A Ring to Rule The Screen

The Lord Of The RIngs: The Fellowship of The Ring Director: Peter Jackson Written by Frances Walsh Phillipa Boyen Peter Jackson Starring Elijah Woods Ian McKellan Viggo Mortensen Christopher Lee Sean Astin Billy Boyd Dominic Monaghan John Rhys-Davies PG-13, 208 m (Special Extended Edition) 10 out of 10

The Fellowship passes through the Argonath statues, in Peter Jackson's masterpiece adaptation of Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings.

I am loathe and almost embarassed to admit that after I had first seen The Fellowship of The Ring, I was not impressed. It had excellent acting, first-rate special effects, but I felt the story was lugubrious and basically involved the characters traveling to a place and doing battle, then to another, and doing battle, and so on.  It wasn't until I saw The Two Towers that I realized that The Lord of The RIngs has a story and characters of Shakespearean magnitude. It is a magnificent and possibly the best sword and sorcery fantasy series ever brought to the screen. Filled with wonderous locales, amazing special effects than blend in seamlessly the live-action, first-rate, imaginative production design, and moving and rousing performances from the entire cast, The Fellowship of the Ring is has become one of my favorite films of all time. There have been both decent and terrible fantasy films before the Fellowship, but none that truly were backed by such a solid story that yielded such an inspired effort.  Adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books, arguably the best fantasy novels ever written, The Lord of The Rings takes place in Middle Earth where young Hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Woods), is inherits an ancient ring from his Uncle Bilbo.  Unbeknowest to him, the Ring was forged by the evil and long ago defeated Lord Sauron, who if he regains the ring, may assume physical form and destroy Middle Earth.  Frodo is instruced by his friend the Wizard Gandalf (a commanding Ian McKellan) that he must return the ring to where it was made, in the Cracks of Doom before Sauron succeeds and brings about the World's Ending. Along the way, he is accompanied by his faithful friend Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin), and his mischevious cousins Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd). Along the way they meet Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) whom guides them and helps protect them from Ringwraiths (servants of Sauron bent upon getting the Ring) and the white wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee, in a great villanious turn), who betrays Gandalf.  They also meet Gimli the Dwarf (John Rhys-Davies), Borormir (an immpeccable Sean Bean),and Legolas (Orlando Bloom), whom along with the Hobbits and Gandalf, form The Fellowship of Nine that take it upon themselves to take the Ring to its destruction. Considering that The Fellowship of The Ring is the first part in the triology, it does a tremendous job of explaining the complex story and enormous variety of characters. This is one of the major strengths of the movie; it takes the 3+ hours of running time and spends it developing characters and unfolding the story in between staging fantastic battle sequences and provocative imagery.  Each character is bestowed enough time to be distinctive, yet the movie is never too talky and is constantly filled with astonishing sights and expertly choreographed and realized action sequences. The most intriguing character and the best performance is Sean Bean's noble yet flawed Boromir, who is drawn by the Ring and wants to use it as a weaponto help his ailing homelandof Gondor.  The scenes in which he is courageous and helps the Fellowship brave obstacles (such as when he saves Merry and Pippin through the Mines of Moria) conflict with other scences in which he is tempted by the Ring. The internal struggled yields one of many memorable lines from the film: "It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over such a small thing. Such a little thing." The production design of the film is a triumph, and the filmmakers create a palpable world filled with great visualsand minute details.  The tower of Orthanc, where Saruman plots, is an incredibly detailed and lifelike tower carved of basalt; Lothlorien, the Elven woods, are wonderfully rendered and beautiful.  The scale and scope of the locations are immense and fill you with a sense of awe and wonder.  The costumes and makeup are also intricately detailed, and help add to the authencity of the story, presumably staying as true as possible to Tolkien's vision of Middle Earth and its inhabitants.  Middle Earth looks great, from the deep greens and lushness of the Shire, to the desolate grime of the Mines of Moria. Peter Jackson, along with a talented crew, have created in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring a fantastic, exquisitely designed and detailed panoramic vision of Middle-Earth.  Most directors would probably had let the visuals take over the story, but Jackson remembers what makes movies memorable above all else: well developed characters and a story of urgency.  Thought it took me until The Two Towers to realize what a fantastic series this would be, I still consider The Fellowship of the RIng to be one of my all time favorite movies.  It is a film that truly inspires and sets the standard for future fantasy films. 10 out of 10

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