Overall disappointment but good entertainment regardless

Rating: 5/10 (10 January 2002)

The reality is that The Fellowship of the Ring is a long and complicated story and one not really suited for the screen. In this respect the script writers and producers have actually managed to do some justice to the story, which is good to see. It could have been worse, although the scenes between Saruman and Gandalf made me wince, and Arwen should have remained the background character she is.
The greater faults of the film lie in its editing and smaller details such as the almost pathetic humor which pervades the story. Tolkien readers will recognize some derivation of the lighter side of the book, but the silly little one-liners are more annoying than funny. Even at three hours time was precious in this film and it would have been better spent in other ways.
The Fellowship of the Ring opened with some promise, thanks to the introduction narrated by Galadriel. We were given the best sequence in the film right at the start with the fly-over of the foothills below Mount Doom, and the following battle scenes were nothing short of spectacular. It is these scenes that will make The Lord of the Rings as a trilogy of films, and it is just a pity that the editors of the films haven't seen to take advantage of this. The shots (whether virtual computer animations or real) are too short, use too much motion (the temptation of CGI!), and the audience is left wondering what they missed. Directors of older films such as Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver) understood the philosophy of allowing audiences time to process what they were seeing. Speed does not always create excitement and anticipation. The opening scenes in Gladiator (Ridley Scott) are a good example of a well done big scene (think of the long, panoramic shots of the forest from the POV of Caesar).
There are also technical issues with the film, although these can perhaps be forgiven. Some of the CGI characters are noticeably lacking in detail, eyes are poorly rendered and look hexagonal, and some frames have a jigsaw effect where it is obvious they have been cut and joined.
I am amused to see that The Fellowship of the Ring, out less than a month, has jumped to the top of IMDB's top-rated list. There is so much hype surrounding these films I think that most people actually hesitate to criticize the film, agreeing with everyone else that it's the best ever.

Nevermind. The good features in The Fellowship of the Ring will no doubt be more heavily relied upon in the upcoming two sequels (which feature large battle scenes, he he) so let's look forward to them.