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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: December 19, 2001 Distributor: New Line Cinema Director: · Peter Jackson Cast: · Elijah Wood · Ian McKellen · Viggo Mortensen Related Sites: ·IMDb
Grade: B
Peter Jackson has created the movie in my mind...almost.
I left Lord of the Rings last night not with a sense of excitement or overwhelming joy but more of a comfortable feeling of having spent some time among old friends.
What has struck me most looking back now 12 hours after seeing the film is how many things came clear in my mind regarding the world Tolkien created. Gandalf, while seeming all powerful in my mind, wielded no wizardry you would have come to expect from the fantasy genre. Only in is battle with Sauruman did he show any signs of magic and there were no flashes of light, no flaming balls of power. Even the Dark Lord himself in the opening sequence had power, but not like you would expect. The magic of Middle Earth was subtle and unseen. It did not rule the world or bring ultimate power to those who wielded it. In fact it was men, human, dwarven, or elvish, who were the true power of the film.
The characters were wonderfully portrayed. The actors nearly perfect picks for their roles. It was remarkable how they managed to make all the hobbits and dwarves look small next to their taller companions. Only once did I stop and notice the effect as anything but accurate and that was at the Council of Rivendell when the Fellowship was formed. To that, the effects in the film were top notch with only a few scenes looking like they were generated. I noticed it in the eagle rescue of Gandalf, the scene I mentioned in Rivendell, and a couple places in Moria. They were minor and overshadowed by the sheer number of other scenes where I kept thinking, "How did they do that?" and make everything seem so real. The cave troll, although somewhat familiar (HPOTT), was exciting and I suprised myself by forgetting about Frodo's mithril shirt despite reading the books many times. The balrog was all that, and a bag of chips. And the final scene of Gandalf was moving and I thought even more so for people who do not know the rest of the story. The same was true for the death of Boromir. An exceptional scene, although a bit drawn out. The few scenes with Gollum left me begging for more. His generated character was dead on to the one in my mind. I anxiously await the next movies to get more of a chance to see him and how well they can integrate his CGI character into the film.
The three hours was long. It felt long. But I don't know what I would have cut to make it any shorter. Arwen comes to mind. I didn't feel the addition of her character scenes in this movie were altogether necessary. The romance between her and Aragorn was almost out of place amongst the tense trek of the characters to Mordor. Galadriel was a bit extraneous. I think the movie could have told its story without it but fans of the book would have been upset. I think much of the Shire scenes could have been shortened getting the characters into the action a bit sooner.
There is almost too much to talk about. The movie was extrodinary a masterpiece of adapting Tolkien to the screen. Jackson and crew have done what most thought was impossible and brought Middle Earth to life.
