Masterpiece of visuals, but only visuals

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2005)

'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' is an epic, ambitious film in scope and magnitude, if not in heart. It tells the fantastic story of Frodo, a hobbit (small person) from the Shire in Middle Earth. The Shire is a peaceful place, as close to utopia as one might find. His peace is interrupted when the sorcerer Gandalf rides into town and discovers the secret to Bilbo's ring. Bilbo, also a hobbit, acquired the ring from Gollum - a distorted creature whose life has been elongated, but also deformed, by the mystical ring.
When Bilbo leaves for adventure, it is Frodo's job to return the ring to the desolate Mount Doom and cast it into the fire from which it was made. This, you see, is the only way to destroy the ring. As a mere hobbit, Frodo cannot shoulder this burden alone. Along for the journey is his gardener and confidant Samwise, Sam for short. Two other hobbits, Merry and Pippin, too immature for their own good, meet up with Frodo and Sam on their way to the magical land of elves.
Once there, a "fellowship" is formed to destroy the ring. One of them is Aragorn, a ranger with a secretive past. He is the primary focus of 'Lord' other than Frodo and the ring. He is a descendant of the man who held the ring over Mount Doom and could not destroy it. He is in love with the elf Arwen but the backdrop of the times leaves that love affair in jeopardy.
Sauron, the dark lord who originally created the ring, has found out its location and seeks out the hobbits, and later the fellowship, to take the ring back. Saruman, the secondary villain in the film, is Sauron's "puppet," but also wants the ring for his own power. He is a sorcerer like Gandalf, but has turned to evil.
Also in the fellowship, protecting the ring from Sauron and Saruman, is another man, Boromir. He is from the land of Gondor. Legolas is the lone elf representative in the fellowship. Elves are the fairest of the many creatures of Middle Earth and gifted archers. There is also a dwarf (slightly taller than a hobbit and certainly more robust) named Gimli. Dwarfs reside in mines, great connections of caves in the mountains through which the fellowship must journey in order to complete their task.
It is difficult to summarize the plot of 'Lord of the Rings' because of the amount of information that is thrown at you. There are characters and their ancestors; different creatures in the elves, dwarfs, hobbits, and men. In addition to them there are the mysterious orcs, goblins, ringwraiths, uruks, sorcerers, and the creature all onto itself, Gollum. This complexity in setup and the numerous strands of plot to keep under control is the primary problem with 'The Lord of the Rings.' It took me up to three viewings to saturate all of this material and half way understand it.
The triumph of Peter Jackson's labor of love is that you want to watch it indefinitely to soak in all of this splendor. The effects and settings are indescribable other than to say nothing this stunning has ever been featured on film before. Visually, the picture has no equal and will forever be understood as altering the way movies are seen. Unfortunately, to tell the story's backdrop, much of the humanity involved in Middle Earth is left on the back burner. In addition to that, there is a serious problem with pacing.
The filmmakers seemed more interested in remaining faithful to J.R.R. Tolkien's original creation than they are in attempting to make a workable adaptation into a film. In that regard, there is a large battle sequence that feels very much like the climax of the film, but is then followed with upwards of an hour of more footage! This was the straw that led 'Fellowship' from being a great film into a good film. With that in mind, I am forced to think of 'Fellowship' as split. It is a masterpiece of visual technology and presentation, but married to a story that needs more heart and less intrusion of detail. *** out of ****