Sweet mercy!

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2001)

Oh dear lord, this is an incredible movie. I read all of the books in preparation for it, but went with a friend who knew nothing of middle-earth before seeing the film. Didn't matter. Both of us saw the film for what it is: a brilliant film adaptation of a brilliant novel. For the rest of his life, Peter Jackson will forever be known for these movies, and for the care with which he handled the transition from the little screen in our heads to the large one in the theatre. His reluctance to use digitized special effects except for larger-than-life characters (such as the cave troll) means that there is no sense of disjointed reality, such as that in Phantom menace between the digital and real-life characters. As a result viewers can get lost in the story: exactly as J.R.R. Tolkein intended.