Secrets of The King — ROTK

MSNBC’s Newsweek has a lengthy preview article on some of the happenings behind the scenes of ROTK. I am posting this to start the hype going on the last movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Here is an excerpt:

“The Return of the King” also delivers spectacular battle sequences - which probably goes without saying, given Jackson’s lifelong fascination with warfare. (Tell him you’ve seen an early screening of “Master and Commander,” and he’ll nod excitedly and ask, “How are the battles?” Tell him you’ve seen “The Last Samurai,” and he’ll nod excitedly and ask, “How are the battles?”) In “Return of the King,” the enormous cast of good guys helps wage what WETA Digital’s Jim Rygiel refers to as “World War Zero” against Sauron’s orcs and trolls. The Battle of Pelennor Fields outdoes even the Helm’s Deep section of “The Two Towers” in scale, and it resonates far more because the characters have become richer and because the story is now filled with stark, Shakespearean familial dramas. Families are always more interesting than Good and Evil.

Yes, there are visually arresting moments: The elephantine creatures called Mumakil charging like tanks. The evil orcs overrunning the bone-white citadel of Minas Tirith. Aragorn and an army of ghosts on the offensive. But this time, there are just as many emotionally arresting moments: Faramir (David Wenham) leading a suicide mission just to prove his worth to his father, Denethor (John Noble), who’s deranged with grief after the death of a more beloved son. Eowyn, disguised as a soldier and trying to protect her wounded uncle King Theoden (Bernard Hill) from the monstrous Witch King: “I will kill you if you touch him!”