The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Ringstrilogy is truly a cinematic achievement. Peter Jackson managed to take a long, kind of rambly, pretty much unfilmable book (which I really like, but it's a tough adaptation) and make a trilogy of films that's amazing in both its scope and ambition.

All the hobbits in the Shire are all a twitter over Bilbo Baggins's (Ian Holm) 111th birthday, when Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellan) rolls into town, checking up after the ring of power that Bilbo had found adventuring years earlier. The minions of the evil Sauron are searching everywhere for the ring and someone needs to get it out of town before they find it. So Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and his friends Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) set out on an adventure. Once they safely reach the home of Elrond (Hugo Weaving) a fellowship is formed, including Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen),the elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom), the dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and Boromir prince of Gondor (Sean Bean). They set out, battling monsters along the way, pursued by Gollum (Andy Serkis) and hindered by the evil wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee). Without the help of their allies (like Liv Tyler and Cate Blanchett) they'd surely fail. It's the quest of a lifetime, in an attempt to save the world from utter evil.

I've always considered The Fellowship of the Ring to be the best of the Lord of the Ringsfilms. It doesn't have the gigantic battles that the other films have, but it stillhas some great action set pieces (like the battle in the Mines of Moria). What really gives it a leg up over the other films is in building the world of Middle Earth. There's just a sense of wonder the first time you see the Shire, or Saruman's tower it's just breathtaking, like a childhood dream come to life.

As with any fantasy epic everything can get a little bit over the top. It's an epic in every sense of the word. The people, the places and the events are just larger than life. Which tends to make the dialogue completely unrealistic. If it were in another type of film it'd be terrible, but it pretty much works here. The film's performances are just as epic and over the top, with generally good results. Ian McKellan and Viggo Mortensen especially stood out. Elijah Wood was kind of an annoying whiny guy, and Liv Tyler was wooden as all get out, but they're the exceptions.

If you haven't seen The Lord of the Rings films yet you really should. The only major downside of the films is the length. Even the theatrical release of the Fellowship of the Ring clocks in at over three hours, with the extended cut pushing four. It's intimidating, and makes repeat viewings of the flick extremely difficult.

Grade: A-