A three hour film about walking.

Rating: 1/10 (20 December 2001)

Ok, so forget all the hype and think about it for a second. 3 hours in which nothing much happens except a bit of walking and then a bit of fighting does not a good film make. There may be those who are fans of the book and I don't doubt that to them this is a great film. But to anyone else who have never ventured into the world of Tolkien then it is a huge let down. There seems to be too much reliance on knowledge from the book as none of the characters seem to have any back story and we haven't got a clue to why they are prepared to take on the quest.
The action scenes are few and far between and when they do come they seem a bit lacklustre. The acting is nothing special and there are some scenes (The council meeting) where the effects people must have taken the day off. Which leaves the walking... there's a lot of it. In fact they're some of the best bits as New Zealand looks very nice. However that's all that gets done and after a while I was convinced that the film was going to show and advert for Millets or the Rambling association at the end. Painfully dull though if rambling or fantasy is not your thing.