yakkowarner's Full Review: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
This movie I think is the best out of the three, but not by much. All three movies are great and should really be considered one very long movie, hence my excuse for giving them the same score.
This movie introduces you to the heros of the movie. The 4 hobbits and Gandolf are introduced first at Bilbo's birthday party. Later a dwarf, an elf, and a human are introduced in the story (among many other minor characters), a story were each has an important part of the story. Too many people? Depends on your philosophy of story telling, but you do get to know the characters over the course of the three films fairly well. Even the minor characters get a lot of development.
There are usually 2-3 stories going on at any one time in the three movies. Each story has different characters that sometimes interact and at other points in the story separate to complete other tasks. Sometimes by choice, sometimes not. So you are constantly shifting back and forth between the different groups and different stories. Now here is the amazing thing, you never get lost. The editing is clear, the story is clear, and there is nothing left to confuse the audience. So in my opinion the editing from this point of view was spot on. In this movie you basically have one main story about the fellowship and their travels, and Gandolf's side story. And yes, the other two films get more complex from there.
This is a triology that anyone of any age can get into. Peter Jackson did a masterful job of making this story keep true to its origin (the books) yet accessible to the common man (like me that doesn't like reading fictional books.) This is an easy to understand story even though the original author had developed so much detail that could have easily made this a confusing trilogy.
The plot The whole idea is a dark lord called Sauron is making a come back. He was defeated by an army of humans and elves and the ring that held Sauron's power was eventually lost. It is up to a band of adventurers to take the ring to Mount Doom and cast it into the fire. This is the only way Sauron can be destroyed, otherwise all of middle-earth may be conquered by Sauron. While the basic plot is simple and could be told easily in one movie, Peter Jackson was able to convince New Line to turn it into three movies. So there are subplots galore in these films. This first film is pretty linear and for the most part just follows Frodo with a couple of subplots. In the other two films it gets much more complicated
The acting The acting is wonderful. It is a great cast. There is a great deal of emotion in this movie and it is done by competent actors that know their craft. One actor actually broke a bone in his foot by kicking something take after take. There was that level of energy in the filming of this movie. And it was this final take that the toe bone broke and the one Jackson kept in the film. Elijah Wood played Frodo, the lead Hobbit of the film. It is his job to carry the ring, and with that comes a heavy burden. Elijah does a masterful job of expressing the different emotions that Frodo has. Elijah makes Frodo real and relatable. A real person that is out of his element. As an audience member you feel for Frodo, fear for him, cheer him on, and cry for him. No one else toys with the audience's emotions as much as Elijah does. You are forced to know him, and care for him more than anyone else. Sean Astin, from Goonies, plays Sam. Sam is Frodo's/Bilbo's gardener and apparently a good friend of Frodo. I love the job he does with the role because it also feels so real. He is someone you would love to share a beer with or someone you could confide in. A much gentler and shyer type of hobbit. Ian McKellen plays Gandalf. The first time I saw this movie I spent half of this movie trying to figure out who the actor was and what role I remembered him in. It is actually magneto from X-Men. He is able to play someone who is both strong and gentle. Both a wise man and a person you can get into a lot of trouble with. Viggo Mortensen plays Aragorn, the one who is to be king. He is also a ranger and has been sent to protect the Frodo. He is by far the most dynamic actor and the most fun to watch. If you consider another character beside Frodo to be the lead, then you would pick Aragorn as that person. Viggo did a good job with this role.
The pacing This is the main reason it lost points in my personal scale. Now I liked the pacing and story as it is, from the standpoint of the book. It does tell a story and Peter Jackson did honor the book as much as possible. But from an entertainment aspect there are parts that are a little slow because there are so many characters that need to be developed. He gets a 10/10 on character development. But as I've mentioned in other reviews character development and pacing are at odds with each other many times. I do believe more character development through action would have been a better choice in some spots of the movie rather than the way he wrote it. He also slowed down the movie with a bunch of cool cinematic shots. Now these shots gave you an idea of the scale of the world you were a visitor to. Boy are they beautiful, can't wait for the Blu-Ray special edition.
The character development Definitely one of the best aspects of these movies. You get to know these characters very well. What drives them, motivates them, hurts them, etc. A great deal of care was taken to preserve the personalities in the books, and it shows. This is a 10/10.
The special effects and costuming If you want to see great special effect then see Return of the King. They not only had a lot under their belt as far as experience and time, but the special effects are absolutely breath taking in this film. So in this film there really isn't that many special effects to speak of (in respect to the other films). But the ones that are there are top notch. They did not cheap out on the effects and thankfully they used physical effects as much as possible. The couple of CG creatures that we got a great view of are life like in both physique and emotion, and interact well with the living actors. The fire demon (Balrog) was extremely well done and life like. Even the arrows from our Legolas were CG (and I had no idea until I listened to the commentary.)
The landscape It is absolutely breath taking. I want to go to New Zealand so bad now, thanks a lot Peter. So many shots (the ones I said slowed down the movie) were taken of the landscape and showed how beautiful this make believe land was supposed to be. Well Peter did just that. Middle Earth and the beauty of Middle Earth came alive. Also the scale of middle earth was conveyed by these shots. So basically sit back and enjoy the beauty of the film, the story will come along in time. I say that because a good portion of the transitions are of landscapes, and each is unique. You do not get lost when they transition to a new scene partly because of this technique.
Replay value Between this, the expanded edition, and the commentaries; I have watched this over a dozen times since its release. So it is entertaining and something I can watch it fairly easily if there are people around me that want to watch it with me. Would I watch it alone? Only if I hadn't watch it in 3 or so years. I have seen it so many times earlier this decade that I've lost the desire to see this movie alone. Compare that to some of the other movies on my top 50 list and that is a long time. Take T2 or Ghost in the shell for example, I can watch them alone at the drop of a hat. So replay value is good just not great, another reason it lost points. But really, I've seen it over a dozen times in 8 years so that says something in and of itself.
Should children watch it? It can be scary so sheltered children shouldn't watch it. Children in the latency stage and beyond should be fine. I have no problem with my children watching it.
Genre: Fantasy
The key players Director: Peter Jackson Writers: Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, & Fran Walsh Music: Howard Shore
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