The best thing to happen to cinema in a long, long time

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 2002)

To start with an interesting fact: Orlando Bloom (legolas) went to the school just down the road from me. Anyway.... This is genuinely a masterpiece of a film. I have read the lord of the rings (twice) and when i heard some of the alterations that Peter Jackson had made to the events depicted in the book i became very apprehensive, the main one was the the Arwen/Aragorn love interest theme. But after seeing the film i can safely say that the changes dont detract from the book one bit.
To start with the casting was PERFECT, i can not begin to imagine who could have played Frodo if Wood hadnt, i hadnt heard of Viggo Mortensen before LOTR and i thought casting him would be a disaster, but he pulled off one of the performances of the film. The other actors to accrue this accolade in my opinion were; Ian Mckellen - the powerful wizard Gandalf, Elijah Wood - the brave yet vulnerable hobbit and Cate Blanchett - the beautiful, immortal Galadriel. The other actors who had smaller parts but deserve a mention are; Hugo Weaving - the elf lord Elrond (when he says "the ring must be destroyed" you cannot help but think of a similar line he says in the Matrix), Ian Holm - the old but wise Bilbo (i do hope the Hobbit is made as a prequel to LOTR, he and Mclellen would be brillaint together),Astin, Boyd and Monaghan - Frodos companions were depicted brilliantly. Bloom and Rhys-Davies also give fine performances as members of the fellowship. Sean Bean was a superb choice to play Boromir. The special effects were unbelievable, the seemingly trivial matters such as making the hobbits 3 feet smaller than everyone was done seamlessly, not to mention the incredible make up used on the orcs. The battle at the beginning of the film is a fine example of how a good special effects department can add to the magic of the film. Lothlorien, the Shire and the mines of Moria were created exactly as how you would imagine them to be, absolutely perfect. I have know idea how one country could provide so much contrasting scenery, New Zealand is full of surprises, the scenery is utterly breathtaking. The music worked brilliantly with the film, im no Enya fan but its a nice song. People have complained at the length of the film, ever heard of the phrase 'time flies when your enjoying yourself' it truly applies in this case, the three hours shot by. There was so much to fit in that nothing else could have been removed from the final cut. Thats enough from me,but lastly a small prediction, after the return of the king is released the Lord Of the rings will claim its place as one of the greatest trilogies in cinema history.