“”Well, “”Lord of the Rings”” fans….when last we left this franchise, the forces of Sauron suffered a defeat at the Battle of Helm’s Deep behind the forces of Rohan, led by King Theoden (Bernard Hill), and with help from wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellan), Ranger turned royal heir Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and feisty dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies).
Speaking of Aragorn, he has found himself in a bit of love triangle with Theoden’s niece Eowyn (Miranda Otto) and his true love Arwen (Liv Tyler). Hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) successfully enlisted the Ents into the war, and it was these big trees that defeated the evil wizard Saruman (it helped that the Ents were enraged upon seeing the destruction wrought on their forest by Saruman and were thus more than eager to join the fight).This leaves, last but certainly not least, friends Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) to dispose of that nasty ring–what a ruckus this ring has caused, gees–in the fires of Mount Doom, over in Mordor. They do this with Smeagol/Gollum (Andy Serkis) as their guide and ally—or is he? The latest, and final, installment of the franchise, “”The Return of the King””, picks up where the last movie left off, with the focus on the seriously messed up CGI character– though the beginning flashback reveals Smeagol to have been a not-so-bad guy who became corrupted by that cursed golden object.Aragorn, meanwhile, has a big concern in addition to his conflicts in both the war and in his love life: he is to be king. However, this proves difficult as it involves taking the reigns of power from Denethor (John Noble), ‘ruler’ of Minas Tirith. The latter as it turns out, is more of a steward and is to step aside when the true heir to the throne returns; but alas Denethor likes his leadership role too much and has no plans of relinquishing his post anytime soon (or at all for that matter).Early on, Merry and Pippin are reunited with Gandalf and Co., and the group plan for their next move. This reaches a snag when Pippin, curious fellow that he is (and idiotic too) looks into an orb that has been taken from Saruman’s lair. Apparently the orb is a means of connecting with the Dark Lord Sauron, and when Pippin touches the round object, the evil deity probes the hobbit’s mind while revealing part of the next step of his plan for domination of Middle Earth. Utilizing the information taken from the magic object, and Pippin’s head, Gandalf decides to ride to Minas Tirith as that city appears to be the next target of the dark forces. He takes Pippin in tow, as now Sauron temporarily believes this hobbit to have the ring, and thus will send forces to retrieve it. Upon their arrival in Minas Tirith, the two appeal to Denethor, explaining that his home is in danger and he should be prepared to fight back.Unfortunately the steward, in addition to wanting to retain power, is upset at the loss of his favorite son, Boromir (Sean Bean), who was killed while protecting