Return of the King vs Return of the Jedi

[S.Peelman]

I’m the biggest Star Wars fan, but Return of the King is out of this world. Return of the King takes it for me.

The space battle and Luke on the Death Star with Vader and the Emperor in Return of the Jedi are two of the greatest things ever, but even with that it’s still the weakest of the original trilogy to me. I for one never really cared for the Tatooine bit (even though it’s an obvious necessity to the plot) and the Special Edition made it worse for again an obvious reason. Also the Ewoks and the battle on the planet surface is a little too convenient. It’s still better than pretty much every Star Wars movie that came after it in the series though, with only Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One being debatable, simply because of the space battle and Death Star scenes.

Return of the King on the other hand is from start to finish the most epic culmination of a story ever dreamt up, and every single scene is meaningful and filmed in the most awe-inspiring way. Even as a viewer you get all riled up by the speeches of Theoden right before the most amazing cavalry charge ever, the emotional words of Aragorn before the Black Gates, and of series’ greatest hero Samwise Gamgee that keep Frodo together. The music in the scene in Mount Doom and the struggle of Frodo with both the temptations of the Ring and Gollum is chilling, and Gollum throughout the trilogy is one of the best acting performances I’ve ever seen. All three movies are a showcase of moviemaking and a tier above almost everything else, but Return of the King shows how you end a story. I doubt we’ll ever see anything like it ever again.