Excellent Work

Rating: 9/10 (22 December 2001)

This first installment of Tolkein's legendary work "Lord of the Rings" is a masterpiece of modern cinema. Tolkein purists may gripe about some of the changes, but this is a movie, not a book, and even after the changes needed to condense and simplify the story for film format, it's three hours of film. The screenwriters did a marvelous job of translating the story to film, and although a few details are different, it's true to the spirit of the book.
The visuals are outstanding. All the places, characters, and cultures are rendered with perfect attention to detail. This IS Middle Earth, and it's even better than I ever imagined it. At no other time in history has it been possible to create Middle Earth in a movie, and this movie made good use of the effects and techniques available today. The work in producing and combining two scales is especially well done. If the Academy Awards committee does its job fairly (big if), "The Fellowship" will sweep the next awards. Everyone who worked on this film earned his pay.
The action in the fight scenes is fast and brutal, and if you sit too close to the screen, you may have a little trouble following what's happening. But that does make a good excuse for seeing the movie again, and this one is actually worth a second viewing on the big screen. This is not the time to wait for the video.
Elijah Wood was surprisingly charming as Frodo. Ian McKellen, Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, and Ian Holm give excellent performances, but Billy Boyd as Peregrine "Pippin" Took stole mushrooms, cabbages, and every scene he was in. Watch this young man. There's no telling where he will go after Middle Earth.
If the next two installments uphold the same level of quality, no one will dare even to think of making another version of the movie for at least forty years. Let's hope that the theaters re-release "The Fellowship of the Ring" in November 2002 so that audiences can see it again on the big screen before seeing "The Two Towers".