The Good, The Bad

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2001)

Admittedly, I expect nothing of a movie these days. THEY ALL SUCK. So, I expected Fellowship to suck as well. But it didn't suck. It had many redeeming qualities. Still, all the main actors are white. That is really stupid. I mean, J.R.R. Tolkien lived in South Africa in the 1930's and 40's, so it's no wonder his story wld be so ethnocentric. But come on. The only black character is an ork!!! What kind of msg. does that send?
But, as for the complaint that LotR doesn't have enuf character development and is too much like a big $$ action flik, well, so what? Who goes to the movies for character development anymore? Give me a break. If you want close personal relationships, go to a bar or something. I dunno, get out and spend some time w/yr friends. But don't complain because LotR didn't waste too much time on dialogue.
I think the fact that it lacked character development is one of the BEST things about LotR. We got plenty of character development for Frodo and Gandalph, in any case, and they're all that really matters. People are whining b/c LotR plays the Hollywood game a bit too much, but what do you expect? LotR is better than Star Wars. Star Wars is a crappy B-movie with bad special effects and worse acting. Its only redeeming quality were the awesome sound effects (the tie-fighter noise, Chewbaca's rawr, Vader's hoo-pah), the blue trailing light on the Falcon's engine, and Chewbaca (again, not really the wookie himself, but just the noises he made). Acting wise, Harrison Ford was the only redeeming feature. LotR is better than the Godfather. You want a movie with wooden characters? There's one. Any character development? Nope. Just stereotype mafia guys running around. I would say LotR is just slightly better than Empire Strikes Back combined with Aliens and a good D&D adventure. You can't knock D&D for just being an excuse to play hack & slash, and you can't knock history for being a segue to war. You can't knock LotR for being too much like history, or too much like an action movie. This ain't about the characters, it's about their QUEST, and it's a gory, battle-ridden quest (just wait until the next two movies! half of the rest of the entire story is one gigantic battle scene!).
I give LotR a 9.5/10, and the missing .5 is only because we didn't get to see a bona fide love scene between Arwen and Strider (I wanted to see some skin, oh well). If you want character development, read the book. If you want a movie, go to the movie. Film isn't about art, it's about eye candy and making money--always has been, since the nickelodians. If you had any other conception, you must be French or an idiot, or maybe a chick who wants to see a chick-flick!! This ain't no stupid French chick-flick mon ami, this is Lord of the Rings!!! And it Rules!!!
=LILITH