Rating: 8/10
Review date: December 10, 2003
After a very long wait, Tolkien�s masterpiece is finally brought to the big screen. Was it worth the wait? Definitely! Does it live up to its hype? Absolutely!
For those of you who are not familiar with Lord of the Rings, I�ll try to summarize the story here although I would recommend you to hit the books in order to enhance your movie viewing experience.
As the title suggests, Lord of the Rings revolved around a ring which was crafted by the dark lord, Sauron. This ring is the One Ring that has the ability to control all others. Due to the alliance of men, elves and dwarves, Sauron was eventually defeated and the One Ring is thought to be lost. After many ages, it fell into the hand of a hobbit called Bilbo Baggins who bequeath it to his nephew, Frodo Baggins. Now Frodo must embark on a perilous journey across Middle-earth to destroy the One Ring in Mount Doom.
Director Peter Jackson has undoubtedly created something that will be remembered for years to come. This movie is beautifully shot and it does follow the source material quite closely which make it that much better. Even though I�m not a fan of Lord of the Rings or fantasy-themed stories in general, I have to admit that gigantic efforts have been put into the production and it all pays off in the end. Looking at the end product, one simply can�t refuse to acknowledge the faithfulness that has driven the filmmakers instead of sloppiness that often plagued movies adapted from books.
The setting in Fellowship of the Ring is simply magnificent and breathtaking. The natural terrain of New Zealand really captures the essence of Tolkien�s work and apparently Jackson must have realized it too as can be seen from the movie.
The costumes are also very nice because the attention to detail is not ignored thus creating a wide range of clothing that should appeal to everybody. The musical score sounds really epic which greatly reinforced the feel of the movie that is already so huge in the first place.
The special effects and CGI are very well done with plenty of weird creatures from the book brought to life in the screen. The most impressive has to be the Ringwraiths which really give me the creeps with their deafening shrieks.
The cast are excellent with Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey being the one that stood out the most (to me at least) due to the calmness that he constantly radiates most of the time. Christopher Lee is also perfectly cast as the evil wizard Saruman.
Orlando Bloom plays an elf-archer called Legolas. I find that his character is just adequately portrayed (and to appeal to the ladies of course) just like John Rhys-Davies as the dwarf (Gimli) even though the latter does provide some comical relief. Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn looks very cool with his rugged face and is simply oozing charisma wherever he goes.
Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins is to be noted as well; his face is the one that strike out the most to me (probably due to his blue eyes). Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee emphasized the theme of loyalty through his interaction with Frodo.
The rest of the characters are rounded with the presence of Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Cate Blanchett as Lady Galadriel, Liv Tyler as Arwen and Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins. They acted with credibility but I think they could have used more overall screen time. The weakest supporting cast in my opinion are Billy Boyd as Pippin and Dominic Monaghan as Merry who doesn�t do anything much and is not memorable anyway.
New Line Cinema took a really big risk when they employ small-time director Peter Jackson to shoot the Lord of the Rings trilogy simultaneously. Fortunately, their gamble succeeded because of Jackson�s ability to bring Tolkien�s epic masterpiece to life in a very faithful way that will surely appeal to hardcore fans and your average movie-goers.
Director Peter Jackson has made a solid and satisfying start to the trilogy. However, it is more important to note that he is able to create an incredibly lifelike environment that translates the source material in a very precise manner. Whether this standard can be maintained will remain to be seen in the two upcoming sequels.
*Trivia*
The New Zealand army was cast as extras in the film�s major battle scenes but was forced to cancel due to peacekeeping duty in East Timor.
When the trailer was released on Internet on 7 April 2001, it was downloaded 1.6 million times in the first 24 hours.
The original cut of the movie lasts around four hours and thirty minutes.
1,460 eggs were served to the cast and crew for breakfast for every day of shooting.
Christopher Lee reads "The Lord of the Rings" once a year and is the only member of the cast and crew ever to have met Tolkien. He was also the first person cast because of his extensive knowledge of the books.
Stuart Townsend was set to play Aragorn, but was let go two months into filming because director Peter Jackson felt the character should be played by someone older.
Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, changed its name to Middle Earth for the film's opening.
Over 12.5 million plastic rings were made for the chain mail armors in the movie.
John Rhys-Davies, who plays Gimli the dwarf, is the tallest of the actors who play members of the Fellowship. He is 6 feet and 1 inch tall.
The scream of the Ringwraiths belongs to Frances Walsh, the co-writer and co-producer of the film.
Viggo Mortensen did his own stunts. He also insisted on using only the real steel sword, instead of significantly lighter aluminum sword or safer rubber sword which was manufactured for battle scenes and stunts.
The original plan was to film "The Hobbit". But when Miramax (who wanted to make only 2 movies, each only being 2 hours long) balked at the $75 million dollar price tag, Peter Jackson took it to New Line which gave him nearly $300 million to make the trilogy.
Memorable quote: �Nine companions, so be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring.�
-Hugo Weaving as Elrond-
(c) Martin Taidy