Superb vision of a fantasy masterpiece.

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2001)

I read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings as a teenager and was completely enthralled. It is a masterpiece of imagination and wonder, and was the novel that sparked in me a lifelong interest in fantasy literature. Therefore, I was somewhat apprehensive when I learned about this film version because of the very rare instances when a film matches its original source material. However, after the first five minutes of viewing, my fears were scattered like Orcs before the Riders of Rohan! This is a wonderful, uplifting, and exciting film. To the filmakers' credit, they have been completely faithful to the source material: the story, characters, dialog, action, and setting are all exactly as I had imagined while reading the book. An epic story, brilliant acting, incredible action sequences, mind boggling special effects, achingly beautiful natural and fantasy landscapes...... it's all here. And, it is not necessary to know anything about the story in advance...... the film, through an exciting and visually stunning prologue, does an excellent job of introducing the "backstory" and will appeal to both beginners and experts in Tolkien's world of "Middle Earth".
Please see this film. You will not regret it. In the field of epic adventure films, it is easily the best ever made, far surpassing a certain film about crouching tigers and hidden dragons that for some incomprehensible reason (perhaps political correctness or trendiness) received unjustified critical praise last year.