Is there something I missed....

Rating: 1/10 (22 December 2001)

Ok..b4 we get into this let me preface by saying I'm a HUGE fantasy fan. As a child I read loads of mythology and as I got older I got into fantasy novels, and yes, I even enjoy a good sword and sorcery flick. When I first saw the trailer for LOTR a year ago my jaw hit the floor. I coulndt not WAIT to see this movie...and so a year passed. I came to the theater wanting to be swept away into the majesty that is Tolkein...I came wanting to be blown away and fall irredeemably in love with the film. Sigh...maybe I wanted too much.
Now the film is not bad, not bad at all..in fact in all honesty I can say that it is prob among the top 5 films released this year(which may not m,ean much considering what came out this year) Yet..I did not come away with a magical feeling..that warm feeling inside when u know u have had a truly good movie experience. I came away a bit fatigued(3 hrs is 3 hrs) and midly dissapointed.
The good: overall, I'd say the cast is very good. Id aways thought Viggo was a good actor and he finally got a role he could shine in. Ian Mckellar was great as a somewhat vulnerable Gandolph and Ian Holm was delicious as Bilbo...he made a hobbit actually seem creepy. And the guy who played Samwise(the boy from the goonies) was actually good as well.Even Liv Tyler was impressive(though tolkein purists will claim she had no business in the book) and of course Ms. Blanchett did her usual best(with a narroly defined role).
The bad: the script- I just felt( and still do) that if you have read the books( and mr.jackson was admitedlly a HUGE Tolkein buff) you got alot more out of the movie. I think maybe he assumed a prior knowledge and relationship w/ the characters cuz there was very little development of the characters and their relationships to each other. Thats why when a certain cast member died,..I really felt everyone was taking it a bit too hard on screen, lol. Secondly, the dialogue could be on the cheesy side. Now, I know its Tolkein..but at least let me fall in love with the characters b4 u get all cheesy and sentimental on me...at least the two bumbling hobbits were there for a bit of comic releif.
CGI- was it just me, or was the rendering horrible? Cgi is always noticeable even if done well..but some scenes were just embarassingly bad. Also, the cinematography was not very crisp..I felt like I was watching the movie thru a haze the whole time. Now granted..the technical failings of the movie dont really bear much on how much I enjoy the plot..but still, for all the money spent..I dunno, I would have thought at least the cinematography would be good.
pacing: point blank...when the characters weretn running for their lives..it dragged. Since the script failed to get me involved with the characters, I just was blase at best about any reflections they may have . This was especially apparent at the initial 'meeting of the fellowship' scene. Suddenly there are all these characters that have no discernable relationship whatsoever...yet, they all weep like babies when that certain cast member died...didnt make much sense to me. Now dont get me wrong...there were a few poignant moments( i liked the scene with sam at the end..touching....and Sean bean's charac too..touching) but to me..it was all disjointed...very little flow..I could never really sink my teeth into the film.
So, instead of being ravenous for the next installement when the film finally ended..I left like 'well..maybe the next one will be better'. Now, I will say, it was alot better than Phantom Menace..I was never just bored outright..but for all the hype and commotion..I was underwhelmed. Dont let fantasy/tolkein groupies lead u astry, its a good film..but not a great film and nowhere near as good as the first Star Wars trilogy. Sigh...everywhere that I go I read reviews of this nature..so much so that next week I shall see the film again and see if therw was somenthing I missed the first time-A.N.