At last!!! There is hope for the film industry yet!

Rating: 10/10 (7 April 2002)

I have been waiting so long for this film. By that I don't mean an adaptation of the brilliant novel (I haven't even finished reading it yet) But I mean an epic masterpiece like this.
Peter Jackson has brought us a truly beautiful and believable vision of Middle Earth (Filmed entirely in New Zealand) onto the screen. Also, he has made a unique decision that will set him aside in our memories for a long time to come... He has focused the entire films on the characters and their relationships to each other. Rather than just a heartless retelling of the story, like Chris Columbus has done with Harry Potter, he has created something that is - in essence - an epic independant film.The result is truly something we have never seen before. It is like no other film in existence.
However, at certain points this feels a little rushed. The Lothlorien sequence comes immediately to mind. It seems that this has been done in order to fit in the full emotional ending in all of it's epic scope, having not been allowed to go over three hours. This is a minor problem though and is entirely expected in adapting such a huge tome into a three hour film.
Fans of the book may be upset to here that most of the first half of the episode has been trimmed considerably. This is so we can get the fellowship of the title together and create a wonderful ensemble chemistry in reminiscence of The Magnificent Seven or The Great Escape. Also, Jackson has brought us an adventure with more action than Tolkien did in his brick of paper.
This is a faithful adaptation but is still a new experience, even to people who know the book off by heart (they are out there) because of Jackson's injection of adrenaline and humour (not that they were totally missing in the book).
Also, whoever cast this film is a genius. A flawless ensemble, which consists of Sir Ian Mckellen, Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortenson, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom and - robbed of his oscar nomination here - Sean Bean (the nomination did go to Mckellen who lost gracefully to fellow Brit Jim Broadbent). The sheer concept of Rhys-Davies as a dwarf may be laughable at first but he brings an incredible strength that no-one else could, he has a wonderful Welshness about him that is easy to warm to. Bloom has the least dialogue but his character will shine in the future. Wood is a remarkable lead to begin with but is soon outstaged by Mortenson who commands respect as a future King of Men.
The supporting cast are also perfectly chosen; Sir Ian Holm, Hugo Weaving and Christopher Lee.
The Two Towers promises to be even better and we will soon have an entire trilogy of epic adventures that will forever be better than Star Wars.