This flick is a hands-down, three thumbs up WINNER! "Now let's go hunt some Orcs!"

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2001)

Director Peter Jackson has created an absolutely winner in this truly visionary cinematic masterpiece of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy _The Lord of the Rings_.
If you are a diehard Tolkien fan (like myself) you'll find yourself more than happy to grant him all the artistic license that Jackson used (and I dare say he took some liberties, but never missed the essential theme and motif) and you will forgive him when he strays from the text here and there, for any such meanderings are a thousand times compensated by his pristine portrayal of such Middle-Earth wonders such as The Shire, Rivendell, Saruman and the Tower of Orthanc, the assault on Redhorn Pass, the awesome and mind-boggling Mines of Moria and the Battles in the Chamber of Records and the Bridge of Kazad-dum, and Lothlorien and Queen Galadrial, and the astonishing Gates of Argonath and the carved and crumbling yet still majestic images of Isildur and Anarion, Tol Brandir, and Rauros falls. And the fall and salvation of Boromir the Brave, and the dreadfully awesome Eye of Sauron and His Dark Tower -- Baradur.
I do not doubt that J.R.R. Tolkien would have approved of this film. Long time fans of Tolkien will marvel in its delights, and for those who have not read, or have read only superficially and cursorily Tolkien's epic fantasy, well, this movie will undoubtedly spawn a whole new generation of readers.
Three thumbs up and HOORAH!
~revlove
"Now let's go hunt some Orcs."
note: Its a 3 hour butt-buster with no intermission, so be prepared.