There can be only one (ring)! (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (DVD))

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (DVD)
Date:	13/01/02 (264 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pacey plot, Good acting, Amazing scenery

Disadvantages: Some derivation from the book, One or two dodgy effects shots

It was considered to be the great unfilmable book. The omnibus edition with appendices etc. weighs in at over 1,000 pages and contains so much variance in plot pacing and visual descriptions of fantasy settings that no-one dared touch it, until Ralph Bakshi attempted an animated version in the late 70's (where the rug was pulled from under his feet before he'd finished the entire story). Certainly, no one thought it was possible in a live action movie until fairly recently, and really only because the technology became available to realistically achieve all the special effects needed.

I've read the book many, many times. I've owned multiple copies of the omnibus edition because I read it that often I keep wearing it out. So, to say that I wanted to see this movie was an understatement. So, on the Saturday afternoon before New Year's Eve, we prised ourselves from our comfy bar chairs and made our way to the cinema.

After asking the ticket vendor not to seat us "near any fecking kids", we clutched our tickets, and after a brief perusal of the pick'n'mix counter, took our seats.

Hint Number 1: Don't take kids to see it - even older ones around eight or nine will be hard pressed to sit through three hours of fairly complicated story telling.

OK, so you don't want to know about my experiences with the kids (who were sitting next to me, naturally) or how I nearly got thrown out for swearing at one of the kids when he was jumping around and fell into my lap/bag of sweets. You want to know what I thought about the film. Well, there's so much to get through, so here goes...

*** Brief Plot Summary ***

In a fantasy land called Middle Earth, there is a magic ring that a once all powerful being called Sauron made which enabled him to do great amounts of evil, however thousands of years ago, during battle, the ring was separated from it's master and was eventually los
t.

Towards a more recent period in the history of Middle Earth (and documented in "The Hobbit"), a Hobbit called Bilbo Baggins came upon this ring and claimed it as his own because it was pretty and made him invisible.

Years later, his good friend Gandalf the Wizard becomes aware that Bilbo's Ring (now handed down to his adopted heir, Frodo) could be Sauron's One Ring and sends Frodo off to Rivendell so that the fate of the Ring could be determined, however Sauron has learned that his Ring has been found and sends his most trusted servants, the Nazgul (Ring Wraiths) to retrieve the ring for him.

At Rivendell, the decision is made to destroy the Ring by throwing it into Mount Doom, the volcano where the Ring was originally forged and the only heat in Middle Earth hot enough to destroy it.

*** The Cast ***

While not exactly star names, there's no doubt that you've seen most of the cast in something before, even if it's only a dodgy BBC murder mystery. Peter Jackson (the director) made a decision not to cast star names, and in this instance, it paid off. He also originally, made a decision not to hire any Americans but changed his tune when his search for a Frodo was getting nowhere.

Elijah Wood - Frodo
(Also seen in: The Faculty, The Ice Storm, North)
Perfect casting. Amazing as Frodo in his ability to show both innocence and inner strength at one time.

Sir Ian McKellan - Gandalf
(Also seen in: X Men, Gods and Monsters)
Like most of the casting in the movie, again, I can't imagine anyone else playing Gandalf. Cheery and friendly, or grim and powerful - McKellan carries it all off without hamming it up.

Sean Bean - Boromir
(Also seen in: Sharpe (TV), Ronin, and Goldeneye)
When I heard that Sean Bean was to play Boromir, I was quite excited because he was the person I would have chosen to play such a character. My only problem i
s that I don't think you see enough of his struggle, and that it only really appears towards the end.

Viggo Mortensen - Strider/Aragorn
(Also seen in: 28 Days, Psycho, and A Perfect Murder)
One of the few characters I had no idea what they would actually be like, but Mortensen's portrayal of the ranger Strider is a fairly close match to what I believed him to be.

John Rhys-Davies - Gimli
(Also seen in: Sliders (TV), Raiders of the Lost Ark)
After seeing Rhys-Davies in things like the Indiana Jones movies and Sliders, I did find it hard to accept him as a dwarf when I know he must be at least 6 feet tall. However, a few minutes after his first screen appearance, I totally forgot about that. His booming voice and mannerisms again match what I had perceived dwarves to be like.

Liv Tyler - Arwen Evenstar
(Also seen in: Armageddon, One Night at McCools, Plunkett and Macleane)
Petite and beautiful - characteristics I believe all elves have, and it may come as no surprise to you to learn that the only special effects makeup that Ms. Tyler wears in a pair of pointy ears.

Orlando Bloom - Legolas
(Also seen in: Black Hawk Down, Ali G in Da House)
I know nothing about this person (having gleaned his filmography from uk.imdb.com) but from what I saw in LotR, he has a bright future ahead of him. Does a good Elf, and if that was him doing the fab archery towards the end, then I'm mightily impressed!

Cate Blanchette - Galadriel
(Also seen in: Pushing Tin, The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Gift)
I had real problems with this interpretation of the character. To me, Galadriel is meant to be one of the wisest people in Middle Earth, but I didn't get that from watching Cate Blanchette in the role. I thought that the two hardest to cast would have been Aragorn and Galadriel, and it seems I was right on at least one of them. (And before anyone asks, no, I can't think of a
nyone who could do the job better)

The rest of the cast are mainly bit parts, but all handle their duties well. It's perhaps worth point out Sean Astin's character Sam Gamgee as a well played part, complete with English country accent. The accent never wavers for the entire movie which is not a bad feat seeing as Astin is an American!

*** The Story ***

As a standalone film, I cannot fault the story in any way. It starts off not exactly slowly, but gains pace until the climax at the end. There is always something happening onscreen that furthers the plot, and while some people might not like this sort of intensity, I do like it. Like many other who have seen the film, I found that the three hours simply flew by.

*** The story in comparison to the book ***

If you've never read the book, then you'd be better going straight to the next point, this is obviously only of concern to those of us who have read the book. OK, I may be in the minority, but there were certain changes made that I thought made the story worse. I'm sorry if I give away anything here for those who haven't seen the movie, but if you've read the book, you already know what's happening! The reason I'm including this in a film review? Well, I'd been told by more than one person that LotR:FotR was a faithful reproduction of the book.

At the start, Frodo hugs Gandalf like an uncle or something. Sorry, but no! Gandalf is a powerful, wise wizard not some replacement parent figure. By all means make them friendly, but no hugging!

Another point on the characters is that Pippin and Merry are treated like some sort of comedy figures, almost as pranksters. In the book they're not - they may be naïve in the ways of the world and content in their own simple lifestyle, but they're not mindless pranksters as in the film.

There's an increased female presence. I quite like Liv Tyler - I th
ink she's very pretty, and she does have Elvish features, but her role has been expanded, no doubt to rebalance a sixty year old story in which there are only two strong female characters who play relatively minor roles. In the film, she (as Arwen) rescues Frodo from the Nazgul rather than Glorfindel. This is not a bad point (and increased Liv Tyler screen time is always a bonus), I'm just pointing out a difference between the film and book.

There's no Bombadil either, for those of you who were expecting to see jolly old Tom. The episode of the flight from the Shire, through the old wood, to Tom and the barrow wights is completely missing. While not essential to the plot (i.e. expendable) the Tom/barrow wight thing was one I was looking forward to seeing.

The final one would be the meeting at Rivendell. In the book, this is a grand affair with lots of powerful people from all over Middle Earth in attendance to decide the fate of the Ring, whereas in the film there is barely the Fellowship themselves along with Elrond and one or two other which seems to understate the importance of the Ring.

These would be the four most obvious changes that were made that I can remember and while the changes are not disastrous (apart from Gandalf getting hugged) as a fan of the books, I still took a while to get properly into the movie without thinking to myself "hang on, this didn't happen in the book".

One final minor point about the film that I feel should have been made more apparent is the time scale. In the film it seems that the Hobbits were no sooner out their door than at Bree, then to Rivendell, then at Moria etc. In fact, these journeys took weeks over some fairly tough terrain, thus building the character of the Hobbits (and later the Fellowship itself).

On the plus side - one welcome change is the lack of singing by all and sundry. Apart from a few mumbled words here and there, the first film is
completely devoid of singing and poems.

*** The Special Effects ***

With only a few exceptions, the special effects in the movie are fantastic. While a lot of the height difference shots between the Hobbits and the Big People were achieved through the use of old school shooting techniques such as outsized sets, perspective etc. some of them were achieved using modern techniques. As well as that, the large-scale special effects for the most part are exceedingly well done - zooming around Saruman's Orthanc tower is breathtaking, and the large-scale battle scenes at the start of the movie are amazing.

I also liked the effects which put large constructions onto the New Zealand landscape such as towers, sculptures etc. and these blended in seamlessly to give outstanding results.

My only complaint about the special effects was during the Moria sequence that, for those of you yet to see the movie, takes place in supposed near darkness. There are one or two shots during this time that just look so out of place, and maybe, to criticise a three hour long effects movie for one or two short shots is perhaps a tad pedantic on my part. But the one that sticks out in my mind is a shot where the Fellowship are running through a large, pitch black hall and the shot is from a point of view a large distance away and the whole thing does look incredibly amateurish.

*** The Scenery ***

Well, what can I say? Some people say that New Zealand is probably the most beautiful country in the world, and on the evidence of this film, I couldn't possibly argue that point. With such diverse scenery, it's easy to say that at least one of the many panoramic shots will leave you wanting to buy your flight to New Zealand immediately.

*** The Soundtrack ***

OK, it's admission time. I can't remember much about the soundtrack. Honestly! I was too busy paying attention to the scenery, special effects and d
eviations from the book to really notice the music. I'll make it a priority when I go back for a second viewing, though.

*** What's to come ***

Well, I know what's to come because I've read the books, and just like this first episode, I know the story elements I want to see and the ones I don't mind losing. I know a lot of people who hadn't read the books were complaining about this simply being a 3 hour long trail for the rest of the trilogy, but the film ended at the same place as the first book. All I can say is if you liked this first part, the next two will be even better!

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