A great introduction to Middle-Earth

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2001)

Well, I finally saw it and what are my impressions? Fantastic but it's not the greatest movie I've ever seen or even this year. For me that was Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon when it was showing in the first half of 2001. But that's not a good comparison because LOTR is just 1/3 part of Tolkiens wonderfull story. The LOTR is one heck of a flick, but it isn't for all people.
When I was reading Tolkiens epic elfensaga The Silmarillion in the summer of 2000 I was looking for some Tolkiensites on the net. I found out then that The Lord Of The Rings was going to be filmed entirely. I've already read the Hobbit and LOTR so I was very curious how it would turn out. The last month before the release of this movie were hard for me and the other Tolkienfans. I reserved my ticket two weeks in advance. Ecstatic reviews from people who had seen it at the prerelease screenings wetted my appetite. Cuts of the movie were shown on the internet. My favorites of these were the scenes were Boromir came in contact with the Ring on the snowy Mount Caradhas and of course the by now famous scene of the Fellowship waiting in the Mines of Moria for the orcs and the cave troll. I wished I have not seen these in advance because they really ruin the experience a little.
The day I've been waiting for so long finally came. On thursday the 20th of december 2001 at 14.10 I was seated in the one of the showingrooms of the cinema of Schevingen beach in The Hague, The Netherlands. First I tell you again that this is my impression after I've just seen FOTR for the very first time as a whole. I'm definitely going to see it a second time for a more detailed watch.
Almost every bit of this film has been reviewed by others, so I will only describe the scenes that has the most good or negative effect on me during this 3 hours spend. The Silmarillion prequelscene with the Great Battle was incredibly short. Before you could even blink an eye it was over. I heard that it lasted 8 minutes, so I couldn't wonder if it was edited. The software Massive that f/x company Weta used really showed the various creatures in the armies well. But it was all very dark and because it was quickly over I didn't feel satisfied about his introduction of the Ring. The Shire was wonderfull, but Orthanc, Rivendell showed to much cgi for me to believe it real. In this movie where men played the most, the women were a great welcome. Liv Tyler was incredible and beautifull as Arwen during the horsechase, I was especially encaptivated by her voice when she spoke to her horse Asfaloth to ride faster from the Black Riders. Cate Blanchett was enchanting, but I really enjoyed her the most when she was digitally transformed as a dark queen when she was offered the Ring. The reviews of her in this scene were mixed but it looked really great to me. The cavetroll looked great but felt somewhat out of place between the little orcs. The Balrog looked really cool, but also very cgi and to big for my taste. How could that thing exist in Moria without breaking a thing untill the Fellowship came? The few glimpes of Gollum did nothing for me, exept for his close-up eyes. The fight scenes during the film were a bit of a letdown, like the prequelscene with the armies the fighting during the rest of the film went by quickly and it was edited in such a way that it went very fast before my eyes to see great detail. The Fellowship running from the Balrog on the tumbling steps of Moria had a genuine rolling boulder from Raiders Of The Lost Ark effect on me. That was abslutely freaking marvelous. I was wondering how the emotional aspect would be dealt with in this film. When I saw the clip of Boromir with the Ring on the internet my jaw dropped. That was so beautifull! I almost cryed. It was such a fantastic performance of Sean Bean in combination with the chemistry between his character and Viggo Mortensens Aragorn. But now I've seen the film as a whole this aspect has been snowed under a little because of the constant rush from danger. Although this movie clocks about 3 hours there is almost no feel of rest. The lament for Gandalf in particular did not feel right because of this. The open ending (which can't be helped due to the book) will hurt real bad for the general audience leaving them not quite satisfied. Even Empire strikes back and Back to the Future 2 had some good conclusion alltough they also were open ended.
I never expected that it would be perfect. Just that it would be filmed. And that's happend in a phenomonal way. It's a great introduction to the world of Middle-Earth. As a Tolkien fan I'm absolutely going to see it a second time, because it felt so good to finally see a film adaption of my favorite book after so many years.
My grade for now: 8.5