Lord of the Rings: Return of the King EXTENDED (2003) Full Length Reaction

Oh sadness! I just realised Jen has not done the Hobbit trilogy...yet :P

Unrepentant01

How do I feel about Sean Connery as Gandolf? “Is it shecret? Ish it shafe?” 😀😂

No name

Thank you for taking me on this journey again. It reminded me just how beautiful these films are. I feel like Lord of the Rings represents the end of classic-style epic cinema (the kind of cinema that The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur belong to), and what a high note to go out on. The Ring and its effects on people are fascinating. I feel like it's heavily implied that only someone of exceptional moral character even has a chance of resisting its power. My guess is that that's why it took over Smeagol and his companion so quickly. Their moral fortitude was probably low to average compared to someone like Frodo. "My friends, you bow to no one" is my favorite line in the entire trilogy. Aragorn and all of his subjects bowing to the hobbits gets me every time. What an unforgettable moment. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to watch this trilogy with you. I'm happy you had such a wonderful time with it.

Jeff Seely

You really need to watch The Rings of Power on Prime Video. It explains the history and why they are like they are.

Greg in East TN

Now bring on the "Hobbit" trilogy (which I feel you should've watched first, since the story told in LOTR is ultimately the payoff for the story told in that one 🤷‍♂️).

Byrd N. Hand

After the twisting of the plot/characters in Two Towers, I was really afraid for my favorite moments in Return of the King, in particular Eowyn's triumph of defeating the Witch King because the movie had already exchanged Frodo's shining moment of defiance against the Nazgul in Fellowship. I don't know if you're a reader. The LotR series is a major commitment, but it is the finest pieces of literature. I try to re-read it whenever I can. It's nothing short of a masterpiece. I could never get into the Hobbit or the rest of the published lore, but Lord of the Rings is just phenomenal. Peter Jackson really went all out on the look of the entire movie. The props were incredible. I may have mentioned, but Theoden's armor had tooling and scrollwork inside that would never be seen on camera. I'm a hand weaver and fiber geek. The edges of the cloak are selvages-edges created by the weaving process. They weren't cut and hemmed. Like Theoden's armor it's another one of those tiny details that makes the whole thing. Samwise Gamgee... The embodiment of, "If you can't run, you walk, and if you can't walk, you crawl, and if you can't do that... you find someone to carry you."

Marionette

I thought it was the injury to his shoulder, but I may be confused.

Clay F

I'm not to cry this time when Sam picks up Frodo to carry him. Epically failed, gets me every goud dammit time. Sam is the fooking G.O.A.T! We can all but wish for as great gardener in our lives.

Daryl

Followup comment this is. Thank you for watching the end credits to the end of the song with those great pictures, out of 10+ reactions I have seen and kept of LOTR you are the first to have done this. Conceptual designers Alan Lee and John Howe were regarded as the two best Tolkien artists bringing his works to visual life well before these movies and it was great that Jackson got them both to work on the film. They actually first met during this film and basically designed the visual look of the trilogy. The both got quick cameos during the opening montage of the Fellowship when we saw the nine humans kings that got rings they were second from the left and second from the right.

Andrew Roach

Hi Jen. FYI, there are a TON of videos on YouTube that delve deeper into the lore behind Lord Of The Rings. If you want a better understanding, I recommend diving into them. Here's a good one to start with, it goes into just who/what Gandalf is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyEQBVfCJBg

Carlos Stevens

I always saw Frodo leaving the Shire as kind of like PTSD. He had been through so much that he could no longer function in a normal life. I think a person can go through such a shock to their senses that they never return to normal. Afterwards it's like some senses are turned way down and others way up: things that made you happy before now depress you and quiet brings madness rather than peace.

Noremac

ok this is my 2nd comment i waited till sunday night to watch this ok some answers why frodo and bilbo left frodo left cause he still has a small shard of the witch kings blade in him and in time he would become a ring wrath why bilbo left is cause he was invited to go with them why gandalf left is cause he was dead and sent back till the task was done the elves left to go home its a heavenly land that they come from think of it like this middle earth is europe and the elves left to return to the uk

scott osborne

I know they don't come close to these movies but then again, what does? You should watch 'The Hobbit' Extended trilogy. If anything, they're fun to watch. They are silly and probably shouldn't have been done, or at least not three but it does do a good job entertaining, and you get to go back to Middle Earth. I do have a fan edit of 'The Hobbit' movies, it was made by a huge fan of the books, he edited all the scenes from the movies that don't appear in the book, so it's as close to the book as it can be, it's a fine watch.

JPDotCom23

It isn't just that the final season is bad - it ruins the characters, destroying the entire legacy

Witchfinder General

Oh I didn't know that, I don't have subtitles on, good to know

JPDotCom23

I thought he was called Deagol? That's what the subtitles in the movie said 🤷

Jen M

Yeah, and actually I like the Saruman stuff in the beginning so it's really the second half of RotK where most of my issues are, still prefer the extended edition of Fellowship and Two Towers.

Kane

JPDotCom23

But I feel the sum of its parts greatly exceed any shortcomings* in the final season. *(opinions of which vary greatly).

Jason Scade

20 hours of behind the scenes and deleted scenes from the films https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRzqXH8K0HzHLIkb6g9PcXtaKBpFpomPB&si=PsKIJmxJheuLT_g3

Guy

-1 for Game of Thrones. It's a wasted investment considering the utter dogsh*t of the final season

Witchfinder General

+1 for Game of Thrones

Clay F

You won't know the real character of Faramir until you read the books, my friend. Such an awesome character, butchered by the movies.

Joel P

Max von Sydow might have done a good job with it. But it's hard to imagine anyone being better than Ian McKellen.

Joel P

Agreed on #2 for sure. It's one of the few times I actually prefer the theatrical version.

Joel P

Hey Jen, I would definitely recommend reading the books at some point. These movies are about as faithful of an adaptation as you're ever going to get realistically, but even still there's a lot of differences between the movies and the book. Some of the characters are quite different, others are absent entirely. Also, if you're interested in an audiobook version, Andy Serkis (who played/voiced Gollum in the movies) has narrated both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. If you're looking for a cool mix of both the Tolkien experience and the Peter Jackson LotR experience in one, I'd recommend the Lord of the Rings audiobook made by "Phil Dragash." It's fan-made, but it's very very well done. He does a full reading of the entire book, he voices every character, and he incorporates Howard Shore's music into the story. It's the best of both worlds: Tolkien's original story and prose, and sounds and music from the Peter Jackson films!

Joel P

The Return of the Queen (of reactions). Incredibly good viewing, so exciting, thrilling and moving. Fab job, loved it *so* much! It seems you had forgotten a great deal of it, which is a good thing. 🙂 Game of Thrones is a very good LotR styled series, obviously hugely influenced by Tolkien. Warring royal families, power plays, intrigue, deception, team-ups, huge armies, swords 'n' sorcery. It's way darker than LotR though, some eps are 18 cert. Pretty brutal at times. But also very emotionally involving, you'll cry a bunch of times. The acting and dialog are almost Shakespearean. ♥ I like Sean C lots but he would have lacked the gravitas for Gandalf, I feel. Sean C stars in an excellent period adventure/action movie called 'The Man Who Would Be King' (1975), adapted from an 1888 Rudyard Kipling novella. The actor who played The Mouth of Sauron also played the more likeable Gyro Captain in Mad Max II (the barebones helicopter guy). 54:23 Cameo from director Peter Jackson as captain of the mercenary ship (blink and you'll miss it). 2:08:18 And a 2nd cameo from PJ, he gets an arrow for his troubles. 1:05:01 Gandalf looking shady, like a schoolboy up to no good, while Pippin attends to the fire beacons. 😅 2:54:20 Thank you for your service, ghost warriors. 3:26:00 (After Sauron's final attempt at turning Aragorn fails) Aragorn-- "For Frodo." ❤ :') The Return of the King - Complete score https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFsO9weqLLE&list=PLF984207039713423 ScreenRant: All Extended Edition Changes In Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King https://screenrant.com/lord-of-the-rings-return-king-extended-edition-all-changes/#:~:text=The%20additional%20scenes%20in%20the%20extended%20Return%20of,but%20crucially%20changes%20the%20story%20and%20deepens%20characterizations. www.jenmurrayxo.com

Jason Scade

"Shometimesh, the Balrog wouldn't let it go and they would require a little shlap." 🙄

Jason Scade

If you want to know dang near everything about the making of these movies, get your hands on the trilogy extended edition boxed set (12 disc in DVD version, 15 discs in Blu-Ray version). There is SO MUCH extra content in there, not even counting the multiple commentary tracks per movie. Literally days worth of material diving deep into the making of the movies. The cast commentaries alone are worth another re-watch of the films.

Thomas Yanez

That's interesting. I may could go for that.

Clay F

Return of the King is my favorite. Fellowship (while excellent) is my least favorite. My ranking in order: 1. Return of the King 2. Two Towers 3. Fellowship

Clay F

The lighting of the beacons is the most epic combination of music and visuals in movie history! Witnessing that on the big screen is like nothing else. If you get the chance, I encourage you to watch the "making of" documentaries. It was truly a labour of love by everyone involved and is why this trilogy is the masterpiece that it is.

Paul W

I love this trilogy, I watch it at least once a year.

zynjams

As someone who had the deluxe dvd set and watch the extended editions exclusively for many years I have actually decided that I like the theatrical version of the return of the king better, which would shock my younger self. The 3 main reasons are #1, some of the added scenes don't seem to be in the right order, or seem to be out of time with the other locations, example Karl Urban tells the King that scouts have seen the lower levels of Minas Tirith burning before we see the giant wolf battering ram actually break the doors of Minas Tirith. #2 The army of the dead reveal is so anti climactic in the extended edition, the theatrical cut jumps from them in the cave with Aragorn shouting "what say you?!" and then we don't see the ghosts again until they pour off the boats and into the battle it's just a way better cinematic moment. #3 The whole 'mouth of Sauron' bit is gross and it goes on too long. I really enjoyed rewatching these with your reaction, thanks for doing this. If you're taking a quick poll I am not a fan of the Hobbit movies, which is a shame because it's my favorite of the books.

Kane

Needed all three up before I'd watch.

Robert Rivers

Agreed. It's the weakest of the three. I think Fellowship is the best.

Joel P

Grima kills him. Hobbits were going to let him go. Grima backstabs him.

Mastervodo

To say the workmanlike Hobbit trilogy isn't quite as good is an understatement. They are not even as good as Willow

Witchfinder General

This is my least favourite personally. Too long and all the stuff with the mad steward is totally misjudged

Witchfinder General

zynjams

I have noticed that they recycled a couple of kid actors between Hobbiton (when Bilbo is telling them the story about the trolls during the party) and Rohan, hiding during the battle for Helm's Deep. I just didn't know the rest of the factoid.

Zapp Rowsdower

The only actor I could imagine playing Gandalf other than Ian McKellen would be Patrick Stewart. It's funny how those two keep intertwining.

Zapp Rowsdower

No.

Zapp Rowsdower

Gandalf the wife beating wizard 🤣

Travis

According to Tolkien, we currently live in the 7th Age of Middle Earth. The crowning of the king began the 4th Age. The Elves depart, The Ents (never having found the Ent Wives) die off and the Orcs and the Trolls are hunted to extinction during the Fourth Age.

Edmund Dantes

So are we watching Harry Potter next!!!!!

Brett Delbridge

I love how it looks like you’re watching the film from your own cozy little hobbit hole ☺️

Mitchell Bowker

Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh's children are listed in the credits as "Cute Hobbit children" in The Fellowship of the Ring, "Cute Rohan children" in The Two Towers and "cute Gondor children" in The Return of the King,

Mastervodo

Well done!

Mastervodo

Also in the book Sam puts the ring on then starts slashing at the orcs

Brett Delbridge

One little nitpick about this is that they don’t explain when Merry and Eowyn kill the witch king they get wounded and start turning into wraiths like Frodo did and it Aragorn who uses the Elvish medicine like Elrond did to save them

Brett Delbridge

Thank you Jen ♥ Absolutely flawless reaction. I have watched these over and over since I was a little girl for over 20+ years. Multiple times a year lol. There is still stuff I'm catching even rewatching right now. I love these movies so much. The books that inspired them too, would definitely recommend. I do try my best to live my life by them and I have a bit of a hobby at this point of watching reactions to get the perspectives of others about them. Honestly, they are my go-to when I need to let myself feel any emotion under the sun. These cover them all in so many ways at once that it feels like I'm looking at human art for the first time, every single time ♥ They lift me up and make me whole after every watchthrough. (I was squeeing so hard when I saw you were doing fellowship a couple weeks ago hahaha I might as well have been 6 years old watching it for the first time instead of my mid-20's) I could go on and on about book details (would totally recommend them so much, if you liked the dialogue and how poetic and beautiful it all was in these every single sentence of the books is just as beautiful. Even moreso.) But I have a couple little movie tidbits that are so so so sweet in the production. - When Sam arrives back home and his daughter runs up to him, and Rosie comes out holding their other daughter, they had all been filming in New Zealand for multiple years, and that is actually Sean Astin's (Sam's) daughter who runs up to him and Sarah McLeod's (Rosie's) daughter she is holding, the two actors were not told their kids would be coming to visit them and this was a surprise to both of them, that was Sean's genuine reaction seeing his daughter as a toddler after 3 years filming away from home. Same thing with Sarah. Aahhhhh my heart ❤ - The orc general who is leading the siege of Gondor is supposed to be a callout of Harvey Weinstein. Yes, truly. Peter Jackson got the absolute worst vibes from him and actually stood up for his cast again and again and again. Fought his influence repeatedly. And went out of his way to protect them all himself, and they each other. So they had this orc general look and sound as close to Harvey Weinstein as they could possibly get away with, then have Eowyn fight him and seriously win, and then the other cast members all get a stab and a chop in on Mr. Weinstein orc LMAO. Incredible And since you're going to have so many people better at discussing lore than I am, here's a couple of my favorite lines from the book and from the author (he was such a lovely, lovely, lovely man): “I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” - Faramir, The Two Towers ♥ “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” - Galadriel's full quote 😭 "But that's not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folks just landed in them, usually - their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they had, we shouldn't know, because they'd have been forgotten." - Part of the Osgiliath speech, Sam “I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?” - Tolkien himself And "I am no man" is pretty much written verbatim in the 1930's. Can't find a copy right now but I feel so much more human when I remember that. She is one of my very first heroines and to this day I have not found a character I admire more. Have a good day everybody take care of yourselves as best as you can 🤗 ~ Amelia

Amelia B

Now I wanna see Sean Connery as Gandalf! "I am a shervant of the shecret fire, wielder of the flame of Anor! YOU SHALL NOT PASH!"

Michael B.

Agree. Love Sean Connery, but can't picture anyone other than Ian McKellen as Gandalf. I also wish that we had more actual leaders like Aragorn The extended cuts do fly by. There really is nothing like this (LOTR). I've been told the books are excellent.

Clay F

The city in between is called Osgiliath.

Brett Delbridge

Omg Omg Omg Omg Omg Omg.... I mean, technically there is more in the Hobbit Trilogy. They aren't quite as good, but they are pretty good. I hope you watch them too! I love LOTR! Jen could be an elf. Jen of the Rings.

Mastervodo

Two towers edit then the return of the king Saturday has become Jen of the rings Saturday I better get snacks in 🙂

Ian

I just put on the reaction about 30 minutes ago. Should be complete by 4:00 am I read The Hobbit nearly a half century ago while in high school. Didn't retain much, except a few names and some context. I remember using The Hobbit character names for my D&D characters while playing D&D in high school in the late 70s/early 80s. I got the LOTR books in college but never read them. Then, I watched the LOTR trilogy movies each once in the theater in the early 2000s. Stunning. For Two Towers, saw it at midnight with a friend, and was blown away by the battle scenes. Then, I watched bits and pieces of the movies when I bought the DVDs for my kids in the late 2000s. Fast forward to 2023-2024, I streamed the trilogy (extended cuts) multiple times and now realize how truly good these movies are. "I go to my fathers in whose mighty company, I shall not now feel ashamed."

Clay F

cant wait to watch this with you but it will have to wait a few hours i cant wait to see your reaction to shelob you wish that there was more you have the hobbit films to watch still right

scott osborne

I know how I'm spending my morning tomorrow. Thanks for doing these! Extra thanks for making them the extended versions!

Thomas Yanez

Indeed I agree, best trilogy by far imo. The theatrical version did not include Saruman at all, none of the Isengard sequence was in the theaters believe it or not. Other extended / new scenes I recall from memory included: Gimli blowing on and dispersing the dead ghost hands when entering the mountain of the dead, The avalanche of skulls in the mountain of the dead, Gandalf facing the Witch King and his staff is destroyed, The army of the dead attack the passing boats after joining Aragorn, Frodo and Sam see the beheaded statue. Also the pirate Legolas shoots with an arrow on the boat is director Peter Jackson. And there is more, the Hobbit trilogy. Of course it is not as good but I still enjoy them thoroughly.

Andrew Roach

Well looks like I’m not getting any sleep 😂. Everything about this movie was amazing and thank you Jen for reacting to this incredible trilogy 🔥

Dylan

Woohoo!!! Over the moon, will have to keep for tomorrow. It's daft O' clock here. :P Btw, Game of Thrones will satiate your LotR pangs.

Jason Scade

Thanks Jen 😊

Matt