Cinematic Adaption of Books 1&2 Certainly Impresses.

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2001)

This film had been hyped up huge amounts by various people. So is it all it's cracked up to be? Well yes actually. Infact it's better than I expected. I'm not going to say it lives up to the hype because if wizards, orcs and the like have never done it for you before, then there's nothing here to convert you. If you do like mythic fantasy adventure type things then this is a must see.
The only other group of people who may not like the film are the diehards as there has been some changes and ommissions. But any film fan will realise that these have been nessecery. This, "The Fellowship of the Ring", brings to the screen the first two LOR books "The Ring Sets Out" and "The Ring Goes South" so even if your film is three hours long, you'll never get two books worth into it without some triming. The thing that did surprise me (but if I'd thought about it wouldn't have) was how most of the cutting and altering of material was from "The Ring Sets Out". Tom Bombadil, and the scenes he's in, are left out and other trimmings mean that the Hobbit's journey to Rivendell is now much shorter and is intercut with the growing dark menace. In fact whereas in the book it was a slow moving affair in the film we find we are rushed from A to B in no time at all. Subsequently when we reach the end of Book One we are not half way through the film. The other (major) change agin from book one is of course is that Arwen Undómiel now saves Frodo, not that this matters. Either this version of the scene or the one written in the book would have worked fine. It is purely because now you have to have the obligitory strong female in any film. Some people will moan about it but anything that gives Liv Tyler more screen time is fine by me.
Peter Jackson is on fine form directing this so called "impossible-to-make" film. All shots remain interesting and the New Zealand landscape is just amazing. I'm not usually impressed by landscapes but wow. The fast and frantic cutting together of the battle scenes make them at time hard to follow but they still impress. Music perfectly compliments the on-screen images and the film is perfectly cast.
In summary this film is fantastic and will entertain lots of people. As I said at the start of this (longer than intended) review if you don't like the sound of it please don't watch it. I'd hate to see lots of bad reviews from people who 'don't get it'. Likewise if you've made the book your life the changes will annoy you and you too should avoid. Everyone else sit back and enjoy.
5/5