A great start to my favourite all time trilogy

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2005)

Fellowship of the Ring in my view was a great start to the epic trilogy! I was stunned to learn about how this film got more Oscar nominations than Return of the King (13 to 11) yet Return of the King was the more epic and Oscar sweeping film. Director Peter Jackson opted to go for a more unknown cast with a mix of actors from Australia, USA and The United Kingdom.
Australia's two main actors including Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett (The Aviator) who played elf queen Galadriel and Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith from The Matrix) who played Elrond. Both were good although you would have expected an Oscar nominee for Blanchett.
USA's mix had most of the main characters including Ejiah Wood (Fodo, the main character), Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee), Viggo Mortensen (Aragon) and Liv Tyler (Arwen). All four proving crucial in the film's main plot.
And finally UK's actors including Ian Mckellen (The role of wizard Gandalf earned Mckellen an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor), Orlando Bloom from Troy and Kingdom of Heaven (Legolas), John Rhys Davies (Gimli), Christopher Lee (Saruman the evil wizard), Sir Ian Holm (Bilbo Baggins) and Sean Bean (Boromir).
The plot was exciting and the cast lead well. The main winners being Wood, Mckellen and Mortensen. You could feel the devastation of The Fellowship following Gandalf's death in a film which provided awesome scenes including the fight scene between Gandalf and Saruman, the Battle of the Last Alliance and the terrifying Nazgul with their loud screeches.
Overall I preferred the other two films though this one would definitely be in my top 10 list.