The Best Film of the Year

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2002)

This year, despite a lot of griping, has had some very high highs. And some very low Pearl Harbors. Despite all, and several movies that I enjoyed a lot ("Royal Tenenbaums," "Gosford Park," "Shipping News" is very enjoyable if formulaic [and cowardly when they avoid the part of the book that talks about religion], Michael Winterbottom's "The Claim" is for consideration this year I think, "Beautiful Mind" is Ron Howard's best work maybe ever, "In the Bedroom" with Sissy Spacek just acting the hell out of it), it was clear to me after about 20 minutes, and clearer after three hours, that the best film of the year is "Fellowship of the Ring." I concede that it feels like we're in fast forward quite often but them's the brakes. The casting is perfect, yes even Liv Tyler, the accents are perfect, even the necessary moments of comic relief by the so-far very marginalized Pippin and Merry are perfectly handled. The Mountain Troll made Harry's Cave Troll look like Jar Jar Binks (do they really think that looked real?), every exterior topped the ones before, New Zealand was to this film what Tunisia was to Star Wars. The idea of having Christopher Lee as the film's sub-narrator like a dungeons and dragons version of Prospero's Books should get the pic a screenwriting nom and Christopher Lee a Supporting Actor nom, if not the little trophy. My only real criticism of Elijah Wood is that he has no pores. Even the negligible beefing up of Arwen was only sensible, and probably something Tolkien would have done himself if his daughter had made her request for a strong female character one book earlier (speaking of which, start buying stock in the actress playing Eowyn. She's australian I think, I saw her name somewhere, she'll probably be opposite Hugh Jackman in a romantic comedy in no time), and really, in the appendix to the Lord of the Rings, it is what he does: he toughs her up in retrospect. Bombadil and Goldberry, the Barrow Downs, most of Lothlorien, etc. sad to see you go, and it was annoying that they gave away the Palantir right away. They pull off the height differences quite well with old fashioned depth of field, and even though it sometimes feels like you're watching someone else play "Gauntlet," the fight sequences are visceral and effective. The score is a bit like Orff fighting Handel to the death at times but when I'm not annoyed by an Enya song something has been packaged right. If New Line gets the guff, they should ditch the three year plan and bring out Two Towers directly opposite "Spider-Man" which, to be honest, looks like crap (are we supposed to be excited that the spider-man figure looks like it was animated from a crayon box? same thing as with all the Lucas effects in Star Wars I and the horrendous special edition trilogies. You know, there's a reason why people used to use puppets: it's because they exist in space). I'm showing my lack of insider savvy there, for all I know New Line paid for some of S-M. Anyway, as they found out, if they'd opened on as many screens as Harry Porter and the Wizard's Rock they may very well have beaten it, as they well deserved to. If they don't want to do that I think that reopening it in theatres in the summer will get it another huge run at the box office at least (yes it will be nice on DVD but really if ever there was a film to see again and again in a theatre), maybe format it for IMAX. Without droning too much more I will say that for me it is Jackson's (and I think that all the credit goes to Jackson, this is his film all the way) seamless integration of effects into the story, of everything into the story, that gives it the drive to keep you watching, but what makes it Best Picture material is the moment where Sam (Sean Astin) very undramatically reflects on how he is about to be further from home than he has ever been before. Things like that, being able to encapsulate such an emotional kick in one quick moment. And look for the director himself giving a Hitch-style cameo as a drunken face on the road to the "Prancing Pony" in Bree. Fellowship of the Ring, the best picture of the year. And only now will I admit that I'm going to see "Ali" tomorrow, and that "Black Hawk Down" doesn't even show here for two weeks.