The fantasy movie

Rating: Null/10 (12 January 2019)

A lot has been said about The Fellowship of the Ring over the years. It was a cultural phenomenon unlike few others at its release. People talked about it for years before it even came out. There was a lot of hype, a lot of buzz. And it earned it. This movie changed cinema. It paved way for a whole plethora of fantasy movies. It's quite likely that the current superhero craze would not have happened had this movie not shown that people cared about make-belief, care about escapism into a foreign and strange world, filled with magic and wonder.
It truly is a wonderful movie. There will doubtlessly be other adaptations of J. R. R. Tolkien's magnum opus in the years to come. We can only hope that whoever they end getting to direct, will love the world of Middle-Earth as much as Peter Jackson does.
Because that's why these movies are so good, why this movie won us over almost instantly. It's not the huge budget, or the talented actors, or even the majestic landscapes of New Zealand. Although they do help. A lot. But in the end it's the hours put in. All the tiniest details that someone included, not because they absolutely had to, but because they wanted to make it as perfect as possible. Because they care about this world, about this story.
The Lord of the Rings has now shaped multiple generations. It has shaped how we think about stories. It's definitely one of my favourite books ever written and this one is definitely one of my favourite movies ever made. Not because it's the perfect adaptation. Or the perfect movie. It's neither. There are things changed, which I wish were not. The storytelling has its hiccups. But those don't matter. Because at its heart this movie is in the right. It cares about what it is, what it represents. About what it's telling us. What kind of a story it is.
And it is for that reason that I love this movie so much.