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 Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
(2001)
Director:
Peter Jackson
Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Ian Holms, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom
Release Company:
New Line
MPAA Rating: PG-13
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The Lord of The Rings - The Fellowship of The Ring
Poster
Buy at AllPosters.com
 
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Before attempting any kind of description or half-assed analysis of Peter Jackson's grand three hour treatment of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, let's address the basics:
1. Believe the hype. It's well worth seeing, even when you're scrunched up elbow to elbow in a packed audience with a few people dressed up as wizards or hobbits.
2. You can enjoy the film even if you haven’t read Tolkien’s trilogy, or haven’t read it since the 1960's.
3. The film is not for little tykes, who may not be ready for lengthy development, for frightful creatures, or for a decent amount of violence.
Pure opera! Jackson stages Lord of the Rings in Wagnerian trappings, all the while maintaining intimacy with the main characters—Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Gandalf (Ian McKellen), especially. It's the small emotional moments that make a huge difference, as the heroes face their weaknesses and fears before confronting the baddest monsters since . . . (well, imagine Ray Harryhausen working with Industrial Light and Magic). The huge scenes and battles are a wonder, but the subtle facial expressions, occasional teardrop, or humorous quip ("Nobody tosses dwarves") connects on a personal level.
Oxford students often described medieval professor J.R.R. Tolkien';s Beowulf lectures as passionate, and he uses his academic background to create a whole universe populated with the world's most beloved fantasy characters. An intriguing prologue voiceover sets the stage for Tolkien's mythological Middle Earth, climaxed with an epic battle scene involving thousands and one ultimate bad ass villain in Sauron. With one huge uprising and smiting of hundreds—whole armies slung across the screen like rag dolls—Sauron establishes the supreme power of the magical talisman, the One Ring. His finger is amputated, the ring recovered, a chance to overcome evil thwarted, the ring lost for centuries before recovery. After 2,500 years good and evil must now battle once again.
A classic situation that parallels hero myths throughout the ages, nine characters must face the darkest evils imaginable to save the world—brave men, elves, dwarves, small hobbits with strange looking feet, and a wizard. Their mission is to return the ring to its volcanic source—of course this lies in the heart of enemy territory. Who to carry the ring? A ring that brings great powers, great dangers, and tempts its bearer to submit to the dark side. Only the most gentle, loving, humble, and peaceful creature can be considered—the fearful, but courageous Frodo volunteers, realizing that he is the chosen one.
Although hobbits are very shy and never venture from their precious homes in the Shire, three other hobbits decide to accompany Frodo—Samwise (Sean Astin) in particular with a running joke about never leaving Frodo out of his sight. They will become the first hobbits to venture from the Shire, and now must enter the lair of the Dark Lord of Mordor, who has nine faceless associates continually in pursuit on black horses along with assorted other evil creatures.
Passionate readers of Tolkien's trilogy should now feel honored that New Line Cinema has brought a worthy film adaptation to the screen. Had a major film project been made when the Lord of the Rings trilogy was first published, it would have resembled The Wizard of Oz or at best Jason and the Argonauts. Although that would make a charming version, Jackson combines the best aspects of Indiana Jones and Star Wars with his dark wit, to make the event film of the year—with so much happening on the screen, fans will flock for repeat showings.
Certainly special effects and action have been vamped up to a great degree in the successful shadow of The Matrix (also filmed "Down Under") but Jackson avoids overusing flashy MTV editing, allowing the characters to show forth and giving the audience a breather before the next dangerous set piece. Note the internal conflict that Frodo displays over the ring when making life-changing decisions. There's also a very nice exchange between Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf in Bilbo's cottage where we see Bilbo's internal struggle with power—if he has such conflicts, it makes future references with other characters much more real.
Having grown up admiring the special effects work of Ray Harryhausen, director Peter Jackson has upped the ante from his early days when he created crude stop action animation special effects and baked masks and figures in his mother's oven for Bad Taste. The same creative mind is at work, but with a far bigger budget (300 million) and far more sophisticated cameras than the $20 home made steadi-cam that he used in the early 1980s. I'm still marveling at how the special effects people and cinematographer Andrew Lesnie were able to get the full sized Gandalf and greatly reduced Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm as a midget hobbit) in the same frame so seamlessly, let alone make the fire dragons, giant eagles, and collapsing pathways appear so real.
Tolkien artwork qualifies as a genre in itself, and well-known Tolkien illustrators John Howe and Alan Lee contributed mightily. Grant Major’s production design, costume designer Ngila Dickson, special effects magicians Jim Rygiel and Richard Taylor, and many other film artists must be given a lot of credit for their work. Many of the set designs are awe inspiring—from the castles to the caves and crumbling passages to Bilbo Baggin's cottage. No doubt that this was a labor of love. Take notice of the detailed work of this fantasy to make it all the more believable. Amazingly many of the shots are achieved without the use of computers.
I can't say whether Jackson has remained faithful to Tolkien's book since I haven't read the trilogy yet—I read only The Hobbit 32 years ago and don't remember much about it. I do know that Jackson's film can stand on its own merits.
I joined a nearly packed theater for a midnight performance on opening night and was mesmerized. I haven't had as much fun during an adventure film since Indiana Jones first sought the Arc of the Covenant, and never nodded off once during the three hour showing (I can't say as much for Star Wars: Phantom Menace, jerking myself awake at least five times during its two hour running time). I'm looking forward to seeing Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring again on the big screen and eagerly anticipate lots of juicy extras on the special edition DVD release, before seeing Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
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