It’s A Lord of The Rings Kind of Weekend

It all started when I was doing my staying up until morning thing. I went to sleep on the Detroit vs. Indiana game on Friday night and woke up later that night to go online. This was when I did all those posts. I was awake at around 6:45 Saturday morning and decided to get some breakfast before I went back to sleep. When I walked towards the kitchen, I saw my mom awake in the living room. We talked a little bit, then I mentioned that I would watch Return of The King sometime later that day. She then told me that she wanted to watch it as well, but wanted to see the other films. Since it was early in the morning, and she really didn’t have anything else to do otherwise, she asked me to bring my copies of the first two films so she could watch them. So, I did and started up the first disc of The Fellowship of The Ring.

I found out once I woke up later that afternoon that my mom (as well as my sister) had watched the first two films back-to-back. Frankly, this is definitely an achievement, as my mom had tried a couple of times to watch the first movie, but couldn’t really finish it. In addition, I own the Extended Editions of those films, meaning that they both are at least three-and-a-half hours long each. I like both films, but I have yet to attempt marathoning them. In fact, it took me two days and three sittings to watch The Two Towers: Extended Edition. So, now all that is left is for them to watch the theatrical edition of Return of The King we rented.

However, I watched Return of the King late Saturday night. Needless to say, it’s a great ending to the story. The performances were good as they were in the last two films. They find that balance between taking the movie too seriously and making it look silly. The cinematography and direction are top-notch. The movie looks just as gorgeous as the other two and balances the darkness prevalent in The Two Towers with the color found in The Fellowship of The Ring. There are a lot of great scenes in this film, from the amazing battles (which trump the ones in The Two Towers) to Frodo and Sam’s encounter with a nasty spider. I especially enjoyed the characters in this movie. My favorites include Gandalf (who wouldn’t like an old wizard beating people off with his white staff and a sword?), Eowyn (the only woman who kicks ass in the movies, for some reason), and Gimli (he kicks butt and he’s a comic relief). I also didn’t mind the numerous endings. There are times where you think the movie will end but it just keeps going. This makes sense to me, because there are a lot of subplots and relationships that need their loose ends tied up. And besides, we should be so lucky that it didn’t take another hour to end what is essentially one huge 12-hour-plus movie. Now, I can’t wait until September when the Extended Edition of Return of The King comes out and I can complete my collection.