a spectacular achievement of casting, visual effects, storyline, and emotion

Rating: 9/10 (10 February 2007)

Peter Jackson, a filmmaker of New Zealand, would soon make his name known worldwide when he agreed to take on the task of directing, producing, and writing the script for one of the finest trilogies ever made. Basing his vision on the spectacular J.R.R. Tolkien novels, he brought to life a fine series.
The very first of Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is in my opinion, the most cleverly made of the trilogy. Not the best of the three, but the one with the most imagination and talent put into it. The cinematography was beautiful, the music breathtaking, and the shots were all gorgeous on an epic level. Acting was superb, with Viggo Mortensen arguably giving the best performance. Special effects were amazing, as was the action that Jackson and his team assembled. The battle sequence between the Fellowship of the Ring and the cave-troll in the mines of Moria is my personal favorite action scene of the film.
However, despite the genius put into "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", I must state that the one part of the film preventing me from giving it a 10/10 rating is its overused running time. The film is three hours long and I'm sorry to say that it didn't need to be that long. Out of the three films, it is the one where I always say that it could've been a bit shorter. I picked out a few sequences that I felt were not necessary for the story development, for it was already finely made.
I would probably call the "Fellowship of the Ring" the second-best of the trilogy, and if it weren't for its overlong running time, it would be the best. Like I said earlier, it is the most cleverly made and certainly worthy for its Oscar nominations, but was just a tad bit too long for my liking.