The Return of The King

It's finally here, the last installment of The Lord of The Rings trilogy, The Return of The King. So me, pretending to be a geek, didn't miss the opportunity to watch the movie on its first day out. I even ditched my friends who were having fondue. I mean, I can have fondue with them any time I want but I can only be a geek once a year.

The movie itself is wonderful. Peter Jackson has done an amazing job to make the trilogy and with each installment he just steps up a bit more. The Two Towers was an improvement from The Fellowship of The Ring, with the battle at Helm's Deep as the climax. But the battle of Helm's Deep is nothing much compared to the battle at Minas Trith. Then there's the struggles that Frodo and Sam face now which is much deeper and complex than before. At this point, Sam also emerge as the unlikely hero. Or to see the other Hobbitses (Pippin and Merry) getting bigger involvement in the story. Or how Aragorn finally embrace his destiny to be what he is born to be, a King.

Jackson uses a lot of special effects, but these special effects are not the essence of the movie (unlike The Matrix). The special effects are there to enhance the story, but the story is more about how men have to to struggle to fight evil. I was amazed at one point when Legolas single-handedly took down an oliphaunt and the army on it. Big up for Legolas.

Some might complain about the ending, how it goes on and on. I don't, I like it. I mean, this is not your usual Hollywood brainless movie where after the hero saves the day everybody goes around celebrating. After 10 hours of film, you don't want this to end like that. Jackson understands it, Tolkien does as well. Having endure a journey such as this, there's bound to be changes. Even though it's a victory, there are some losses than cannot be regained. And going back to everyday life is so difficult.

Anyway, so that was my night being a geek. My mate (who is more of a geek than me) refused to acknowledge that he is a geek. Well, this guy bought the books before the movie came out so that he can read it before he sees it (the book is still new and never opened at his place). So just accept it, we are all geeks at some level. Deep down underneath my cool appearance and wild behavior, I am a geek.

"that only counts as one!"