Film Review: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Fantasy fiction has always had an entrancing power, weaving elements of myth, magic, and folklore to tell grand stories that can stagger the imagination in ways other genres cannot.  In novels, there is no limit to what imaginative worlds a writer can conjure, but in films it's never been an easy translation.  For J.R.R. Tolkein's classic and influential Lord of the Rings trilogy, a big-screen adaptation was long considered unfeasible; even master filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick considered it "un-filmable." From the 1990s onward, with the advent of advanced special effects and better film-making tools, a director from New Zealand took up the challenge of creating the Lord of the Rings on film.  The end product was a trio of truly epic, spellbinding films, the likes of which hadn't been seen since Fritz Lang's adaptation of Die Nibelungen.

In the first act of this sprawling trilogy, we are immediately thrust into the lore of Middle-Earth, in a visually dazzling montage of scenes that brings us up to speed on the history of the One Ring.  This prologue sequence is epic as it is, but the film moves on pretty briskly, introducing all the characters one-by-one and setting them off on an adventure.  The fellowship is made to outrun peril at every turn, confronting wicked Black Riders, goblins, powerful orcs, dark magic, and even each other.  Among the film's highlights, there's plenty of sword-swinging action, scenes of magic and whimsey, and breathtaking landscapes.  My favorite sequence has always been the Mines of Moria, which is like a live-action dungeon-crawler, complete with myriads of orcs and huge monsters.  Even in between the action and effects-driven scenes, the film is consistently entertaining thanks to its style, its quick-draw editing, and its focus on storytelling and characters.

The film takes its liberties from the source material when it has to, but it is still pretty close to the original book.  The film goes to great lengths to keep as much of Tolkein's work intact as it can, including the finer details of the locations, history, and folklore.  Changes are mostly minor, and serve to fit the narrative into the film's three-hour runtime.  The basic plot adheres to the original novel pretty closely, and all the key characters are properly represented.  And it is a timeless story, utilizing the classic conventions of the epic journey to bring the characters from one dazzling encounter to another; very much the same manner of storytelling that made other classics like The Wizard of Oz so compelling.  With Lord of the Rings, however, each encounter is a deep exploration of the Middle-Earth, and the film succeeds in submersing the audience in all its splendor.  At the same time, the saga kicks off the end-all-be-all War of the Ring, which mirrors Tolkein's own observations of WWI and WWII, and is as much of a prevailing conflict on-screen as it is in the novels.  Throughout the film, each character is given a chance to shine.  There are also subtle traces of themes that prevail, concerning adventure, courage, and good-vs-evil.

This film is crafted with excellent photography.  A few shots are cheaply-cut, but otherwise, most of the editing is great.  Acting is effectively perfect from the whole cast; Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen embody their characters so well that they became iconic as Gandalf and Aragorn respectively.  Performances by Elijah Wood, Sean Austin, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Orlando Bloom, John Rhyes-Davies, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, and Sean Bean are all really admirable as well.  I also have a soft spot for Liv Tyler.  Filmmakers went to great lengths to make everything look and feel real, including gorgeous locales, and a plethora of well-crafted sets, props, and costumes.  Special effects show their age, but are still ambitious and wonderful to behold.  Howard Shore's music score is one of the most beautiful compositions ever made for a film.

The first time I watched The Fellowship of the Ring, I realized for the first time that this film embodied everything I ever wanted in films:  the perfect marriage of entertainment, storytelling, and craftsmanship.  It is a bold picture at times, but also an elegant one.  Even though the sequels would have even grander spectacles to behold, this first film has its fair share of adventure, and it is quite the moving picture.  All three films should be seen at least once in sequence, but one couldn't ask for a finer start to such an ambitious series.

On home video, the Extended Cut of this film includes about a half-an-hour of extra scenes, many of which focus on events that would be relevant in The Return of the King.  There are more scenes involving Gollum, and the sequence in Lothlórien is longer.  I think this version has a better opening, showing more of Bilbo and the Shire.  These are all pretty interesting scenes worth seeing.

5/5 (Entertainment:  Perfect | Story:  Perfect | Film:  Perfect)