The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Part 1 | First Time Watching! | Movie REACTION! 

RIP Bernard Hill - Théoden King.

RIP, Bernard Hill, 1944-2024. Long live the king

One of the best decisions of the production/script was to use as much lines of the book as possible. They tried not to modernize the language too much and leave the poetical tone. It’s so great. Nobody does that these days.

The fact that the ring corrupted Smeogol so quickly emphasises the strength of character Frodo has and also the strength of his friendship with Sam.

Denethor to Gandalf: "Do you think the eyes of the white tower are blind?" Is an allusion to the fact that Denethor has been using his own Palantir (seeing stone like the one Pippin looked into) and by using it has fallen into Sauron's trap, that is, to show Denethor only what Sauron wants him to see, so that Denethor falls into despair and inaction. Denethor is as much a victim of Sauron's evil as anyone else.

The heaviness of the cloth, the details in the infrastructure, the dirt and sweat on their brows, and the depth of the languages. It feels so real. Just a masterpiece of filmmaking

The scene where the beacons are lit was amazing on the big screen.

Denethor is done dirty in the movie, in the books he was pretty smart and strong-willed, using the Palanthir he has to engage in mental fights with Sauron, and it's only over a long time that despair and defeat grew into him.

"The dead do not suffer the living to pass." "You will suffer me." Fun Fact: The Lord Of The Rings trilogy became the most nominated film franchise in Academy Award history with thirty nominations, surpassing The Godfather trilogy (twenty-nine) and the Star Wars film franchise (twenty-one). Skull Path Fact: The final day of filming on the trilogy actually happened over a month after this movie was theatrically released, and three weeks after the 2004 Academy Awards. Sir Peter Jackson arranged to film one final shot of skulls on the floor in the tunnel of the Paths of the Dead, which was included in the Extended Edition DVD. He thought it was funny to be filming a movie that had already won the Best Picture Oscar. Music Enthusiast Fact: Billy Boyd's singing scene largely came about because co-writer Philippa Boyens went for a night out at a karaoke bar with the younger male cast members, and she was struck by the quality of his voice. Remembering that Denethor (John Noble) asks Pippin to sing him a song when Faramir (David Wenham) heads off to war, she resurrected the lyrics from the novel (where it is actually sung by all four hobbits), and Boyd came up with the tune for it.

At 8:15, Saruman's death is quite different in the book, but one passage is worth noting: "To the dismay of those who stood by, about the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered, and rising slowly to a great height like smoke from a fire, as a pale shrouded figure it loomed over the Hill. For a moment it wavered, looking to the West; but out of the West came a cold wind, and it bent away and with a sigh dissolved into nothing."

I was there 3000 years ago…when you guys reacted to Fellowship of the Ring, and now finally we are here!! Let’s go! 🙌🏻

RIP Bernard Hill

Altough the Ring's malice overcomes all people, its quickness to corrupt depends on the darkness or weakness that's already in a person... the darker the soul, the faster the Ring can act. What slowed its effect down so much in Frodo's case was Frodo's kindness of heart and the mercy shown to Sméagol. P.D. Jordan's mustache looks more and more epic

Winner of 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture. This was the third film to win in 11 categories. The first was BEN HUR in 1959 The second was TITANIC in 1997. This was the first fantasy movie to win an Oscar, the second Shape Of Water, and the third Everything Everywhere All At Once.

That shot of Gandalf taking that long curve to rejoin the riders of Osgiliath is one of my favorite shots out of the 3 movies, it just gives me some unexplainable chills.

Yes!! Finally! Getting chills already for some of the most epic scenes in movie history. RIP Bernard Hill

At 20:07, Minas Morgul was originally part of the kingdom of Gondor. At that time Gondor's capital was Osgiliath, on either side of the great river Anduin, with two other cities, Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Moon, eastward at the foot of the Ephel Duath, the Mountains of Shadow, and Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun, westward at the foot of the Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains. A thousand years prior to our story, the Nazgul captured Minas Ithil and took up their abode there. The Men of Gondor renamed it Minas Morgul, the Tower of Sorcery; they also renamed Minas Anor to Minas Tirith, the Tower of Guard. Osgiliath became the frontier of Gondor on the east and was ruined by constant battles. Lots of names, but that's Tolkien for you.

"The story of Gollum, that could be a whole movie" I believe that a Gollum movie is in the works actually.

Worth noting that the actor playing Smeagol at the beginning, Andy Serkis, is also the actor used for all the motion capture for Gollum. Oh and they just announced Peter Jackson is planning to do two movies based on Gollum's journey looking for the ring.

I feel very fortunate to have grown up with this trilogy. When I was in high school, there was always anticipation for the next year because they released them back to back to back.

I love the intros to these films. This one shows how potent the ring’s power is, with Sméagol being affected immediately. It’s to show us how much Frodo is going through, especially the closer he gets to Mordor. And a reminder of Bilbo’s extraordinary strength of will to relinquish it in the first film.

While they were fishing, Sméagol strangled his cousin, Déagol, and took the Ring. Notice how the Ring gave Sméagol what he wanted/deserved. He had his Precious, and his voice became extremely hoarse (mirroring what he did to his cousin), and he devolved into a creature who only ate raw fish (because they were fishing).

At a13:07, in the book Gandalf warns Pippin, "But mark this! You have been saved, and all your friends too, mainly by good fortune, as it is called. You cannot count on it a second time. If he had questioned you, then and there, almost certainly you would have told all that you know, to the ruin of us all. But he was too eager. He did not want information only: he wanted *you*, quickly, so that he could deal with you in the Dark Tower, slowly."

''The story of Gollum, that could be a whole movie..''

Gandalf "Bad news, Sauron saw into the mind of Pippin through the Eye of Sauron." smirks and says "Good news, Pippin don't know shit!"

"The story of Gollum. That could be a whole movie." Did you know?

Tolkien was a WWI vet and so much of LOTR reflects his experience (as well as his love of nature and hate of industrialization). I just realized, Faramir and his men being sent off to death just to reclaim an already ruined city might reflect the senseless tragedy in the trenches he endured.

After watching this trilogy and then watching The Hobbit trilogy it becomes quickly and astoundingly apparent that Gimli is the best of Dwarves, with a character at least 10x nobler, more awesome, more selfless, and more open-minded than the next best Dwarf in existence on middle earth. It also becomes apparent that Bilbo was something similar among Hobbits. Like, Frodo had a completely different journey than Bilbo did, but just looking at the competence involved, Bilbo was on another freaking level. Bilbo and Sam shared space in the top tier of all Hobbits.

😊 You Two are so Amazing … … I imagine the couple behind this pairing being as happy and beautiful as their reactions. … 😭 part 2 is the end.

The one ring affects people based on the kind of person they are as well as how they acquire the ring. Bilbo and Frodo were good people at heart and Bilbo found the ring and Frodo was given the ring so its effects were mitigated though each of them would eventually have fallen to its corrosive effect. Smeagal on the other hand was a greedy individual and self-centered. He acquired the ring through murder and once he had it used its ability to become invisible in order to spy on his neighbors and play mean tricks on others, so he fell to its influence almost instantly.

Makes sense Legolas would do so well in a drinking contest. His father had a massive wine cellar with many strong wines.

Watching the making of and the actor who played Denethor and the crew were shocked how good Pippins singing is

One of the most interesting parts in the book for me is how Saruman and Wormtongue actually die but Jackso chose not to keep it, for good reason I think.

"The story of Gollum. That could be a whole movie". Prescient. Theres actually rumours of a new movie called The Hunt For Gollum, dealing with the period between when Gandalf realises Bilbo's ring is the one ring and his subsequent search for Gollum before Sauron found him. No details are clear yet, except that Peter Jackson and Andie Serkis (the guy who played Gollum) are involved.

I love that Pip was like "Oh look I set a fire!"....then he was like "Oh look I set a fire!"

I'm especially glad you're watching the Extended Edition, since it restored Theoden's epic "We shall have peace" speech, which is right out of the book. Yes, Denethor is a terrible ruler and worse father, but sadly the movie leaves out some of the context. In the book, Denethor also possessed a Palantir, one of the seeing stones like the one Saruman had. They were originally used by the lords of Gondor to communicate over long distances. There used to be one in Minas Morgul back in the day when the city was known as Minas Ithil(city of the moon, and Minas Tirith was once Minas Anor, city of the sun). Sauron took the Palantir from Minas Morgul, and had been subtly influencing Denethor much like he did with Saruman. Also, this movie includes a design change from the book that I wholeheartedly approve of, namely the Witchking. In the books, when he's in his armored form he had no visible head, just glowing eyes and a floating crown. In pretty much every visual depiction of him based on the book, he honestly looks kinda goofy. The design they came up with for this movie is SO badass. RIP Bernard Hill - Hail the victorious dead!

Remember in the Two Towers that the Gollum part called the Smeagol part "Murderer". He murdered his best friend (and his cousin), Deagol. The ring seized Smeagol so quickly because he was the 'Leader' of the pair. Deagol was merely a follower with a weaker character. After 2000 years the Ring wanted the 'strongest bearer' in order to find Sauron again. Sadly? it only had Smeagol and poor Deagol to choose from...

"Love the helmets". Those with wings are from ancient times and you can see the wings punched on the "newer" helmets. Such a great detail depicting history and lore.

Saving this so I can watch all parts at once. 😁

“He’s a shitty steward and a shitty father.” This is the best summation of Denethor I’ve heard yet. 🤣

I love the scene during the Helm's Deep after party at Rohan, Aragorn tells Legolas: ...then I tossed him." They both laughing when Legolas says: "Game over."

Saruman's death is very realistic. Christopher Lee knew exactly what a man sounds like when stabbed in the back. He was involved with some very secret things in World War Two. He was also a personal friend of Tolkien

"the story of gollum, that could be a whole movie!" oh boy do i have some news for you lol

Yes! This film absolutely swept every award it was nominated for in 2004! Just glorious!

Like Gandalf (and Sauron), Saruman (and Sauron) is a Maiar, like an Angel in Christian dogma. Maiar are technically immortal, but when Saruman's body was killed (in the Books) a spirit arose from it and started drifting towards the west and the Isle of Valinor (Where the Elves left for when going "into the West"). A great wind arose, and dispersed it, indicating that the Valar rejected him for his treason and had destroyed his spirit also. When Elves are killed (eg: in combat or accident) their spirits also journey to Valinor, to the Halls of the Valar, Mandos, where they await rebirth into a new physical body to continue their immortal life.

I love how the orcs are 'sneaking' across the river but still carrying huge torches

Hey guys! It's so great, watching Chandra experience this! It's probably been mentioned, but Peter Jackson appeared in all three movies : 1 - Guy eating carrot, in the town 2 - Guy throwing spear in Helms Deep 3 - Guy accidentally shot on the Black Ships Looking forward to the big finale!! 😄👍

Tolkien wanted the reader to see a correlation between Sméagol and Deagol and Merri and Pippin. Separated by approx 570 years both pairs of cousins/best friends are actually very similar. They come from affluent and powerful families in their communities, they were well off, spoiled, mischievous and a little naughty. They all had good hearts, but the little naughtiness inside is enough for the Ring to latch on to. It makes you wonder what would have happened if the Ring had gone to either Merri or Pippin rather than Frodo. ❤

Legolas is indeed insightful but one of is gifts is elven farsght. He is able to see things much further in the distance than others which is part of why he seems so insightful

At 34:34 you say, "It's beautiful!" The producers had a real forge, and blacksmiths making museum-quality weapons. It's interesting to compare the swords in LOTR with the swords in the "Harry Potter" movies, which look cheesy by comparison. In the scenes of the Orcs forging weapons for Saruman in FOTR, they put their armorers into Orc costumes for those scenes. Two guys spent the entire time turning millions of plastic rings into the chain mail worn by various characters. In the process they wore off their fingerprints!

In the theatrical cut, Saruman's death is not shown. In fact, he makes no appearance at all in the third movie, so it's left ambiguous whether he lives or dies without watching the extended edition. The theatrical version just shows them going to Isengard and Pippin finding the palantir. Then it just cuts away.

The making of documentaries are seriously worth your time. Eowyn is so my fave, especially after this film. I'd also recommend you read up on The Scouring of The Shire, and ending cut from the movies that is my fave part of the book.

Anyone else remember the “insert new disc” screen after they bring up grond?😂 Used to have the extended edition on dvd when I was a kid

At 23:18 you say, "Oh! Hobbits are very good climbers." I guess they are when they have to be. Tolkien writes, "Hobbits do not like heights, and do not sleep upstairs, even when they have any stairs." Frodo & Co. have been way out of their comfort zone for a long time now!

Fire an arrow past the bosun's ear. And hit the director. It's fun to spot Jackson's cameos in the films. He wasn't the only production team member with a cameo but I believe he was the only one with a cameo in all three.

38:10 There are a bunch of little things that you don't really notice until like the 100th viewing. The dead leader indicates that his intentions are deadly, giving Legolas permission to shoot an arrow, which demonstrates that weapons go through them. All of this just sets up the payoff of the sword catching the blade. Otherwise the audience wouldn't have thought twice about it. Worse movies would have just used awkward exposition: "Careful! Our weapons are useless against them!" "Why are you only telling me this now?" This way, they didn't know until the last moment. And the fact that Aragorn still swung to deflect showed that he believed in what the sword represented.

24:08 the music here, the theme of Gondor, is actually heard all the way back in Fellowship of the Ring. A subtle French horn plays the motif when Boromir stands at the council of Elrond to speak of how Gondor has defended attacks from Mordor, “By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe!” Shows just how much pre planning Howard Shore did when writing the score for these movies.

At 6:20, Peter Jackson & Co. were unable to present Saruman's main weapon: his voice. Tolkien writes, "Suddenly another voice spoke, low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they heard, and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that they said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves...For some the spell lasted only while the voice spoke to them, and when it spoke to another they smiled, as men do when they see through a juggler's trick while others gape at it...But none were unmoved; none rejected its pleas and commands without an effort of mind and will, so long as its master had control of it." Think of Adolf Hitler at a Nazi Party rally, times one thousand. Christopher Lee gives it his best shot here, but it's a pale imitation.

"The story of Gollum. That could be a movie..." It's funny you should say, with the reports coming out over the last couple of days. 😉

😯I love Chandra's excitement for these movies. It makes me feel like I'm watching them all over again. Lol Great reactions, guys. P.S. - Awesome mustache, Yukon Cornelius... 😄🤌chef's kiss.

Just wanna say, Outer Wilds is a great game. Almost as life changing as this movie series. When Chandra was pumping her shirt, I was excited for Jordan to point out what he was wearing XD

43:12 Frodo: It’s sticky! What is it? Gollum: [thinks hard] A stick! Ask me another one, Sméagol loves riddles.

Denethor is not well treated by the movies, in the book, he was a noble, decent man, who unfortunately, by using the seeing-stone, was eventually misled and deceived by Sauron, who influenced what Denethor saw in the stone, gradually breaking his spirit and his thoughts, so that he became negative, depressed and eventually weakened which Sauron intended to be the way that the city of Minas Tirith would fall. If the city was leaderless and panicked, it would be much easier to conquer, fortunately Gandalf was on hand to counteract this and rally the defence... Denethor behaves poorly not because he is evil, but because Sauron has broken his spirit.........

The main door to Minas Tirith was an actual working castle door. It took several men to operate and was built to withstand a pounding. If you watch the making of the movie in the extended they lay it all out. It's almost as good as the movie itself.

Next Trilogy The Hobbit Extended Edition Of The Adventures Of Bilbo Baggin: (1) An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition (2) The Desolation Of Smaug Extended Edition (3) The Battle Five Armie Extended Edition

Christopher Lee who played Saurumon read all the books every year and was the only one out of all of them who actually met JRR Tolkien.

Gandalf spent a lot of time in Minas Tirith when Faramir was a child. He was Faramir’s tutor, another reason why Denethor doesn’t like Faramir. Denethor knows Aragorn from when he was in the service of his father when Denethor was a very young man. Denethor’s father love Aragorn and often took his advice over that of Denethor’s. Denethor was so jealous of Aragorn and did not trust him. He also knew Gandalf was friends with Aragorn, all reasons for a bit of bad blood on Denethor’s perspective for Aragorn, Gandalf and by proxy, Faramir. ❤

Her dark eyes. I just can't.

24:00 I was in appliance store once. They were showing this “lighting of the beacons” sequence on repeat. On the TVs they were selling.

83% of the way through The Lord of the Rings film now, your almost there, make sure you have your tissues on hand for the last part of the film.

If you hated every other bit that was added by the Extended Edition of this movie, it would still be important to watch this version because the theatrical cut of this one movie completely removes all on screen appearance of Saruman. It eliminates his whole death scene. It's unconscionable that the final fate of two major villains, Saruman and Grima Wormtongue, are completely omitted. Bad enough that even the Extended Cut doesn't include the part of the story where their death actually takes place in the books (to be fair, anybody who complained about the ending being long would have really hated it if the Scouring of the Shire was in the movie. The vision Frodo has in Galadriel's mirror was their attempt to include some allusion to the Scouring)

Hope you two are having an great and awesome day ❤

The Wood Elves are known for drinking extremely strong wine for days, the Rohan Beer was like drinking water for Legolas. While the reforging the sword was a cool movie moment when we are waiting for the Battle of Pelennor Feilds, it was actually reforged right after the Fellowship was formed and Aragorn should have been carrying it this entire time if they had followed the book more. In the book the call to Gondor came via a red arrow that Denathor himself actually sent to Theoden but the beacons are more Theatrical even if it's not plausible that men would still be on those mountain tops after all these years.

Binge watching all 5 vids today Your reactions are delightful. Thx very much. ✌🏻

The first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons got sued for having too much Tolkien in it. LOL And there was a Middle-Earth Role Playin System (MERP) plust lots of ME strategy games. Roll high indeed! Edit: I even had several Play Your Own Adventure books like exploring Weathertop and saving the Shire.

Seeing Smeagol’s transformation was a cool surprise.

Saruman doesn’t die in the books, he goes back to the Shire and tries to take it over.

"Those aren't stairs!" Right ... more like a stone ladder. The sailor on the Black Fleet who gets the arrow in the gut is played by none other than ... [drum roll, please!] ... PETER JACKSON!

This movie is my favorite of the trilogy

If you look at 17:03, you'll see that Denethor is a steward.. Which means he is not sitting the throne.. He is sitting a regular chair near to bottom of the thorne 's ladder...

Saruman's death was more clear in the book. It was in a different location but the same method. Upon his death, his spirit was seen rising from his dead body. It faced West where the Undying Lands lay and the Powers of Middle Earth, the archangels, govern. A strong wind is felt and his sprit dissipates as if being denied return to the West, rejected for his evil deeds.

Yous play d&d, halflings get a bonus for being a thief. Thats why they climb so well and are very quiet.

Woot! Its finally here! Looking forward to this.

Smaeagol and Deagol are cousins. Shades of Cain and Abel. Cain had to overcome the evil crouched at the door. But could not. Neither could Smeagol.

I picked a great weekend to have discovered your channel: just in time to see this drop!

They don't make movies like these nowadays

"the story of Gollum. That could be a whole movie". Funny you should say that :P

I have an original d12 from 1980...AD&D..over the past 40 years of using it, I swear it had to be weighted...it lands on on a 10/11/12 every single time.

So, just when you said, Gollum could be it's own story, I just read the news recently that the folks who put together this trilogy are slated to embark on another "hobbit tale" and one of the movies is centered around Gollum. Interesting, right? 😎

25:54 you fight them by doing what your shirt says: 0:20 Such an epic movie. Enjoyed your reaction. Looking forward to part 2.

Oh damn, that's a REALLY rad Outer Wilds shirt!!

That statue with a rock on top of its neck, orcs had removed the statues head and replaced it with an effigy of an eye because they worship Sauron.

D&D❤💯 dungeon master for 23 yrs over here😊

JORDAN!!! Your Outer Wilds shirt!!! It's my favorite game of all time. Just wanted to share that

My father used to sleep with his eyes open as well, and you could have a conversation with him. The old man had a lot of demons.

"The story of Gollum, that could be a whole movie" Warnerr Bros. "Yes"

A D&D t-shirt is totally appropriate, as LotR had a huge influence on the game.

"I give Hope to men. I keep none for myself." You didnt show it, but that is the epitaph of Aragorns mother, Gilraen. Aragorns elvish name is Estel, which means hope.

They are re releasing these in theaters in June of 2024! I am SO there! 🎉❤

Such a perfect ending