See this film...NOW!!!

Rating: 10/10 (22 December 2001)

I've been a Peter Jackson fan for some time now...from the moment I saw "Bad Taste", I was hooked. Then came "Dead Alive", "Meet the Feebles", "The Frighteners", and so on. So basically I've been slavering to see "TLOTR" ever since word of its production.
I was not let down.
See this film...NOW!!! It is amazing, entrancing, and any other positive "-ing"s one can dream up. Sure, Tolkien fans may be a bit upset over the reworking, but if there were none, we'd have a 5-hour movie instead of a 2 1/2-hour movie, wouldn't we? I gladly traded some overlapping stories and reworking for the opportunity to see some of the most fantastic cinematography, CGI and prosthetic work (let us not forget Jackson's background in "traditional" SFX), acting, and attention to detail onscreen in some time. The fight/battle scenes in particular were most memorable. Jarring and disorientating as the camera work may be, it makes one feel...jarred and disoriented. As I know *I* would feel during a fight or battle. I could feel myself tense up during these scenes; in my book, Jackson did his job. The casting was dead on, except for Sean Bean as Boromir and Liv Tyler as Arwen. I felt Bean's talent was wasted on such a transparent character, and quite frankly I could have done without Tyler's sneeze-and-you-miss-her Arwen. There were enough delightful performances to carry me through the movie, especially Orlando Bloom as Legolas. Although technically a secondary character, Bloom's Legolas stands out with some *phenomenal* archery and fighting skills. And Ian McKellen as Gandalf...well, I really couldn't see anyone else in the role. He *is* Gandalf. (And of course Jackson pulls his usual "Hitchcock" in this film...=) ) When I saw "TLOTR", there were quite a few parents who had brought their young (I'm talking around 6- to 8-years-old) kids. Mom, Dad...unless you want squirming offspring after the film hits the 2-hour mark, or toddlers with interesting nightmares for the next few days, don't take your young kids to see this. The Dark Riders ALONE are enough to freak out even the stoutest little heart... All in all, I give Peter Jackson kudos on what has obviously been a (triple) labor of love. It shows. I'm eagerly awaiting the next two!