Epic, beautiful, brutal cinema

Rating: Null/10 (23 December 2001)

The Fellowship Of The Ring is a masterpiece, make no mistake. A masterpiece of both spectacle and film making. Director Peter Jackson delivers a sprawling epic that succeeds on every single level. It has a handful of minor, minor flaws but those minor, minor flaws are nothing when compared to the power and achievment of the piece as a whole. This three hour film holds your attention and engages your emotion from the moment the New Line logo falls into shot to the time that very same logo fades to black some 178 minutes later. No mean feat.
The film is a concoction of everything film should be, and every single ingredient works a treat. The casting is inspired and role-perfect, the script adaptation is lean and streamlined, the direction faultless. What impresses most is the conviction the film carries. Here we are, surrounded by Elves, Dwarves and Orcs, and yet the film somehow manages to be a hundred times more realistic than many so-called historically accurate films. You believe. Boy, do you believe. You swallow everything Jackson spoon feeds you, never questioning anything. This is fantasy played out as fact. The world within the film is very real: dark and dangerous, drenched in atmosphere.
One of the many ways in which the film succeeds is in its sense of real fear. For the first time in many a moon, here is a picture with a real sense of dread. Without resorting to unpleasant gore (and Jackson is a master if requested) the film is very, very frightening. We want the fellowship to succeed. We are desperate for them to survive. We root for them. But chasing them is pure evil incarnate, and that is a very unsettling feeling. If ever there was a story of the age-old battle between Good and Evil, this is it.
The film is not all doom and gloom, though. Jackson's picture is a beautiful, breathless, energetic sight that zips along at such a pace that as a viewer you are left bloodied and beaten. As with all great cinema, The Fellowship Of The Ring is as much an experience as a piece of film.
The films greatest asset, though, is one that most film makers fail to pull off, especially in a piece of film this big in budget and scope. Emotional involvment. Jackson has succeeded, however, for here we actually care about the characters. The cast are, quite simply, incredible. Each player gives it all they have got, and in return we get a fabulous ensemble piece worthy of any high-brow drama. Elijah Wood makes for a wonderful hero, McKellen delivers a vivid, head strong Gandalf and Sean Astin turns in an honest, heart-felt performance as Samwise, Frodo's loyal gardener.
It is the two 'men' of the Fellowship who shine, though.
Viggo Mortensen finally gets a chance to take centre stage after stealing every film he has appeared in over the past fifteen years. He does not waste the opportunity, blazing across the screen as the rugged ranger Strider with a toughness and charisma all his own. Mortensen was born to play Strider/ Aragorn. He gives the film a grounded centre that is hard to shake. The star of the show, however, is Sean Bean. Bean has the toughest role of the film as the warrior Boromir. Boromir represents everything that is human. With that baggage comes a whole spectrum of emotion. Boromir is the most dimensional character of the piece: he is a noble, honourable man at heart who wants what is best for both his kingdom and his people. He joins the Fellowship and wants to complete his mission, wants to protect Frodo and the other members. But Boromir has a fatal flaw: his humanity is his weakness, and his actions bring with them a terrible consequence. Bean is terrific in the role. In the drama scenes his performance is full of depth and intensity, in the action scenes he storms through the carnage, snarling and laying waste to whatever gets in his path. It is an angry, honest performance and for me the finest of the film. Indeed, some of the best scenes in the film were the quiet ones involving dialogue between Boromir and Aragorn.
Everything else about this film is masterful, from Howard Shore's beautiful, haunting score to the gorgeous landscapes and set design. Jackson should be proud of this towering achievment. It is entertaining, frightening, involving, exciting and very moving. One of the greatest films ever made? I would have to say yes, it is. Time will tell. A classic.