The best movie ever made (at least until "The Two Towers")

Rating: 10/10 (11 September 2002)

Peter Jackson has created his masterpiece. He was a great director with such films as "Bad Taste" and "Meet the Feebles", but "The Fellowship of the Ring" will finally get him the credit he deserves as one of the best directors today. "The Fellowship of the Ring" is a perfect movie. The casting could not have been better. Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood appear on the screen and we don't see actors, we see an ageless wizard and a brave yet simple hobbit. The locations were exactly as they should be according to the book, from the beauty of the Shire, to the majesty of Rivendell and Lothlorien, to the dark wasteland of Mordor. The script was perfectly adapted from the original story. Some changes were made, which is expected, but it is still the story we have known and cherished our entire lives. The score fits the movie just as it should. The music makes the locations come to life, the heroes and villians more powerful, and the deaths of certain characters more heartfelt. The special effects were phenomenal without being overdone. We see sweeping shots of huge armies in battle and larger-than-life villians, but it all seems completely real and believable. But most important of all, the movie had true emotion and feeling. Fans left the theaters as satisfied as a hobbit after his sixth meal. Anyone who has read the books knows that the saga will continue to get better as the story progresses, the War of the Ring deepens, and the peril greatens, eventually leading us to the heart of Mordor and the greatest finale ever conceived. Peter Jackson shot the entire trilogy at one time. They have all been filmed. We can be assured that the movies will continue to be this good. We can also be assured that this trilogy will not meet expectations, it will exceed them, as we have already seen in "Fellowship". The trilogy will end up being a classic for all time, like the original "Star Wars". The world will never grow tired of "The Lord of the Rings". And that is exactly how it should be.