Overall Rating
  Awesome: 76.54%
Worth A Look: 11.1%
Just Average: 4.81%
Pretty Crappy: 2.63%
Sucks: 4.92%
23 reviews, 736 user ratings
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| Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The |
by Gadzooks!
"Tolkien virgin enjoys movie"
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I was told to stay away from this movie if I had not read the Tolkien trilogy, but I defied those who said this and ventured the three hour film anyway. It did not dissapoint but I must agree that having some prior knowledge of the characters and plot would seem to greatly add to the film's experience.Yes, I am a Tolkien virgin apart from seeing the original cartoon version of Lord of the Rings when I was three years old and every now and then glancing at The Hobbit. I am however a huge fan of the fantasy movie genre, and upon seeing my first preview of LOTR I was dying to see it. I did have some reservation though because I know how incredibly dense and complicated Tolkien's books are. I was a little nervous that my mind would get lost in the three hour shuffle of characters, names, places, and plots. And although there is a lot to take in when watching The Fellowship of the Ring it somehow all fits together and really isn't that hard to follow.
This is not a fly by night adventure movie by any means. I really believe that The Fellowship Of The Ring deserves to be called an epic. It has that epic feel to it in line with other adventure movies like Star Wars, the Indiana Jones trilogy and even Willow. Although I have not read about Tolkien's characters in his own words by the end of the movie I felt that I had a very good sense of them. They were well rounded and richly developed and I found myself caring about what was going to happen to them. This was in part because of the incredible performances a few of the standouts actors gave.
Ian McKellen was born to play the role of Gandalf the Grey. Apart from his physical appearance which was quite wizard-like his commanding voice and goofy but gallant gestures and expressions were really excellent. He is always remarkable in whatever form he takes, and hopefully he will no longer be known to the younger set as the Magnet dude from X-Men. Elijah Wood in the main role of Frodo Baggins is quite good. His English accent is dead on, and he really takes on the guise of a gentle young hobbit with the determination and bravery of a charging rhino. Cate Blanchet, who has long since been my favorite actress because of her ability to continually produce outstanding performances in each one of her movies, really shines in The Fellowship of the Ring. Apart from her powerful performance as the elf queen Galadriel she is the narrator in the prologue and her perfectly inflected voice adds a great warmth to the film.
Newcomer Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Ian Holm as Bilbo, Christopher Lee as Saruman, and the infamous John Rhys-Davis as Gimli the Dwarf all give great performances. Hugo Weaving as Elrond, and Sean Bean as Boromir in smaller roles are also memorable. The weaker performances come from Sean Astin and Viggo Mortenson who could just not get a handle on the accent and Liv Tyler who I think is still testing her boundaries as an actress. Although these performances are weaker they arent awful and don't bring the movie down at all, and one can hope that they will grow better with each film.
Peter Jackson's direction is borderline brilliant and the movie had very few dull parts. The action scenes are very lively and intense and when the fellowship makes it's journey I was constantly asking myself what was going to happen next. Some scenes are downright spine tingling and the great score adds immensely. The thing that the movie really excels in is it's attention to detail. The costumes, sets, and props are all first rate and seem to be from middle earth itself. The unusual language that the Elves spoke to one another was carefully constructed and sounded quite real. A major plus for the LOTR is that it doesn't rely too heavily on computer generated images even though it is a fantasy movie. I am not a fan of CGI and I was really pleased when I saw they did things the old fashioned way when it came to showing the different sizes of the characters. I do realize that to create certain creatures and species CGI is needed, but it never really dominated the movie. I could have done without the cave troll fight but hey let's not be too picky here.
Why then am I not giving it a "fucking awesome" review? I'm not entirely sure myself... I am pretty sure it has to do with the length of the movie and what we are made to endure during it's time. Believe me, I'm not one of these people who wont watch a movie because it's too long, or busy, or complicated, quite the opposite really, but there were several points during the film when I was eyeing my watch and wishing it would end. You could chalk that up to not being as interested as a die hard Tolkien fan might be, but Hollywood doesn't make movies for the fans, they make them for general viewing audiences. Usually there are problems when a movie is made from a very long and in-depth book. It almost never lives up to it's original written form and many of the story's best attributes are lost in the adaptation, it's just expected. All you can hope for is an enjoyable piece of visual art that can accompany and coincide with your own visions and feelings that made you fall in love with the book in the first place. Whether it's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Anna Karenina, or Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring.
To make me truly happy I would have liked to see the Fellowship Of The Ring broken into two parts even though it is to be followed by two other movies. Hey when you're planning for three, what's one more guest anyways? After sitting in the theater for three hours I would have liked to have had a real ending. More so than a book, leaving a movie so open at the end creates a real void. I left for home with no sense of closure and it wasn't a good feeling. It was at about 2:45 minutes into it that I realized they were never going to reach their destination, and I was a little pissed. It just seemed like such an awkward place for the movie to end, but if that is where the book ends I suppose that is where the movie must end too. Above all else the movie gave me a sincere interest in the books and I plan on digging into the trilogy that I received as a Christmas present as soon as possible.Regardless if you have been a Tolkien fan for 30 years or if you saw the preview for LOTR a few months ago you are bound to enjoy this movie. It's magical and dazzling and most importantly entertaining. I would say if you have access to the book read it before seeing the movie to enhance your overall experience but then again if you do that you may have to wait for the video. Gadzooks! Grade: B
link directly to this review at https://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=897&reviewer=254
originally posted: 12/27/01 01:00:51
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Trilogy Starters: For more in the Trilogy Starters series, click here.
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USA
19-Dec-2001 (PG-13)
DVD: 29-Aug-2006
UK
19-Dec-2001 (PG)
Australia
11-Dec-2001 (PG)
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