As much an Internal- as an External Epic

Rating: 10/10 (21 January 2002)

I can probably summarize my review best with this quote from Martin Scorsese talking about Lawrence of Arabia. Because that's what The Fellowship is, as much a movie about emotions as it is one about spectacle. And on both levels, the movie succeeds in an amazing way. How does it work?

First of all, let me cover the internal side of this picture. It contains a lot of characters, but in this first part I say about four characters stand out, Frodo,Gandalf, Aragorn and Boromir. Each of these characters has his own conflicts, history and motivations. And again I see a similarity between L.o.Arabia and Fotr, and I'm referring to the similarities between Lawrence and Frodo. Frodo's story is about being taken out of the confines of a familiar culture, his own, and being placed among cultural strangers. Secondly it's about him having to carry a burden he is not sure he can handle (carrying and destroying the ring). These two aspects of Frodo's story are of course comparable to Lawrence's story in Lawrence of Arabia. Besides Frodo you've got the other three characters wich I will not cover so deeply, but it's to say they each have their own problems and conflicts they must try to overcome. How much time Peter takes to explore these emotions is significant, especially for such a large production wich, in Hollywood, almost always means, lots of effects and cardboard characters, and it has renewed my hope for feature Hollywood blockbusters.

And this brings me to the second aspect of Lotr, watching it as an External Epic. To put it mildy, the movie is breathtaking. Seamless CGI, wonderful sets, locations etc. etc. Visually it might well be one of the most amazing movies ever made. Nothing more to say about that.
So to sum it up. Lotr is indeed a movie wich works on a lot of levels, contains facinating characters, wonderful visuals, a rich soundtrack etc. It may be (and I know I said this already with Moulin Rouge, but it simply is the truth) the most complete cinematic experience imaginable. Keeping in mind you have to be open-minded enough to appreciate fantasy, there are very few faults to detect and it may well be one of the cinema's greatest epics!!