Fellowship of the Ring 2001
I haven’t read the books since high school so it was fun watching this and remembering it as it happened. It seems like this was as true to the book as possible in a three-hour movie. I enjoyed seeing the familiar characters. Also I think I found the storyline involving the men more interesting. Maybe I’m more sympathetic to them now that I’m older but I remember when I read the books that I wished the men had been left out. Now I can see the interest as they find their way in a world they are destined to dominate.
There was a lot of history to cover but I thought it was incorporated pretty well. The acting was adequate but, since it’s an action movie, I don’t think the emphasis was on individual performance. Since this is just the first installment of 3 it’s hard to say how well the characters will continue to develop but they’re off to a good start.
And that sums up the whole movie: It’s hard to judge it since it isn’t complete yet. This is a good start but there is still a lot left to deliver.
There are some great elements to this movie. The orcs and other bad guys are really ugly and frightening. The ring wraiths were okay, but the high-pitched shrieking and whinnying that accompanied them was almost painful to my ears (maybe the theater just had the volume up a little too high). Other than that, there wasn’t much to them: they seemed incredibly all-powerful at times and then they’d be pretty inept at others. You would think they would have some way of killing some people on a raft that was 10 feet from them!
I know there had to be a ton of CGI in this thing and, unfortunately, it really shows at some points. In the Mines of Moria when all the orcs are crawling up the columns it just seemed like such an obvious computer shot. Also, as they were leaving the mine and the party was shown from above it had a very composited look in a shot that didn’t even seem that necessary in the first place.
I’ll give it an A because it certainly was one of, if not the, best movies of the year. Because it is based on a book, it doesn’t capture the imagination the way Star Wars did, though certainly the acting, makeup, and sets exceeded that fairly low budget movie.
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital