an awful lot about what's going on in the wider world, like the fact Aragorn is on his way.

84. He's really not happy about Aragorn coming back.

85. Oh look. Gandalf just said the title of the film. Subtle.

86. By the way, Aragorn is the King of Gondor. Just make sure you've got that.

87. Gandalf's really not happy but he's answering Pippin's questions about the city so that's okay. He's telling him all about the fall of Gondor and how the line of kings came to an end and why the White Tree is still guarded. It's clear from the way he says about the rule of the city being handed over to 'lesser men' that he means Denethor.

88. Looks like a big storm is brewing. It's being conjured up to allow the Orcs to travel in the dark.

89. It's sweet the way that Pippin thinks they can go now. That's a bit of a shock for him.

90. Back to Frodo, Sam and Gollum. Frodo has a feeling. He's just realised that Sam probably doesn't need to worry about the rations since they won't be coming back.

91. Sam says they'll be going 'there and back again, just like Mr Bilbo'. I love that line and it makes me smile all the more for the Hobbit films.

92. And I like that they included the statue crowned with flowers. It's one of the bits that I always look forward to in the book.


93. Back to Pippin and Gandalf again. Pippin's realising that maybe putting himself into the service of the Steward wasn't the smartest of ideas, not least because it'll mean doing as he's told, something he's not so good at.

94. Oh, I love this little bit about waiting on the edge of battle. Billy Boyd is awesome.

95. And there's a brief cameo from Peter Jackson as Gandalf talks about some of Gondor's enemies who are heading towards them as they speak. It's not looking so good for Gondor now.

Let's leave it there for now.


Next week we'll see more of Pippin and Gandalf in Gondor, where they engage in some light pyromania.

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