A dark vision of the book, but it works well...

Rating: Null/10 (23 December 2001)

Firstly, this is undisputably one of the best films ever made. It is a modern-day adaption of Lord of the Rings, an intense three hour journey into a vision of the reality of Middle-Earth. As a film in it's own right, there is little to find fault with. The casting is excellent, the acting is flawless (Ian McKellen is perfection itself as Gandalf). The settings are amazing, in that you barely realise that it is a fantastical place -- everything seems very real. Shots are set up perfectly, with excellent positioning of characters within the frame. In several places, if I may be so bold as to say so, Jackson actually IMPROVES on Tolkien's masterpiece, and adds depth by drawing from The Silmarillion and other related works.
However, no three-hour version of Fellowship of the Ring could possibly capture all of the book and make everyone happy -- it would have to be a dozen hours to capture everything presented in the book. I think that perhaps Peter Jackson (a horror film director) focused a bit too much on the dark side of the story. After the ringwraiths appear, he literally takes the colour out of the film, making it almost black-and-white, and the hues -- and joy -- never returns. Bree is dark, and there is no fun in The Prancing Pony. Rivendell and Lothlorien become mysterious and menacing places. Also, almost all of the areas where Jackson added to the work were to make the movie even darker: Saruman's evil role is increased, the orcs/Uruk-Hai feature prominently, and there's a nasty cave troll added as well. This isn't to say that the movie fails -- but it is a far darker, and much more intense, vision of the Lord of the Rings than I personally might have preferred. It's definitely not a film for children -- mid-teens and upward only. All-in-all, I found that Jackson's version of Fellowship of the Ring is perfectly executed according to his slightly more "current", darker vision of it. I'm sure that very few people will find fault in that... one could argue that he makes it even more... "real"... with the more prominent and tangible evil. (And there's definitely no room for Tom Bombadil in Jackson's vision of FOTR, that's for sure!)
Some small technical issues that I hesitate to mention but shall nonetheless:
The music was excellent, but it really plays a subtle supporting role and lacks a certain... punch or originality (though some would say that is exactly as it should be, and I wouldn't dispute that.) The special effects were a bit unbalanced -- some elements, such as the cave troll and the incredible balrog were perfectly executed, while others were noticeably flawed and unreal looking. (However, the size-difference of the hobbits is handled well, with very few moments where you notice any problems with perspective.) There are scenes shown in the trailers which are not present in the final film (can you say "special edition DVD version"...?), and there are threads that sort of dangle with the edits. For example: Gimli makes grandiose statements about people falling under the spell of the "elf-witch" of Lothlorien... and someone who knows the book realizes this is a set-up for the moment when he himself "falls under her spell" and asks for a strand of her hair -- but this never happens; and the scene of them receiving brooches (a scene shown in the trailers) is missing... and yet, strangely, Jackson seems to go out of his way to show their brooches later in the film without explanation.
But, these are all nitpicks of an arm-chair critic -- this is an excellent film. I was spell-bound for three hours, on the edge of my seat even though I have read The Lord of the Rings several times. The three hours passed so quickly; I could have easily sat and watched the entirety of the trilogy, glued to the screen. It's going to be a long year, waiting for the next film -- and I'm going to pick up the books again as soon as I get home...!
One final nitpick: Is it just me, or was Arwen presented as a more powerful wizard than Gandalf? What's up with that? She commands the water to rise against the Nazgul, while Gandalf gets whipped (pun intended) in both his "magical" battles. (In the books, Gandalf takes credit for the water rising at the ford; in the movie, it is clearly Arwen who calls the water forth with magical words.)