Could have made much more of an impact, but man is it still something.

Rating: 7/10 (20 December 2016)

It's my honor and pleasure ladies and gents to write my first review of The Lord of the Rings to you, a film that was a famed obsession of mine when I was a small child. The third one is my favorite film of all time as of now, and I will be even more excited when I eventually end up writing this one review in particular to you. Just saying. But, let's begin rolling now shall we. Here we go. In this beautifully scripted and finely directed first movie to a now legendary trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has astonishing, Oscar-winning special effects (even if not all of them are quite "there" yet, which is a bit disappointing but understanding and forgiving for the time this was all made), and more importantly still, a classic and epic tale of good versus evil that's fascinating, at the menu. Though the film frustrates me for the fact that it fails to offer me such a compelling, powerful, and unforgettable experience, I still very much praise the film overall, if just not for its intellectual level unfortunately. The cast of The Fellowship of the Ring is excellent and flawless. And each one of the characters brings exactly the right kind of tone that's needed for the movie. The redefinition of the fantasy film genre in general is also a striking element in here that's worth taking into account, and this is made notably clear by the fearsome, first-time appearance of the menacing Ring Wraiths, mysterious black riders without a face (what?), and the frightening, burning Eye of Sauron (oh dear) whom we all know is the main antagonist, the truest villain of this trilogy - the Ring Wraiths being only the minor, yet still principal villains of the franchise, but just serving Sauron for his evil purposes of conquering and dominating the whole of Middle- Earth. But that's not all there is to say of positive. There's also that scene fight in the movie which takes place inside the Mines of Moria and finds the Wizard Gandalf opposing the fiery and monstrous Balrog, a devilish cinematic creation of first class, a true monster, and which is my favorite scene in the whole film and which for sure gotta be the best one in the film for anyone. I'm in love with that scene and it keeps playing back in my mind at times, particularly the moment in the beginning of the second movie already which curiously looks back at that scene specifically again and gives an extended insight of the aftermath of Gandalf's brave and ruthless one-stand fight against the Balrog, as we all witness his unexpected and tragic fate when he accidentally ends up falling down with the Balrog... and deep down you see him go, with the camera following closely all the way. This one I have to say really feels like a pure and iconic redefinition of a movie character's courageous and mortal sacrifice to save all others. Talking about that, the Ring also is something of a pure and iconic redefinition: a simple, innocent-like ring object, yet which carries the doom to befall the whole world and which must be destroyed in order to end all evil currently spreading. But that I believe is more obvious. Or is it? For further comments, I definitely praise the actor Ian MacKellen (is that how you spell his name?!) who shines in his performance as Gandalf, the memorable music, stunning cinematography, neat editing, grabbing opening narrative (with the right kind of voice) which really helps settle the mood for the viewers for when the plot starts to kick in, the film-mic look of JRR. Tolkien's Middle-Earth universe, subtle filming, and decent plotting. As you can clearly see for yourself, so many good things to point out about The Fellowship of the Ring. To Peter Jackson and his whole film-making crew that contributed to the making of this film, I say well done to them, for they all did an impressive job on this movie. They all worked well here. Keep it up. And for you guys, see you all in my next review for the sequel to The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers. I hope you enjoyed reading this review I just wrote. My rating for The Fellowship of the Ring: 7.0, 1 or 2/10