If you’re ever attended a concert by the Flaming Lips, you’ll know that the experience transcends any experience that you would normally label a “concert.” This quirky alt-rock band doesn’t simply perform the songs from their latest album. Instead, they bring their songs to live in a mind-bending multimedia sensory assault comprised of huge video screens, balloons the size of mini vans and dozens of people dressed up in animal costumes. There’s no way to put the experience down in writing, but it’s essentially like the best party you’ve ever been to—a party that combines incredible music, art and audience interaction. By the time the experience is over, you feel exhausted but exhilarated and convinced that maybe the human race isn’t so bad after all.

I realize that sounds kind of lofty and maybe even pretentious to say about a “rock concert.” But since I took in my first Flaming Lips show earlier this year, none of my artistic or pop culture experiences have even come close to matching it.

But now I’ve seen Return of the King. 

By now you know all about Peter Jackson’s ambitious cinematic project The Lord of The Rings. You’ve probably also already seen the first two films. If you don’t like them, you’re not going to like the third one and nothing I can do is going to change your mind.

While I greatly enjoyed the first two films in this trilogy, Return takes the series to an entirely new level. It is better than Fellowship and Two Towers, but at the same time it adds power to those films making them stronger than they were individually. Right now, I think it’s hard to see what Jackson has accomplished with The Lord of the Rings. Sure, it’s made a massive amount of money, and people love it. But the films themselves are currently obscured by all the hype that surrounds them. They will have a long life, particularly with the Extended DVD editions which are actually far superior to the theatrical versions. Ultimately, we will not see The Lord of the Rings as a trilogy at all, but a single, spectacular 10+ hour film.

When we began our journey with these characters they were really nothing more than fantasy archetypes: hobbits, elves, dwarves, wizards and sword-wielding warriors.  The characters were quickly thrown together on a quest that involved fighting lots of monsters, which was pretty cool, but seemed more appropriate for a session of a geeky role-playing game than a ground-breaking cinematic epic. They were on a quest to destroy a ring, which sounded simple enough. But as the story progressed, things became more dangerous and complicated. Gradually, Jackson fleshed out the characters and the world they were a part of. He also illuminated the addictive power of the Ring.

Even in the mostly light-hearted first film, we have the sense that we are building up to something huge. We know that Frodo’s quest will ultimately take him to Mount Doom and we know that there will be a huge battle. But who could have predicted the ending would be this huge or this devastating. (I guess people who have read the books).

Now the story is at it’s darkest point. As Frodo, Sam and Gollum draw closer to Mount Doom, a massive army of orcs is attacking Minas Tirith. Gandalf must rally the forces of Minas Tirith to defend their city while their deranged King feasts and tries to burn his son alive. Meanwhile, Aragorn realizes that he cannot escape his destiny and must assume his rightful place as King of Gondor. The stakes are higher than they have ever been before and everyone involved is convinced that this will be the end. As these characters contemplate their fates, Jackson uses these moments to crack open the human core of this story.

Jackson keeps the story tightly focused on these characters even though most of the film is consumed by the biggest, most insane battle sequence ever depicted on film. It’s almost hard to comprehend. There are probably hundreds of thousands of warriors, giant trolls, medieval weaponry, prehistoric elephants flying nazgul, giant eagles and ghosts. This could have easily deteriorated in a load of Star Wars-y CGI nonsense, but instead it feels like the most elaborate monster fight Ray Harryhausen never got a chance to direct.

By the end of the film, Jackson has brilliantly resolved all the story-lines and character arcs. There are many classic moments in this film: Eowyn defending her dying uncle against the witch-king… the reforging of the sword that was broken ... Legolas climbing an elephant and kicking ***censored*** ... the giant spider attack ... the arrival of the eagles ... There are too many powerful sequences to mention and they are all set against a backdrop that is so amazing and so detailed you simply can’t take it all in. For the conclusion to his epic, Jackson has more than delivered the goods. He has exceeded all expectations. The only real downer is that we’ve been on this adventure for two years ... and now… it’s over.

In time, I will no doubt find flaws in this film, but right now it’s just too early and I am still too overwhelmed to look at any of the negative aspects. There was applause at the end of the movie, but once people started leaving the theater, there was hardly any conversation. That’s how overwhelming the movie is. 

Personally, I’ve spent a lot of time watching and thinking about movies and I’ve grown quite cynical about movies in general and big-budget spectacles in particular. The Lord of the Rings managed to break through that cynicism and tap into the dream-like power of fantastic cinema in a way I haven’t experienced since I was a kid. These films have tapped into something deep for me. They bring back memories of watching King Kong on my grandparent’s black and white TV. Memories of watching Sinbad fight armies of jerky stop-motion skeletons. Memories of waiting in line with my mom and brother for the first showing of Superman:The Movie and The Empire Strikes Back. This is the stuff that turned me into an addict in the first place.

I’ll admit this review is probably overly-sentimental, but rest assured, I’ll get back to being a cynical ***censored*** soon enough.

*****