Finishing the story to remember hope in this world, I rewatched The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (extended edition).

THIS IS NOT A SPOILER FREE REVIEW.

“The final battle for Middle-earth begins. Frodo and Sam, led by Gollum, continue their dangerous mission toward the fires of Mount Doom in order to destroy the One Ring. Aragon struggles to fulfill his legacy as he leads his outnumbered followers against the growing power of the Dark Lord Sauron, so that the Ring-bearer may complete his quest.”

“Something festers in the heart of Middle Earth.”

Yeah, that’s an understatement. Both in this movie and in our current world.

The beginning of each of these movies was such a solid way to continue the story while giving the smallest reminders to the audience about what might be happening now. So in The Return of the King, we start with Smeagol’s story and his turn into Gollum; a story so far in his own past he probably hasn’t even thought about it in lifetimes. And I say in “lifetimes” because Smeagol/Gollum is very, VERY old. Hundreds of years or more. What a strange use of long life, to have no goal, no purpose, no true joy, for hundreds of years and to just focus only on survival and eating fish in a dark cave.

Maybe that’s some sort of lesson for all of us. As much as it’s feels maybe better for our mental health, especially these days, to just hide from the world while it burns down, eventually, the world will come for us. And when it does, it won’t be pleasant. But if you fight for your world, even when it all feels hopeless, you can bring hope to others and buy enough time for others to gather enough strength to save the world in whatever small ways they can.

The interesting part about this story is how it’s not the typical heroes who save the day. In The Two Towers, Merry and Pippin are responsible for Isengard’s fall because they convince Trebeard to rally the ents. It’s Pippin who lights the beacon, which brings Rohan to the battle. It’s Ewoyn who destroys the Witch King on the battlefield. Here, it’s not Isildur’s Heir who saves the day. Yes, he gathers and leads the armies of men, but he functions mostly as a distraction to keep Sauron’s eyes on away from Frodo and Sam. And it’s Frodo and Sam, and even Gollum, who ultimately save the day. Though, Gollum saving the day is absolutely accidental, as his only goal was to get back “his precious”, which leads to his death and the destruction of the ring when Frodo’s strength finally failed him.

Overall, this movie continues the trend of being a solid five on my rating scale. I’m very glad I bought the special extended edition three pack on blu-ray and dvd. I have rewatched these movies frequently and will continue to do so in the future.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Directed by Peter Jackson, performances by Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Savies, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom,  Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, John Noble, and Andy Serkis, with Ian Holm and Sean Bean. New Line Cinema, 2003 and 2012.