This is THE film. *possible Spoilers*

Rating: 10/10 (22 December 2001)

*Possible Spoilers herein, especially if you've never read the book*
I've been waiting for this film ever since it was released. I was fully prepared to take the film as it came, good or bad. In the end, I was in heaven.
This film is quite simply stunning. It took me a few minutes to say anything coherent about it other than "wow". Lets take this one area at a time.
1) Non-human races. Elves are cool. Elves rock my world. Yes, I thought the elves were portrayed wonderfully. They aren't fluffy or cute, aren't tree-huggers, and they most assuredly Are Not Nice. Frankly, two of the most disturbing characters in the film are Elrond and Galadriel. Elrond is hard-edged, stern, and you certainly know that he has power. Galadriel is just freaky, and in some cases almost terrifying, simply because she manages to capture so completely the alien "otherness" of being an elf of her age and power. In fact, all of the elves are done this way. they have a kind of instinctive superiority complex, which shows itself through every word and action. Their speech, movement, fighting style, demeanour, heck, even they way they stand and the way they look at things, all contribute to them almost screaming "we aren't human, not even a little bit." These are elves the way they should be.
The dwarves (the few we see) are all equally well realised, gruff, dour, insular (but with deep feeling for their own race), as well as inhumanly stubborn.
The hobbits are captured to perfection too. Their nature shines out of their every move, their every word. The little people without a care, who suddenly have this Dark Destiny thrust upon them. It will be interesting to see how they develop in the next two films.
The Orks/Uruks These guys are scary. What is perhaps most interesting of all, however, is the way they look almost similar to elves, as, like the film and book says, they were created by warping and twisting elves to produce the ork race. very clever.
The Nazgul. Scary Scary Scary brilliant. These could so easily have been pap, but their menace and the terror they inspire were brilliantly carried across. Although the moment with one staggering around with a flaming torch stuck out of his hood where his face should be is pure slapstick (and actually not detracting).
All in all, the non-humans totally suck you into believing that they are what they are. There's none of the "add-a-forehead Star-Trek Alien-of-the-Week" about this. They arent human. They dont think Like humans, they don't act like humans. Enough said.
2) The plot and action This could so easily have been bad. It was good. The story has been tightened up in places, some bits have been spliced, some excised. But as a plot, it all hangs together. Certainly its a whole lot grittier than the books, darker in tone. Even Aragorn has more of the darkness about him, his self-doubt over his own strength to withstand the ring, and a slightly nasty edge that really works. The ring itself is brilliantly done. The visuals involved with wearing it really do conjour up the idea that the ring pulls the wearer into the world of wraiths, not a nice place to be. The way it also insidiously goes to work on every party member, rather than just Frodo and Boromir, is a stroke of pure genius, and just what you'd expect for something this nasty. That ring is definitly Bad News.
3) realisation of dreams
Mckellen IS Gandalf. Thats how I always saw him in my minds eye, and now he's come to life, right before our eyes. Galadriel is wise and terrible and distant as the stars and so scary. Saruman is proud, powerful, and the tortured fallen. He rocks.
A truly astonishing movie, one utterly worthy of its roots. The Final Lesson: Elves are Not Nice People