Retro-Reviews: The Lord of The Rings Trilogy (SPOILERS)

One Ring To Rule Them All...

In the realm of pop culture, there are many big film franchises that people talk about. Star Wars, Harry Potter, the MCU...the list goes on and on. Peter Jackson's Middle Earth universe is no different. From the books by J.R.R. Tolkein, Jackson created a trilogy that has set a very high bar in the world of fiction. For me, I always love a good trilogy, and this one is probably one of the most perfect trilogies there is. In this post, I will go over why I say that and why these movies will go on for generations to be ones to remember:

UPS

1. The world of Middle-Earth. Worldbuilding is always a good way to get people involved in the story, and Jackson does a superb job of making this world feel as alive as possible. From the peace of the Shire to the fires of Mordor, Middle-Earth feels like a real place and once the Fellowship embark on their journey, it feels like you are right there tagging along. It helps that much of the movies were filmed on location in New Zealand. Maybe one day, I'll take a trip down there and walk the path to Mordor myself.
2. Each and every character is great, and the actors do a fantastic job bringing them to life. Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum. All of them and more really make the films stand out, complimenting the world and the story while embarking on individual journeys of their own. 
3. The fact that they manage to balance and blend practical effects with CGI so well is a real achievement in its own right. CGI is something that has been a point of contention nowadays, but when used properly, it's really something special. The sight of the Balrog alone is something that really needs to be seen to be believed. 
4. The music. Every great movie needs a great soundtrack, and this one does not disappoint, not in the slightest. It ranges from being joyful, scary, sad, moving, and above all beautiful. Heck, the range it has tells a story all on its own. Seriously, just listen to it. You won't regret it, I promise you.   
5. Okay, when I said that this was one of the most perfect trilogies there was, that wasn't something I want to take light of. So why do I say that? Well in addition to all those reasons I have stated above, this one stands out from other trilogies by being, for lack of a better word, complete. Complete meaning that it knew it had a huge story to tell, but only had three movies to tell it in. One could expect them to split the movies up and tell portions of the story to space it out, but nope, they stick to the three-movie plan, and as a result we have three SUPER LONG movies to experience...and I wouldn't have it any other way. In three movies, it's easy for smaller storylines to be pushed to the side and not be given proper resolution in favor of the bigger ones, but here that is not the case. Thanks to the longer runtimes every storyline (well, all except one maybe) is given the proper conclusion that they deserve and it all serves to make the experience of watching these movies all the more rewarding. To me, that is something that should, no, needs to be commended.

DOWNS

1. Now while I did say that this was one of the most perfect trilogies there is, that's not to say they are flawless. Case in point, there are some minor quibbles I have with The Two Towers. In particular, the subplot where Aragorn is believed to be dead serves no purpose to the story but to be filler (why movies this long need filler is quite strange to me) and it doesn't even last that long, which makes it even more pointless. There's also Gollum's cruel treatment at the hands of Faramir and his men, which if you think about it contributes to him trying to kill Frodo and Sam in Return of The King, so nice job there, buddy. Even the other movies have their issues too: Fellowship has the ridiculous Galadriel moment, and Return of The King chooses to have Saruman delegated to a couple lines explaining his situation and no screentime whatsoever (at least in the theatrical version.) Pretty unfair for the figurehead of villainy for two whole movies. Overall, the one issue with the trilogy being so great is that it becomes real easy to zero in on the things that don't work as well.

OVERVIEW

The Lord of The Rings is a great trilogy of movies. They are epic, emotional, and hit all the right notes.

And that's it for this post, guys. Tune in for more on the way :)