Pretty good escapism

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2001)

Well I won't go into detail explaining the story. It's pretty much one that we all know, good vs evil, a young man gets the weight of the world put on him a task he is not sure he can burden. In this case its the role of Frodo played by Elijah Wood and its perfect cause in every movie I've ever seen him in this is how he acts as if he's always burdened down by something.
The greatness in this film is not just in its sharp sets and good casting, McKellan has a fantastic screen presence as Gandalf, and I didn't think Liv Tyler could make an elf look so sexy. It's not even the great worlds created of the overly green Shire and the lands of Middle Earth. What is most impressive of this film is its picture of evil, a world (the darkside if you will) that is hell bent on strangling light and enslaving the good in humanity.
The depiction of Orcs, and the evil armies in this film is one of sheer terror. Particularly done amazingly well are the Ringwraiths (evil horsemen who are in search of the ring who are neither alive nor dead), who ride across the screen like some vision of the apocolypse. While we all know this movie is a fantasy, director Peter Jackson's creation of these creatures is one of sure terror, he makes them out to be EXTREMELY frightening.
With that being said, the film does have minor faults. It suffers at times through the cute factor, and over camradare. Cutesy music always pops up when the hobbits are together, or old friends meet after a long absence. Also they seemed to make the actors use Irish accents which some tend to loose half way through the picture. It's kind of cheesy, but once the adventure is set off and the party is on foot, there is no holding back to the joy that awaits on screen filled with evil armies, an ingenious looking cave troll, and a magical demonic mythical beast, and some well done battle scenes.
An enjoyable film for what it is.
Rating 7 3/4 out of 10.