good, but nothing special

Rating: Null/10 (22 March 2002)

This is not a bad movie.Agreed.But I don't understand what all this hype is all about.I have certainly seen many better movies.I must admit I heard about J.R.R. Tolkien only recently, but I like these kind of stories, and yet LOTR failed to inspire me. First there are too many characters, both good and bad,but none is aptly developed.Time and again ,when a new character makes an appearance, we expect something better but they too fades away as if they are making way for something big in the end.But there is none,nothing. Elijah wood does a good job as "Frodo", who is supposed to be the protagonist of the movie.But as I said earlier ,too many characters shifts the onus from him and spoils the movie.As a result we fail to feel with him.The other characters are also played well.I enjoyed the characters of Aragon and Samwise Gamgee very much.
The special effects in the movie is also not that special. In fact it is below par.It certainly should have done better, with the technology available today.None of the creatures in this movies looks real, except Gollum.But then he is not shown fully.
Having said this, this movie has a couple of impressive scenes,like a river in the form of horse riders washing away the nasguls, the 9 dead/living kings.Then there is a fight between Gandalf, the grey and his mentor Saruman.
One more thing, the sceneries in this film are excellent.
I give LOTR a 7 out of 10.The movie has a lot of good things but they fail to produce a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts, a feature that is the hallmark of truly great movies.