Loved every second

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2001)

Wow.
That sums up my state of amazement throught all of the 6 hours of my life I have so far spent watching this film (yeah, I went back to the cinema the very next day only to watch it again).
The Lord of the Rings books cannot be brought onto film. There are sections of the book that simply would not translate well to film. Peter Jackson has done a superb job of turning the book into something which is filmable. And he has filmed it well.
Whole characters are missing, new ones have been created, some appear more in the film and some less. And that's not a bad thing.
The Fellowship of the Ring is nothing short of spectacular. If you are an anal Tolkien fan - you may not enjoy it, unless you take the film as what it is. It is not the books on film. It is one man's interpretation of the books on film.
If you have no idea what the Lord Of The Rings is about - you may not enjoy it. You'll probably be very dissapointed by the ending. Both times I saw the film, I was often amazed at the number of people saying "What a stupid way to end a bloomin' film!". Please understand, this is part 1 of the whole film. There's 2 more to come......
If you, like me, have previous knowledge of the story, and are willing to simply sit back and see what Peter Jackson has done with this story.... you will not be dissapointed.
p.s. The Balrog is superb.
:)