The best overhyped flick ever?

Rating: Null/10 (25 December 2001)

After having sat through the first installment of The Lord of the Rings, I don't know whether it was great or a disappointment. Let me explain. Thanks to all the prerelease hype, including all those gushing reviews from the critics (who must be getting a portion of the profits for giving it glowing reviews) I sat down believing I was about to see the greatest fantasy flick ever, a film to give Star Wars a run for its money.
But for some reason it never seemed to click. Having recently reread the Fellowship of the Ring, I come away with the old mantra--the book was better. Even at three hours, the film seemed to fast forward to get to the battle scenes. Frodo's evacuation from Hobbiton was really rushed, lacking the suspense of Tolkien's book. Also the film seemed to only briefly glance over some sections, like the journey over the mountain and through the mines way to quickly. In fact the film only came alive for me towards the end, after Gandalf's battle with the Balrog. The real emotion everyone is babbling about finally spurts forward and it made the last part some of the best cinema I've seen all year.
In addition, if this flick wins the Oscar for best visual effects, I'll probably fall over laughing. While some of the effects work, the Orcs reminded me too much of the goblins from Ridley Scott's Legend, the cave troll looked more laughable than the bathroom troll from Harry Potter and the opening battle made the droid/gungan battle from The Phantom Menace look better.
What did work? The performances for one. Ian McKellen was forceful and effective as Gandalf, Viggo Mortensen kicked butt as Aragorn and it was cool to see Christopher Lee as Saruman. (Hope he gets a lot to do in both Star Wars Episode II and The Two Towers.) And Elijah Wood got the job done as Frodo.
In the end, was The Fellowship of the Ring the greatest movie ever? Not exactly. Was it the best fantasy flick ever? Maybe (then again considering Willow and Legend are the competition). Do I want to see the next chapter. You bet, if only for the hope that The Two Towers will become the fantasy film version of The Empire Strikes Back. I hope.