My review of Lord of the Rings : Fellowship of the Ring

Peter Jackson, thank you for creating one of the greatest motion pictures I've ever seen.

Hang on a minute, that's a bit of a strong statement isn't it? Yes, but Fellowship of the Ring is a strong film. Stronger than I ever imagined....

It's 3:29pm on Wednesday 19th, 2001. I'm sitting in a large, comfortable seat, slap bang in the middle of the rows of Screen Room 1. I've been waiting 3 years to sit here. It's been 3 long years since I first heard the news that Peter Jackson would be making a film adaptation of all 3 parts of Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. Having read and loved the book, to say I was looking forward to this day is an understatement. At times, it felt so distant, so remote, that it would never come. But it has.

I am not Tolkien-geek. I know the story, yes, but I'm no expert, nor do I intend to be. I do not live my life by Tolkien nor do I think it a healthy habit. I'm a fan, but not a freak.
However, over the past month or so I had become somewhat more obsessed with Fellowship of The Ring, as the days ticked by to the release date. In fact, it wasn't until the 18th that I really became excited about seeing this movie. The lights go down, it's 3:30pm...

I had read numerous reviews of the film from critics and fans alike, the level of praise and the liberal use of words such as 'masterpiece' and 'historic' in the reviews was both encouraging and surprising. So you see, I knew this was going to be a good movie. I had read the reviews, it was going to be good. But I had no idea how good...

The film begins and somewhere in my mind I can feel something change. I sit back...I watch...I listen, and I hardly move an inch for 3 hours. I gasp in awe at the battle of the Last Alliance, I expected epic, but this was so much more than just epic...this was Biblical in scope. My eyes unscrewed in disbelief as I watched the prologue...I couldn't begin to tell what was real and what was generated by other means. Nor did I care. It was too vast, too fluid, too vivid to even question. I gripped the armrests and just watched....and watched...

Then we move on, the prologue brings us up to speed. Brief glimpses of scenes from The Hobbit...Bilbo...Gollum........and The Ring.

60 years later and I see it's 3:39pm. From this point on, I dare not even take the liberty of taking a glimpse at my watch. It's The Shire. Frodo, an older Bilbo and a very old Gandalf make their appearence. You know the story, if you don't, then you should. I'm not going to recount it here.

Things that ware only touched upon or recalled by character's in the book are here blown into life by Jackson. These creative additions are just one of the many ingenious parts of the film. Although the whole picture is a masterpiece, special mention must be made of a number of things.

From an early stage we see the Black Riders, the Nazgul. In fact, we see them in the prologue as human kings yet to be turned to wraiths....they stare at the camera, almost through the camera as Cate Blanchett tells of how the Nine Rings were comsumed by the greed and lust of power exhibitied by mankind. For those who have not read the book, this quick scene means little, to those who have there is something disturbing about seeing these 9 men as mortals. We know their fate only too well, we know what they well become...
It is not long into the film proper when we see the 9 again. This time as wraiths, comsumed and rained by the ring, now servants of Sauron. Clad in black and riding horses they gallop out from Barad-Dur shrouded in mist and accompanied by the 200 voice choir chanting Shore's composition. It's a dramatic moment. The Black Riders dominate the first half of the film. Jackson is masterful in visualising their terror. From Hobbiton to Bree, from Weathertop to the Frods, everytime they enter the scene the effect they have on the the music, the sound, the characters and even nature itself is stunning.

Of the myriad of visual computer wizardry used by Weta Digital, the most consistently amazing is the 'ring effect'. When Frodo wears the One Ring, we see the world from his perspective. A surreal world dragged and pulled at the edges, flushed with blue and white hues and accompanied by a rushing, whispering wind like cacophany of voices. The creative mind behind this style of computer wizardry deserves much praise. It's a flawless and breathtaking effect. On Weathertop the Nazgul take on their true form and appear to Frodo disrobed and terrible. Their sunken faces, ghostly cloaks and cold swords sear our imagination. The sence of terror and awe is palpable. Stunning.

I always wondered how the Eye would be portrayed in the film. Once again, an amazing job has been done to create this effect. Sauron's eye is huge, beast-like in form but massive in size and most importantly of all both terrible and luring. Flames and lava straddled by a black slit. It seems windswept at the edges, but always reaching and tempting. Perfect.

I could go on about other parts of FOTR which I was specially impressed with: Moria, Cave Troll, Gollum's face, Isengard....but I'd be typing all night.

But this film isn't just about arresting visuals or breathtaking camera work. A lot of the time all this takes a back seat to acting. And superb acting at that.
For me, the biggest surprise was Elijah Wood. For a young actor with little/no experience in anything but kids films and shallow Hollywood features, Fellowship of the Ring has been a transformation. Though there were times when I felt his voice wasn't carrying or his acting was simply average, special mention must be made of the times when Wood excelled as Frodo. First, on Weathertop, we empathise and feel his pain, his terror. Next in Rivendell, his emotional ( and sometimes shocking ) exchange with Bilbo is terrific. But for me, it was the moment after Gandalf fell into darkness in Moria that proved Wood's worth. His expressions and screams of mixed rage and dispair were heartbreaking. This is not the same Hobbit laughing and dancing in The Shire.
Sir Ian McKellen fits like a glove in the role of Gandalf. Not only has he the appearence, but also the voice and facial expressions to match the Gandalf of all our imaginations. Top class acting, and no mistake.
Again, I could pour praise on Hugo Weaving, Chrisptor Lee, Sir Ian Holm and the excellent Viggo Mortenson. But then I'd be forgetting Liv Tyler's surprisingly good acting, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Orlando Bloom. However, I simply must isolate Boromir, played by Sean Bean, for praise.
Bean gives the performance of his career as the troubled, proud, couragious warrior Boromir. He lives and breathes the role so well that it's almost frightening. His temptation and redemption at the end of the film is wonderfully done. Anyone unmoved by his dying words to Aragorn should check their pulse : "I would have followed you, my borther...my King"

At this point, before I forget, I'd like to thank New Line Cinema. After all, it is this studio that made this all happen. Miramax originally planned to fund LOTR for Jackson, but on the condition that LOTR be a 2-film production and with a list of alterations and constraints as long as a Balrog's whip. Though it didn't seem so at the time, it was destiny and luck that caused Miramax to drop LOTR at the last minute in 1998. It was American studio New Line Cinema, that had the foresight, courage and belief in that rotund New Zealander with a passion for Tolkien. New Line took the an epic gamble when they gave the green light to Jackson to make 3 films concurrently with a recently estimated budget of a staggering $NZ 700 million. If Jackson let them down, it would be a blow that New Line would never recover from. He hasn't let them down, and now they will justly get their reward. On it's opening day in the US alone, FOTR took in almost $19 million. Not only that but it has been nominated for Best Picture at the Golden Globes and been hailed as a materpiece by most critics worldwide.

The whole Lord Of The Rings production required a cast and crew of thousands and an estimated 26,000 extras ( most of whom won't be seen until the 2nd and 3rd films are released ). But for me, there are 2 men who stand head and shoulders and above the rest. Andrew Lesnie and Peter Jackson.
Andrew Lesnie, the cinematographer for FOTR, shows he is the master of the lens. No task is too great for him. From stunning helicopter shots of the beautiful New Zealand wilderness to fast moving action in Moria, to the rich and arresting close-ups of the actor's faces; Lesnie proves his worth.
When you take into account the collection of technical insanities that had to be dealt him while filming hobbits beside humans convincingly ( forced perspective, blue-screen, digital resizing and false focusing etc ), you begin to see what an amazing job he has done. Andrew Lesnie has won a multitude of awards in the past, if he's not nominated for an Oscar for FOTR, then there's no justice in the world.

Peter Jackson though is the keystone to all this. Not only has he masterfully directed 3 epics films at once, he's also co-written the script with his wife Fran and freind Phillipa Boyens. He's also co-produced the trilogy. It is Jackson's own untested Weta company that provide all the stunning effects. And of course, it is Jackson's own Wingnut firm that has been the heart of the production.
He's been involved in every level, and it shows. He's been working in pre-production for LOTR for almost a decade, and it shows.
His creation is a triumph, a masterpiece, a wonderfully spellbinding combination of excitement, awe, love, courage, loss and hope. Peter Jackson has given us a very special gift in the form on Fellowship of the Ring. This Christmas time, go and see the film, and you too will emerge from the cinema, like I did, feeling the need to thank Peter for a very special Christmas gift.

This is one aspect in which the film is far superior the book. Boromir's death in the book, while sad for me, does not leave NEARLY the impression that the film does.

I sincerely hope that Sean Bean gets at least a nomination for Supporting Actor. We shall see...

Even though I sad the movie a second time today, I can't help but feel sadness that it's over. My mind keeps going back to certain moments in the film, and my heart aches. It is rare that even a book does that for me, so the cast and crew deserve great praise.

OK - It is finally the DAY!!! - I get to go tonight at 8:00 pacific!

AND I bought myself a new copy of the trilogy, and the Hobbit, to start reading immediately after the film. I was uncomfortable buying the "new" printings with the film characters on the front cover. I have not bonded with them yet.

I hope that in time I can love these new books as much as I loved my precious, dog-eared, maple-syrup-stuck, cover-missing old books that jrherreid stole from me!

In our company attending tonight will be my brother Ramius and a friend who has neither read the books, nor any of the type. I am a little worried about her, I hope she likes it. She likes legal thrillers like Grisham, Steven King and Lifetime [Channel] movies, so at least I know the violence won't be too much for her.

All that being said I thought the Balrog looked pretty bad. Though from the discussions I've had I'm alone in that. It happens.

No, you are not alone in that. The books describe the Balrog as a demon of might and power. It was described as haveing a "man-shape, maybe" It was a being of fire and shadow. If it had wings (and it does in the movie) they were described as "wings of shadow." Gandalf (back in Bag End) and Galadriel (in The Mirror scequence) had effects applied to them that were reminiscent of the way the Balrog in the book asserts its presence. For some reason, they went for making a creature so large that it looked silly when it crosses swords with Gandalf. Bigger than Gandalf is one thing. Like head and shoulders bigger. But not wooly-mammoth-vs.-lone-hunter bigger!

RE: the plot subtext about Aragorn and Isildur. I think I agree with you about this. there are some very subtle things in the book which the movie points out very obviously. Esp. at the council where Legolas points out who Aragorn really is and Aragorn is trying to shut him up (paraphrase). I think I was on my 4/5th reading before I truly got what Aragorn was all about. But the restoration of the Edain is one of the grandest and most important themes in the book. The movie makes this much more obvious which is a good thing in a movie and the non Tolkein scholars in the audience will appreciate it.

Peter Jackson is doing the same thing with a couple of other things in the book which are fairly subtle, like the whole Saruman - Sauron Axis. Bringing out the Palantir early and highlighting Saruman's connection to Sauron does this well. The movie implies that Saruman was basically enslaved to Sauron but I dont get that from the books at all. My reading was that Saruman had turned evil but he was hoping to challenge Sauron for the title of Ultimate Dark Lord. It will be interesting to see how Jackson develops this Theme in the next movies.

The descent of Orthanc from a beautiful Garden into an ugly Orc-pit was not explicitly highlighted in the book but obviously must have happened, Tolkein just didn't feel like writing that part ;-). Peter Jackson has some guts in exploring areas of the book not explicitly written about but he pulls it off well and I appreciate it because I am seeing new things about the story that I did not see in this way before.

I am eagerly awaiting the next movie for the scenes of the battle of Helm's Deep and the Ents cleansing Orthanc.

Hugo Weaving as Elrond is wonderful. His expressive brows, proud posture and knowing looks go far to flesh out his character. I did, however, keep waiting for him to throw on a pair of Matrix sunglasses... ;o)
LOL! I was waiting for him to say "It's the smell! I can't stand the smell!"

Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson!

This is definitely a movie worth seeing at least twice. As a lifelong Tolkien fan, I was distracted in my first viewing in noticing all of the changes, omissions, and alterations Peter Jackson had made to the story. On second viewing I could just relax and enjoy it as a movie.

The cast was superb. I cannot imagine anyone else playing Gandalf, Saruman, Bilbo, Frodo, or Sam. Galadriel was properly ethereal but perilous. Arwen was suprisingly good. Aragorn was properly underplayed as a true king hiding his power. Sean Bean put in a truly wonderful performance as Boromir; his death scene is as good or better than the original from the book. (I have always enjoyed Sean Bean as an actor, ever since first watching him in the Sharpe's Rangers series on PBS, set in the Napoleonic Wars)

I think people who object to Saruman being portrayed as a puppet of Sauron are forgetting the book (where the role of the palantir and the cooperation between the orcs of Mordor and Isenguard show the connection and the fact that Saruman must report regularly to Sauron via the palantir, etc.), and are overemphazing the ommisions/changes to the dialogue in the movie between Gandalf and Saruman. Saruman actually uses a line or two used by Denethor in the Return of the King (if my memory serves). The line about the ring only having one master is moved to a later scene. But the Uruk-Hai calls Saruman his master - a clear hint that Saruman is very much still playing his own game, even though outwardly obeying Sauron's instructions (we will get this more clearly in the Two Towers, I assume).

Saruman's calling up the storm which blocks their way in the mountain pass is not in the book, but it is a viable interpretation which helps to tie the action together logically.

Only the Uruk-hai from Isenguard attack the fellowship; I am wondering if the Mordor orcs and Moria orcs will be featured in the Two Towers scenes with Merry and Pippin. It would be a shame if this little bit of inter-tribal orc politics were ommitted.

Can't wait to see how they show the Ents! Only 12 months more to wait.

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