Astonishing

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2001)

Peter Jackson is perhaps the only director with a vision expansive enough to create the enveloping world that comprises J.R.R. Tolkien's epic. (After all, his excellent `Heavenly Creatures' concerned two teenage girls so entrenched in a world of medieval chivalry and battle that they resort to murder to keep in intact.) Here, Jackson's world is so thorough that it not only encompasses the earth most of the action takes place on but also an underworld and (especially) every available inch of sky. It's enormous. Structures rise for what seem like miles into the air (the production design is by Grant Major, who also did `Heavenly Creatures' and Jackson's enjoyable horror-comedy `The Frighteners') and Andrew Lesnies's swooping camera frequently gives you a bird's eye-view of all levels of action. And what action! Definitely not for children under nine, intense battles that last for several minutes apiece feature creatures that are among the most disturbing personifications of evil you may ever see. The sense of despair they provide is palpable and exhausting. Jackson uses all the powers of his imagination to create what is clearly an hommage to Tolkien, but there's also a gleeful indulgence in honoring his favorite filmmakers; there are references too numerous to mention but the tribute to the German expressionists of the silent era is vivid and delightful (and scary). The film's scope dwarfs Tolkien's characters but perhaps that's the point: the immense struggle between good and evil is bigger than any character can carry (and there are few shades of gray presented here) and although the outcome seems predictable the struggle itself is awesome, biblical, profound. The acting is fine, especially Ian McKellan as Gandalf the Grey and Viggo Mortensen as Strider but Jackson could have had everyone reading the phone book and the result would have been the same. This will surely go down in the annals of film making as one of the finest examples of film fantasy ever created. The special effects are completely convincing; you've definitely seen bigger budgets that haven't been used this well. I feel like an idiot gushing as I do but I can't help it--it's that good.