The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Details

As armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the noble heir to the throne of the Kings of Men. Yet, the sole hope for triumph over evil lies with a brave hobbit, Frodo, who, accompanied by his loyal friend Sam and the hideous, wretched Gollum, ventures deep into the very dark heart of Mordor on his seemingly impossible quest to destroy the Ring of Power.​

Starring

Elijah WoodIan McKellenViggo MortensenSean AstinAndy Serkis

Director

Peter Jackson

Writer

Peter JacksonJ. R. R. TolkienFran WalshPhilippa Boyens

Genre

AdventureFantasyAction

Release Date

Dec 17, 2003

Parents Guide

• Sex None

  A skinny human-like male creature wears nothing but a small loin cloth throughout the film.

  A young man is bare chested for a scene (non-sensual).

  A man and a woman kiss passinately.

• Violence Moderate

  Two characters fight for a ring, they bite and push each other until one chokes the other to death in a scene with a slightly intense atmosphere

  The Most violent Lord of rings movie.

  In the extended edition, one character stabs another in the back and pushes him off a tower just before being shot through the chest with an arrow. The man who was stabbed then falls off the tower and is impaled on a spike in the water.

  In one battle the orcs throw decapitated human heads using a catapult.

  A man's finger is bitten and torn off by Gollum. Although the torn off part is not shown, we see his wound that may disturb younger audience. Very grotesque.

  One character is wounded in battle and left behind and forgotten about as his fellow soldiers retreat. When the victorious orcs rummage through the bodies, a group notice he is lying there still alive. One orc grabs a spear and brutally stabs him. Close up of the character's face as he groans in pain and breathes his last breath.

  The film is dominated by large scale battles

  We see the aftermath of a battle. The battlefield is covered in dead bodies, some with spears or arrows sticking in them. We briefly see one dead man with his arm severed--we can see his arm lying next to him and his bloody stub--blood soaks the ground. The camera moves away and it is for at most a second.

  The enemy catapults human heads into Minas Tirith. We see somewhat closeups of the bloody heads and their severed necks.

  A Lord catches on fire, is engulfed in flames, and jumps off of the castle to his death.

• Profanity None

  "Hell" is used.

• Drugs Mild

  A party is shown where various characters drink beer or ale, and get very drunk. A character gets so drunk he passes out.

  A lot of characters smoke pipes, and one character coughs once or twice as a result.

• Frightening Scenes Moderate

  In the extended edition, the Mouth of Sauron makes a brief appearance. His physical appearance can be seen as unsettling (notably for younger audiences) as he has a grotesque mouth that has the lips cracking, flesh rotting, and teeth decaying. He often turns his head erratically and showcases his decaying teeth often, with his lips retracting greatly.

  No doubt the darkest entry in the LOTR trilogy with war and death on a grand scale, Frodo's psychological collapse, and a grim and hopeless atmosphere.

  Gollum's transformation in the opening scene of the film is deeply disturbing.

  The long, violent battlefield sequences are quite scary as the heroes are always under threat of death or serious injury.

  A trio of characters journey through "The Paths of the Dead" and encounter ghosts.

  Frodo gets attacked by a giant spider while Sam battles against it and it's very intense (these sequences can especially frighten those who suffer from arachnophobia). The spider also moves very quickly which makes the scene all the more intense

  The Witch-King scenes may be frightening for some.

  Two of the characters descend into violent madness. The first of these is marked by a transformation into a creepy creature. That scene is particularly intense.

  Gollum's appearance and voice can be frightening.

  This is a rather violent movie but not much blood/gore is shown. It has a fantasy overtone to it.

Reviews

• ★★★★★ 5 stars All Clear