A strange and unique thing

Rating: Null/10 (21 December 2001)

The Lord Of The Rings was not what I expected at all. I had been anticipating a very good film, an epic film, a visually stunning film, but overall it just did not unfold like I had imagined it would. I have problems with this movie, but (and this goes for anyone who really loves movies) voicing them before this particular example seems a little pathetic. The Lord Of The Rings, whether you are groaning or grinning when it has finished, is set to become a modern-day classic.
Peter Jackson has made a unique film here. His bizzare style and eclectic fever has produced something rather beautiful, yet equally abhorrent. The talk of beauty is everywhere and well deserved, it is true that the scope of this movie is simply magnificent. Soaring mountains that thrash icy snow around their peaks whilst tiny beings attempt to navigate the peaks. Dark, hideous and onminous tunnels littered with the corpses of a race annihilated by some creeping foulness. I could go on. The film has character aswell, a bearded wanderer who is wise, gentle and yet full of such an awesome strength and biting tenacity that you simply cannot help but feel utterly mesmerized. Gandalf is an amazing character to see brought to life so vividly. And yes, that is but one example.
As for the effects and action factor, I have never been as stunned and delighted in the cinema as I was during several of these moments, and I mean never. There are scenes in this movie that had me staring open-mouthed in total disbelief. But the action/monster/effects scenes are not presented copiously, they appear now and again, used as and when is necessary. The movie has a story to tell...and that is why it will succeed. I must divert for a second onto an aspect of the film which I cannot stop thinking about...gore, ultra-violence and visions of malignent evil. Peter Jackson, if you haven't noticed, is a twisted man. I myself was ready to be dissappointed by the inevitable fluffiness of any 'scary bits'...I WAS ILL PREPARED. This film contains some of the most rancid and downright wretched freaks you could ever wish to clap your eyes upon. The antagonists in this story are unanimously disgusting...they also mean to hurt people quite badly. Needless to say they are dispatched with such extreme prejudice by the fellowship that the action feels more like some rather disturbing documentary concerning the horrors of war. In other words...adults shall not simply sit beside their children smiling gently as a sword is thrust underneath an arm and an orc drops....instead they will watch in horror as a swarm of hissing, screaming, puke-inducing, sewer filth are stoned, speared, skewered, sliced and ...yes....even tortured before their very eyes. Peter Jackson...how the hell did you get away with that PG rating?
Of course, the film is all the better for the multiple arrow wounds, it delivers the necessary sense of urgency and peril in the story ahead. If I have a negative thing to say, it would concern the score that DOES NOT do justice to the visuals and emotion on-screen, but it is not a bad score either. Another grumble concerns the fact I have to wait to see the next installment, is that a complaint at all? Overall, this film is a grand and epic piece of storytelling...for those who complain of unnecessary plot developments and 'boring sections' I would remind them that this happens to be a mere part one in a trilogy. If Peter Jackson and crew manage to keep consistent then the trilogy when complete will stand alone as totally unique set of movies and they will receive the attention from film-nuts that they deserve....I guarantee it.