3. Excellent Era-Defining CGI
The Return of The King was a landmark achievement in CGI and still plays superbly almost a decade on, but the fact that it has aged becomes all too apparent after seeing Jacksons latest Middle-earth installment. In Gandalf, Saruman and Radagast An Unexpected Journey boasts its own collective of wizards and sorcerers, and so too does Peter Jacksons New Zealand-based WETA Digital special-effects team: their party of enchanters and enchantresses enable Jackson to realise his dream-like vision of Middle-earth better than ever before. The Return of the Kings misshapen hulking trolls and the Witch-Kings colossal wyvern-like mount are all outshone in terms of CGI rendered villains here as we are treated to some of CGIs most dazzling creations to date. There is Azog the Defiler, Orc-chieftain of Moria and arch-nemesis to Thorin Oakenshield- a hulking monstrosity of an Orc who is especially vividly frightening and well-rendered. Equally imposing and impressively imagined is Barry Humphries Goblin King, whose sheer despicability and perfectly wrought grotesqueness simultaneously repulsed and enraptured me so much that I almost forgot to keep up with the story at times! In fact there are so many other highlights that it becomes almost impossible to keep track: Radagasts implausible rabbit-driven sled; the iconic scene boasting the ravenous antics of the dumb and lumbering trolls Bert, Bill & Tom (purists will be delighted not only do they speak, but that they speak with Cockney accents); and the threatening clash between the rock giants amidst the peaks of the Misty Mountains, which forms one of the movies greatest set-pieces and which brings us on nicely to