This is simply a bad movie

Rating: 2/10 (29 December 2001)

As I write, Fellowship of the Rings is rated as the number one movie of all time on IMDb. This can only be the result of early and eager voting by the cult that surrounds the book itself. The movie itself is actually rather poor.
Fans view this movie as the first installment of a grand epic. Far from it! FOTR is without substance, formulaic... just a surreal montage of unexplained magic.
Whatever devotees of the book may feel, those of us who have not read the book will find the story-line to be weak and uninspiring, and the characters to be not worthy of our empathy.
The director places us so deeply inside the fight scenes that they are merely a whirlwind of activity, with no real perspective. It is a chaos from which the protagonists emerge as the lucky survivors, chosen by God Hollywood.
What makes it worst is the prevalence of magic. I'm sure magic must be what it is all about for the fans of the books, but it must be handled better than this. Here, the fantasy is so rich and takes us so far away from reality that we simply can't relate. An unexplained magic leaves on the brink of an unstoppable apocalypse, an unexplained magic conjures up fabulous rescues for our heroes -- an unexplained magic can simply make any terrible or wonderful thing happen, without warning, at any moment. What a horrible, random, unreal world in which to live! People aren't even themselves, as an unexplained magic can possess and control them, as well.
A real epic develops characters with humanity, that rise up against a great challenge in a context that we understand. They can be relatively real like Braveheart or Gladiator, or they can be fantastic like the Star Wars series, but they must tell a coherent, inspiring and dramatic story. FOTR does none of the above.
Finally, when I spend three hours in a movie theatre watching a so-called epic, I would like the movie to have an actual climactic ending. It matters not to me that this is the first of three books. When this film ends it is clear that it is nothing more than an installment, not a story in-and-of-itself. This does not make for a satisfying film-going experience.
For fans of the books, the other reviews seem to indicate that they will likely pee with glee upon seeing the beloved Tolkein on the silver screen. For the rest of us, this movie is a real waste.