The Return Of The King has lots of endings. Like there being room on that door in Titanic and the unconvincing shark in Jaws, its one of those oft-stated criticisms that is actually far removed from the movie itself. As the movies slip from their cultural peak, memories replacing actual viewings, the general public jump on these misjudged observations, believing them when a rewatch would explain them away; Rose and Jack both tried to fit on it and failed, the seldom-used Bruce is scarily real and without the multiple resolutions the end of The Lord Of The Rings would have felt flippant. At 201 minutes, The Return Of The King is a long movie, but its far from a daunting undertaking. Delving into the politics of Gondor for the first time (assuming you're not watching the Extended Editions), something that's been looming over the trilogy thus far but hasn't been properly addressed, as well as detailing the springing of Gollum's spider-trap, there's a film's worth of plot present even before the final, Black Gate/Mount Doom set piece brings the series as a whole to a close. As an ending part (because, let's be honest, that's how the movie's always watched), there's the opportunity for The Return Of The King to have something the previous films explicitly couldn't - resolution. But it's the continued balance of the epic spectacle and the human emotion in of face of that which really makes the last chronological entry in the Middle-Earth Saga so complete. And it's all tied together by what is far and above the series' strongest scene; after three movies of slow descent, Frodo finally makes it to Mount Doom, where he finds it impossible to destroy the One Ring. The once fountain of good morals is now broken, irredeemable not even by friendship - the best of us has fallen, taking the race of men with him. Thank goodness for Gollum's self-destructive greed. So there you have it - Middle-Earth in film ranked. Did The Hobbit not get enough love? Is The Return Of The King really the best? Let us know your personal ranking down in the comments.
