"One Ring To Rule The Boxoffice...Or Something"

It's 3.20am. Guess what movie I just got back from seeing?

I'll give you a hint--it wasn't Gothika.

That's right--I finally got to see Return of the King. Words...well, words simply fail. I can't say anything about this movie that hasn't already been said by someone infinitely more eloquent than I. Suffice to say it actually brought tears to my eyes at a few points, and for a movie to do that--for anything to do that--is impressive indeed. And these weren't tears of rage or frustration or dying dreams, such as were wept during Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, or Matrix Revolutions. No, these were tears of bittersweet joy. Joy for realizing that Peter Jackson was my new hero for not screwing up his remarkable trilogy, and bittersweet because I know it's over now and there's nothing left of it except the extended version to come out this time next year.

Oh yes, I shall be purchasing that, and referring to it as "precious" in a most gratuotous manner.

So yeah, ROTK rocked my tiny middle America world. As stated, it actually made me cry. Only a few things can make me actually cry, for one reason or another. They are:

(1) Getting kicked in the wedding tackle (this will make even the strongest man tear up, trust me)
(2) Highly emotional music or moment in a movie/TV series. The song "Blue" from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack always brings a lump to my throat, and I get all misty-eyed. Likewise, the ending of Cowboy Bebop (the anime) really got to me, as did the final strains of the Beatles' "The End," wherein McCartney sings, "And in the end, the love you take/is equal to the love you make." Such a fitting end to their final album (well, the last one recorded, though not the last one released--Let it Be has that distinction).
(3) Extreme, intense emotion. Perfect example was when I graduated from Ozarks. I was fine until I actually got out on I40, and it hit me that I was gone. Cried like a baby all the way to Ft. Smith.

ROTK fit into category 2 and 3, in a way. The last hour was just so damn poignant, even amidst battle scenes.

Also, it occurred to me--not for the first time--that the hero of the story is not Frodo. Nor is it Aragorn or Gandalf or any of them. It's Sam. Sam is, in a word, the Man. Without him, Frodo never would have made it, the Ring would not have been destroyed, and the whole story would have taken a drastically different turn. But he was along for the ol' ride, carrying Frodo when Frodo could no longer carry himself. Sam is the heart and soul of the books and the films, the emotional and spiritual glue that holds the whole edifice together.

In closing, ROTK is a wonderful, wonderful movie. I can't wait to see it again. I can't wait for the extended version, which is rumored to be something like 5 hours long. Dear God, five hours. That's a big chunk of your day there. With the other two extended versions, that'll be one hell of a movie marathon. I, for one, can't wait to do it.

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: Anything from the Return of the King Soundtrack