Can you believe that it’s been 19 years since the release of the Lord Of The Ring: The Fellowship of the Ring and 17 years since the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King? Yeah, time flies indeed.
As a fan of Tolkien’s work, I would pick this trilogy over the Hobbit trilogy anytime, anywhere. So, you can imagine my joy and excitement about the possibility of me writing about the Lord Of The Rings. I basically jumped from my chair, and frankly, this is the second time that I relish writing about a certain movie. The first such excitement was writing about all these wonderful noir movies. I love noir movies, but LOTR is a special treat for me now.
And why Lord of the Rings you might ask? Well, firstly because we do have The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game currently on sale at IndieGala. And secondly, because it’s one of the greatest trilogies ever made. I mean how many trilogies can say that they’re completely excellent in terms of quality and production value? Not that many.
Now, everyone has a personal favorite movie of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Mine is the finale, The Return of the King. But I would love to know yours. Tell me in the comment section. What’s your favorite Lord Of The Rings movie? Or you can’t pick just one? I would love to know.
Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game: What’s the game all about?
Developed by Fantasy Flight Interactive and published by Asmodee Digital in mid-2019, Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game is a true gem for every Tolkien fan.
First and foremost, you can pick three heroes from some of the most emblematic characters of Middle-earth. Then you build your deck around their specific abilities and powers. Each Hero has one of four spheres of influence. Leadership, Lore, Spirit, or Tactics, allowing you to play specific reinforcement cards while in-game.
Choose wisely when building your deck and make the most of each of your heroes. Why? To get an edge over your opponents during the immersive campaigns. Set in famous locations across Middle-earth, you will enjoy hours of gameplay. Oh, and also plenty of choices to write your own adventure that will be sung for ages to come.
Giant Spiders to fierce Trolls, even hordes of powerful Orcs! They’re all there. Also, the Dark Lord will do everything in his power to prevent you from completing your journey. Watch out for his Threat Pool too. You can activate story-specific events to make your quest more difficult. And last but not least, watch out not to let the Threat Pool reach its maximum. Or else it will turn the Eye of Sauron directly on to you!
Lord of the Rings: The trilogy is a masterpiece
Epic, a cinematic masterpiece and a true touch of genius. That’s how I’d describe Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. But truth be told, my first introduction to Sir Peter Jackson’s talents was with his 1994 biopic Heavenly Creatures. In addition to Heavenly Creatures, I became a fan of his previous work, but the Lord Of The Rings trilogy really solidify me as a fan of Jackson.
In hindsight, because of his previous work being so horror/comedy/splatter centered I had doubts about whether or not he will deliver the goods. I’ll admit. I thought that Jackson wasn’t serious about it, and wasn’t Tolkien’s respective work. Boy, was I wrong. But I think every Tolkien fan (myself included) had that fear.
Instead of reading the standard literary curriculum in high-school, I devoured Tolkien’s works. Not to mention that I was a freshman in high school when The Fellowship of the Ring premiered, and a senior when The Return of the King dominated at the 2004 Oscar ceremony. I was at the perfect age of revisiting Tolkien. Now I had the perfect excuse. The trilogy was playing in the movie theaters.
A visually Stunning masterpiece as well
And, as I mentioned earlier, the Lord Of The Rings is my favorite movie from Jackson. But The Return of the King is my favorite movie from that trilogy. It’s the perfect conclusion to a saga that spanned years. And of course the ultimate triumph of the good VS evil. It made me cry, it made me jump from the edge of my seat, and it was a thrill ride like no other.
Return of The King was visually stunning as well. It had 1,488 visual effect shots, nearly three times the number from the first film and almost twice that of the second. The acting was top-notch, the direction from Jackson was impeccable, and it was a true spectacle in every sense of the word. Not to mention that plenty of great characters (who were kinda pushed to the side in the previous movies) now got their moment to shine.
Can you Imagine Christopher Lee as Gandalf?
Movies from the fantasy genre aren’t really the Academy’s darlings, but even the snooty Hollywood elite had to admit that the movie was almost perfect. Hence, the 11 Oscars. But it’s true. War epics, weepy period piece dramas usually sweep the Oscars year after year. So, you can imagine my delight when I saw Lord Of The Rings do exactly that in 2004.
And as a lifelong fan of Christopher Lee, I was also delighted to find out that he’s the only person in the cast that has actually met J.R.R.Tolkien. The meeting happened in a pub of all places, but he vowed to one day be part of a film adaptation. You know since he was a fan of the books. In all honesty, he heavily campaigned to play Gandalf in the trilogy. He even sent a photo of himself dressed as a wizard (to Peter Jackson) but was given the role of Saruman instead. Frankly, I loved him as Saruman and I think Jackson was right. Sir Ian Ian McKellen is the perfect Gandalf.
Éowyn is the baddest B***H ever!
Regardless of what your favorite character is in this movie, I can’t help but end this post without mentioning Éowyn. Certainly, there are plenty of great characters in The Return Of The King. It’s true, there are. But can we take a moment and appreciate Éowyn’s badassery here? I loved the building of the character from the Two Towers up to The Return Of The King. It was gradual but, layered and with lots of thought put into it. And especially with female characters like Éowyn, you’d be a fool not to give her a moment of greatness. Her scene with the Witch-King is one of the greatest that is ever put on a film, and Miranda Otto really shined in this role. Don’t you think?
Lord of the Rings: Your thoughts
What are your thoughts on Lord of the Rings trilogy? Which one is your favorite? Or the Hobbit is more up your alley? I won’t judge if it is. Tells us in the comment section. We’d love to know.
I read the book a few years before the film came out and I have to say that Peter Jackson did a great job ! My favourite part of the trilogy is the first one. Especially the intro (I watched it hundreds of times).