I must have the Ring!! Seriously affected!! (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (DVD))

Member Name: fionajm

Product:	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (DVD)
Date:	24/12/01 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: film shots, acting, effects

Disadvantages: use more extras

First admission, I never read the book. I was therefore a novice to The Rings and all it stood for. My other half however was going on about the film so much that we ended up pre booking tickets. And being the synic I am, thought the film would not be up to all the hype that has taken over the film media of late. So what did I think..? Well I can't wait to see the next one, roll on next Christmas. In fact it is a big shame we all have to wait so long.

So what is it all about?

Well the film starts with a damn big fight (but not too gorey for the kiddies), packed with fisty cuffs, sword fighting and thousands upon thousands of digital people running through a large valley. All is dark, deep and evil. It turns out the story surrounds some rings- 20 (if I remember correctly!)- one of which is EVIL (I put this in bold because I mean a REALLY BAD RING!). A bad king Sauron owns the ring and it was cast for evil doings and goings on. His finger was cut off and the ring was saved from the evil forces. But there was a big problem... most people who owned or got near the ring become bad and therefore the ring was never destroyed. Over two thousand years that ring laid to rest away from the Sauron (Dark Lord), but the ring was found by the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and looked after the ring which in turn kept him in good health and there the story truely starts at his 111th birthday.
The ring starts to make him bad so he moves on leaving his ring to his nephew Frodo. The ring sturrs, it wants its master back... evil strikes and the nine dark riders (Nazgul) come to find the ring and destroy all that get in their way and whenever the ring is worn they can track it to the bearer of the ring. The Dark Lord (bad man wanting to return to Middle Earth and rule all by destruction who needs ring to conquor all) never ceases getting Middle Earth to turn against the protectors of the ring. He must prevent its distruction and destroy all who get in his wa
y.

The adventure surrounds Frodo in this first film of the series, in a long arduous quest to destroy the ring in Mordor with three fellow hobbits (Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd), an old wizard friend (Ian McKellan), a dwarf (John Rhys-Davies), an elf (Orlando Bloom) and two humans (Sean Bean and Viggo Mortensen). This is an all star cast that betrays even before you see the film the quality you should suspect.

So what did I think?

Firstly the length... 3 hours. But suprisingly the film does not seem to be this long. The film makers have advised that the film may not be suitable for kids under eight. Know your child however, there were children under eight in my audience and they coped amicably with only a few twitches. There are however a couple of grotesque points including a head being chopped off but this is done 'tastefully' to keep the film on a PG rating.
The film is stunning not only for costume design, script, acting but also for the scenery that bowled me over. Shot on location in New Zealand the best was made of the area using the mountains, rivers and forests to full effect as Frodo and friends travel towards Mordor encountering the different peoples of Middle Earth in his quest. It was quite apparent that Peter Jackson (director) knew his native New Zealand well and chose the areas he filmed in well.

The effects were magnificent. As I pointed out earlier much was made of digital technogy and this was mostly done well, for example by down sizing the Hobbits and making Ian McKellan as Gandalf tower magnificently but naturally over Bilbo. One down side was that it was all too apparent that only a few extras were used for the opening scenes (a similar critiscism I made of Gladiator), this detracted from the magnificence of a true dark army. A minor point but one I feel I need to make- there is no substitute for real actors- just look at Cleopatra for that one!!

Scenery, acting, sc
ript

Superbly set in the director's native New Zealand the film is greenery at its best. Much is made of evil v environmentalism with the chopping down of the forests to create weapons for soldiers fighting to retain the ring for Soren. The mountain ranges, sweeping valley shots and forests certainly tempted me towards a holiday next year in NZ- what a fabulous place to shoot such a mystical film.

Acting was excellent and well cast parts created a close call for the book - so I have been told. The script was condusive to the plot and flowed well. Slight critisism lies in parts taken out of the book... for example why are hobbits able to look after the ring and not be affected so quickly as others? Just started reading the book now though so the film worked in driving me toward more literary evenings! Lets hope it makes our children want to read it too.

Recommendation

Definately one for the Oscar season and a cinema visit in the winter months... shame we have to wait a whole twelve months for the next one. Watch out for nominations.

Summary: