An excellent depiction of the book, but hard to judge on its own

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2001)

Warning: Some spoilers inside
The movie starts with a prologue, lining out the context of the story: the story of the Rings of Power, of Isuldur and how the Ring was forgotten, and came into the hands of Bilbo. A nice and useful addition, especially for people unfamiliar with the books. Of course, the story is at many places shortened, leaving out many details. To accommodate for this, the story has also been altered at quite a number of places: events have been merged. Sometimes, this has gone too far. One case I'd like to mention is the new role Arwen has been given, rescuing Frodo from the Dark Riders by taking him to Rivendel. She has been portrayed as a here as a very strong, almost warriorlike women, when in the book she is not. It would have been better in my opinion not to change characters like this, and thus have Glorfindel rescue him instead. The time needed to explain could easily have been taken away from some scenes at Bilbo's farewell party, where in my opinion a couple of useless scenes have been added. Another problem is in my view the early discovery of Gollum. I don't understand the need for this modification, and I therefore think it is a shame it has been modified at all.
The bigger role for Saruman is a good thing in my view, as it reduces the need for flashbacks and clears up a lot of potential problems later. The palantir should not have been shown that early however, and certainly not to Gandalf. It is an essential part of the story of The Two Towers, and giving away the link between Sauron and Saruman, even suggesting a joining of powers between the three wizards, is a useless modification to the story.
The ending of the story is in fact part of book two, thus creating a more logical point to stop than it is in the books.
Overall though, I find the movie a great addition to the book. Apart from a few mistakes, it is as good as a depiction as you may reasonably ask for in the time this movie runs (which is already long). The footage of the landscapes is awesome, and the characters are in general well portrayed. It is difficult however to judge this movie by itself, as it is an unfinished story. The ending as is now presented is of course unsatisfying, and we will have to wait for part II and III before a good judgement can be given about the this movie. For now, I give it the benefit of the doubt.