This Would Be So Much Easier If There Was No Ranking System...

Rating: 9/10 (11 February 2002)

I remember walking out of the theater on December 19th. I had just witnessed a movie that I had waited for almost my entire life, and eagerly anticipated for 2 years. I was flustered, amazed, and I was for once, excited over the fact that after seeing movie after movie surrounded by hype, that 2 months from then, no justification about how I liked it then as opposed to now would be needed. It's been about 2 months now. How do I feel?
The exact same as I walked out of that theater for the first time.
Since then, I've gone back 3 more times, and I plan to see it once "The Two Towers" footage is added. Despite the nearly 3 hours running time, despite the slow moments, and despite the liberties that were taken with the story, I did, and still do love it. For once, I saw a movie that has still lived up to the hype that was injected into it. Fantasy, was alive; Middle Earth was there. I witnessed the Shire with my own eyes. The dwarves were real; I knew it, because I saw their great castle in the depths of Moria. Elves and Maiar; they were there. I saw Gandalf's fight with the Balrog, and I saw Rivendell in all its glory.
So why the ambiguity in my summary?
Because trying to rank this film is one of the hardest thing any of us can do. A lot of fans were quite enthusiastic when it came out, and quickly put their mouse key over that "10" button in the vote. This made Fellowship's rating soar, and because of that, it polarized people about how they felt about the film. People who had merely liked it now loathed it because of this, and tried to bring it down with ratings of "1." I understand that people grew tired of seeing LOTR at number 1, and saw this as more hype for the movie, but honestly; do people think this is as bad as "Hobgoblin" or "Cop and a half?" This ain't an Ed Wood movie. Despite how you felt about it, I seriously doubt all of you think it's that bad. Likewise, the ratings of 10 are also flawed; this is by no way the best movie ever made, or even in the top 10 or so. Despite how much you loved it (and I do love it) I really think that there are better movies out there; maybe not as entertaining ones, but there are better ones.
I loved "Fellowship" and I can't wait for the other two. However, trying to big-league this in the same ranks as "Shawshank," "Schindler's List" or "The Godfather" is in my mind, not something we can do yet. I remember waxing greatness about "Pay It Forward" until realizing how completely manipulative that ending is. Likewise, I remember ranting about "Unbreakable" because I wasn't happy with the advertising campaign, but learned to realize that it's well made, and not as bad as I initially thought. "Fellowship" is still too fresh, too new. Trying to give an impartial rating on it is something that none of us can do yet. Wait until the third one comes out, and then wait a couple years. Then we'll see.