One Film to Rule Them All (sigh...)

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2002)

Having only just read and thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the mammoth LOTR trilogy, I came to this film with the book still fresh in my mind. Even after reading glowing reviews all over the place, and even after the movie earning no less than thirteen Oscar nods, I still doubted whether a film could do justice to this epic story. I doubted wrongly. This is an amazing film. There's so much good stuff it's hard to know where to start. The film kicks off with a brief history of the One Ruling Ring - the focus of the story. This sequence is well edited, concise, and quickly draws the non-Tolkein-literate viewer into Middle-Earth. It also just happens to contain one of the most impressive battle scenes i've seen, involving thousands of orcs, goblins, humans, elves, and god knows what else... We then move into the peaceful land of the Shire, home of the hobbits, and from there into forests, over hills, across rivers, and over and under snow-capped mountains on a journey that will have you totally hooked from beginning to end. The one thing almost everyone agrees is totally cool with this film is the choice of setting - the scenery is absolutely breathtaking. What's less agreed on however, are some of the - albeit minor - changes to the story; most notably, the absence of the character Tom Bombadil, and the increased role played by Arwen (Liv Tyler). It might have been nice to meet the nature-loving Tom, although the role he plays in the book is of little consequence to the story as a whole, and it may have dragged the film on too long. As for Arwen, the story really did need a stronger female presence, and Liv Tyler provides a very strong performance with what screen-time she does get. That said, all the performances are top-notch, and i'm surprised only Ian McKellen got an Oscar nomination - Cate Blanchett surely should have been short-listed. I was also surprised with Sean Bean's turn as Boromir (I've never really rated Bean until now ;) Do I need to say anything about the SFX? Oh alright: mind-blowing, seamless, imaginitive, etc... All in all, this movie is one wild ride that for once lives up to the hype and surpasses it. It's a movie that leaves you itching to see the sequel - so it's just as well that isn't too far away :)