Great characterisation, but more action than epic dimension

Rating: Null/10 (14 December 2001)

Here's a not overenthusiastic review from a german Tolkien-devotee:
Jacksons adaptation of Tolkiens novel is certainly a milestone in fantasy-filmmaking  which it had to be, considering the reputation of the book(s), the expectations of fans world-wide and the incredible devotion and work that went into its making. It is not perfect though, neither as a film seen by itself nor as adaptation of the book. Having read LOTR (and Tolkiens other work) several times, I will leave it to others to elaborate on how this action-packed, visually exploding film will work with people who haven't read Tolkien. I suppose it will polarise them as Tolkiens trilogy polarised its readers: They love it or fall asleep reading (as the actor of Gimli the dwarf, John Rhys-Davis, allegedly did). For readers of the book however I would like to mention some (only some!) strong points and weaknesses of Jacksons film.
The major strong point is, to me surprisingly, casting and characterisation. Jackson and his actors put a lot of emphasis on the characters, and though I had my doubts when I saw the trailers and previews, in the film I find they all work exceptionally well. You leave the theatre almost unwilling to part company with the fellowship (were it not for the urge to visit the bathroom after almost three hours). Ian McKellens Gandalf is quite the wizard (though I didn't enjoy the duel between him and Saruman, see below), and he did manage to make you forget the unforgettable Richard III he once portrayed. Orlando Blooms Legolas, though not quite as airy as one could have wished, is yet intensely sympathetic, as is Viggo Mortensens Aragorn, who emanates the savage intensity one had barely dared to hope for. Regrettably, the actors of Sam, Pippin and Merry have too little room for developing their characters, but Elijah Woods Frodo, wow; he comes as a big, positive surprise. Even in this first movie he manages to hint at the burden and the sadness involved in bearing the ring without making it appear blatantly sentimental. They really caught the spirit of the book there.
Another positive point is the fact that Jackson and crew did manage to bring out central themes like friendship in spite of adversity (of course inherent in the plot), the importance of compassion (a rare moment of quiet dialogue, Gandalf talking to Frodo, taken quite literally from Tolkien) or nature vs. "industrial' evil (the forging of the uruk hai from mud, the pulling down of trees). But  and here the buts start , all these themes do come a little short in the midst of all the breathless exposition and journeying plot, and will probably, hopefully be elaborated on in the sequels. In this first film they remain episodes that could have done with more scope (difficult of course, given the running time). Merry and Pippin, for example, seem to follow Frodo out of pure chance, not out of friendship and deliberate intrigue (one of my favourite scenes in the book thus being completely ignored). And the pulling down of the trees in Isengard is a bit pathetic, compared to what we see on a rather bigger scale happening world-wide.
Talking about the drawbacks, they are, obviously less surprisingly, generally to be found in the fields of perspective and time, and thus at least in part inherent in the process of transforming words into pictures. In Tolkiens book and especially in "The Fellowship', the action is almost completely told from the point of view of Frodo and the hobbits. All the big action  from Isildur hewing the ring off Sauron's hand to the duel between Saruman and Gandalf  is only indirectly portrayed, told to Frodo by Gandalf, and thus very far removed from the main time (and space) of the action. In the film we get to see all this directly, in mighty computerised detail, literally stunning and visually mostly effective (though not when Saruman clashes Gandalf repeatedly against a wall and twirls him round on the floor). The effect is one of immediate, overwhelming action and violence, rather than of building suspense and ancient, long-forgotten events that creep up on you. Another example: Frodos and his friends flight from the shire is filmed as one breathless stumble through the woods, the black riders constantly at their heels or even appearing in front of them, so that one wonders how come they don't get him right away. Of course, Jackson has to quicken up events in respect to the book, but one major feature of Tolkiens mythic work is thereby lost: the epic dimension. Time thus runs differently in the film, it shrinks, even though the filmmakers try to stretch it by using dialogue. "We will walk along these mountains for forty days' (but on the screen it takes rather less than five minutes); "it will take us four days to get across (Moria)' (but two scenes later they arrive at Balins tomb, and from there fight and flee their way pretty quickly to the other side).
Of course this effect has to do with the different relation of action and description in novel and film: In a novel, the sequence of description, dialogue, thoughts, poems and action creates by itself, by the reading process, an illusion of time (and especially in a rather long novel like LOTR). In a film, all these elements occur simultaneously, and only the single action remains standing out. It has to be said in Jackson's favour that he took what he could from Tolkien's descriptions to create the background of Middle-Earth in rich, astonishing, loving (if sometimes rather sterilely computerised) detail  as shown in the terrific stills of the filming. But it remains the background, one great scene following another, mountains, forests, cave-complexes, too fast to linger there as one lingers in Tolkien's universe. Hardly avoidable, perhaps, yet regrettable nonetheless. Those are to be envied who see the film without knowing the books and have the chance to read them leisurely afterwards for the first time! For the rest of us, there's only the long wait for "The Two Towers', which by its comparative lack of action will hopefully give even more room to the fantastic cast of characters.