Projection

Rating: 7/10 (26 July 2003)

After many decades of waiting, Tolkien fans finally get the lavish rendition of the books they love. I never read the Lord of the Rings, and have no mind to, but I can say that Fellowship of the Ring is far superior to Ralph Bakshi's disastrous version from 1978. I do not care how accurate these movies are towards the books, I am just grading them as films themselves.
I have been a staunch opponent of PG-13 movies because with an R-rated film, the creators are at liberty to do whatever they want with minimal constraints. Thus, content is typically in the view of the director, allowing them to make such works as Platoon, The Road to Perdition, and Godfather. Bear in mind: for every good one there are thousands of bad ones. With a PG-13 one, the producers try and cram as much objectionable material in as they can and pray that it passes the MPAA. Thus, garbage like XXX, Pearl Harbor, and The Fast and the Furious is created that is significantly more vulgar than the likes of The Breakfast Club and Good Morning Vietnam.
Fellowship is an interesting mix. It has the seemingly mandatory introduction required for fantasy films and many of the necessary characters: an elven archer, a wizard, a brute man warrior, the comic relief. The problem is that the presence of evil is never manifested in a determined form; it is always jumping around and changing shape. The Two Towers is more focused in that realm, but it has its own problems. There is a greater sense of adventure and spirit that I prefer over the enclosure of the Two Towers and, while the tone shifts, it doesn't become as preachy. Speaking of which, the message in this movie was less garbled than in the second.
Peter Jackson's camera is both inventive and imitative. He looks for interesting shots, but can't help repeating the works of others. Flyover shots appear to be his favorite since they allow him to show more of the (artificial) Middle Earth setting. Brian DePalma should be proud. The makeup is decent, deservedly winning itself an Oscar. I am not familiar with a lot of Howard Shore's music, but his work here is powerful, if a bit too forced. Hans Zimmer could have done the same. The sound work is pretty substandard, but it deserved an Oscar for Sound Effects Editing.
Overall, a good movie that isn't afraid to go the distance. I do not recommend it to die-hard devotees of the book. You'll probably be disappointed. 3.5 out of 5 stars. We'll see about The Return of the King.