I remember Peter Jackson

Rating: 7/10 (2 October 2012)

I can remember back over twenty years ago when I first saw a Peter Jackson movie. It was his splatter comedy Bad Taste. Not long after that I saw his anti-Muppets film Meet The Feebles which funnily enough was in even worse taste. And that was followed by his bigger budgeted but insanely gory horror-comedy Brain Dead. Now, if someone had said to me right then that Jackson would be given the task of helming one of the most prestigious, expensive and elaborate film franchises ever less than a decade later I would have asked them if they'd taken their daily medication. It was surely on the basis of his later – and still best - film Heavenly Creatures that Jackson must surely have got the gig. That one incorporated some nice fantasy visuals into its story. But even taking that into account it's still a surprise he got to direct Lord of the Rings. But it's a good thing that he did because clearly this is a film made with an extreme level of loving care and Jackson seems to have more or less pleased the rabid fans of the books. Which is pretty remarkable all things considered.
I still haven't seen the third part of the trilogy which is clearly something I have to get around to doing soon but I get the distinct impression that this first part is the one I am ultimately going to favour the most. Whereas The Two Towers has that tricky middle part syndrome, it also is as much about an epic battle scene as anything else, in The Fellowship of the Ring clearly the recreation and exploration of Middle-Earth is the main selling point. And I suppose this is the key to this opening act being so decent. The detailed artistic recreations of The Shire, Rivendell, Moria, Lothlorien and Mordor are remarkably well done. They offer a great contrast of fantasy visuals and complaining about them just seems a bit churlish. On top of that, we are introduced to a very good ensemble cast. Every actor is chosen well for the role. Possibly with the exception of Legolas (a bit bland) and Gimli - or MacGimli as I like to call him on account of his ludicrous Scottish accent – who I simply found rather amazingly annoying. But this is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things. Overall, this is a pretty fine cinematic rendering of Tolkien's fantasy world.