You Shall be the Fellowship of the Ring - 16 Years Ago I entered a Magical World that had me hooked and enhanced ever since

Rating: 10/10 (17 May 2017)

16 Years ago when I was 9, I bought a VHS of Fellowship of the Ring and as soon as I watched it, I was enhanced with the world, the characters, creatures and visuals and my mind was blown - I had not seen a film like this. The movie is more than sheer brilliance - its phenomenal and undeniably passionate movie-making on a flawless scale - from the unforgettable and fantastic acting from a brilliant ensemble to the splendid writing that develops the character, kick- starts a great story with thought-provoking themes and builds a glorious fantasy world to the intense and impressive action set pieces.
Based on the book with the same name and set in the world of Middle- Earth, The Fellowship of the Ring sees young hobbit Frodo Baggins inherit a magical ring from his uncle, Bilbo, that is revealed to have been created by the Dark Lord Sauron, who was destroyed during a battle with the forces of Men and Elves. If Sauron regains the ring, he can regain physical form and bring destruction to Middle- Earth. As Sauron's forces desperately seek the ring across the land, Frodo and a group of eight companions - comprising of the wise wizard Gandalf, mysterious ranger Aragorn, Frodo's loyal companion (and love interest) Sam, Frodo's mischievous cousins Merry and Pippin, elf prince Legolas, fearsome dwarf Gimli and the troubled, but heroic warrior Boromir - set out from Rivendell to the fires of Mount Doom where the ring can only be destroyed.
So where can I start? The film perfectly captures Tolkien's world from the books by using beautiful sets and using New Zealand landscapes to visualise it, backed up by fantastic performances from the entire cast (including the creatures), the use of brilliant CGI with prosthetics & practical effects and big-atures, an intriguing script to bring a monumental story to life and the unforgettable action scenes (intense and thrilling fight in Balin's Tomb, Gandalf's stand against the Balrog, the prologue with Sauron as a bad-ass and the heart- poundingly stirring fight at Amon Hen). The film, like its successors, is epic in every way - from cinematography to costumes to its music score to its flawless directing - setting the standard from filmmaking and being the most revolutionary films in the fantasy genre. Even though The Two Towers is the best installment (and my preferred favourite) in the Rings Trilogy, I'll admit that Fellowship is the most flawless in the trilogy. Overall, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is an undeniably outstanding achievement in cinema and a fantastic start to the greatest trilogy of all time and all three films are utterly phenomenal.
Pros: The script & story, the cast & characters, flawless direction, action scenes, beautiful cinematography, Howard Shore's stirring score, practical effects/prosthetics with great CGI, the use of on- location and Boromir's death is the most emotional (and possibly the best) death in the entire trilogy
Cons: Frodo is a bit stiff in a few scenes, I didn't care for how the characters make Boromir look untrustworthy when he's a deeply troubled individual, Galadriel and Arwen could have been more developed as characters and Sam crying out for Frodo in the cornfield is the most cringiest moment in the entire LOTR trilogy