Books to Movies: Return of the King & The Mouth of Sauron

In my review of The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, I complain about the length of the battle. 

My biggest complaint, however, is that the 40 minutes contain way too many climaxes. There should have had two: when Thorin & Company emerge from the Erebor, and Thorin and Bilbo's final talk. 

Return of the King does much better. I know the movie was criticized for having too many endings--but I'm not bothered by THOSE extra 25+ minutes. I'm referring, rather, to the climax when the ring is finally destroyed. 

There is one "off" note in the extended version, which Jackson very smartly excised in the theater version: when Aragorn beheads the Mouth of Sauron. 

He was right to excise the scene because (1) it is a violation of the chivalric code that doesn't "shoot the messenger." I don't mind Han Solo shooting first because he is Han Solo and he does that type of thing. But Aragorn is supposed to be the high king of Middle Earth, and beheading any messenger is, in sum, "bad form." 

Jackson was also right to excise the scene because it is one too many climaxes. 

The climax of the entire trilogy is entirely dependent on Frodo and Gollum's struggle at Mount Doom. The ultimate rescue is one of Tolkien's eucastrophes. But the actual climax of book and film is the vanquishing of the ring. 

The entire sequence deserves two sub-climaxes and one major climax: Aragorn's speech; Sam's decision to carry Frodo; Frodo and Gollum's fight (which is itself the culmination of choices made by both characters). 

That's it!

Lobbing off the messenger's head is a spike in the overall climax and it gets in the way. That is, it creates a temporary feeling of relief when the entire sequence should be building up to Sauron's ultimate defeat. 

In the book, Gandalf seizes Frodo's "coat, cloak, and sword" from the Messenger and piles scorn on Sauron's minion. The Messenger retreats just as Sauron "sprang his trap." 

That is, Gandalf retrieves those things that belong to the Fellowship because Frodo was their companion, and he denounces Sauron. But in the face of what is to come, Gandalf's actions are more Norse than Greek myth--Thor raging at the dark rather than Zeus scattering evildoers. Our good guys are limited and they know it and they are doing what they do anyway. 

The triumph is all the more emphatic.  

Pacing truly is everything.