Painfully inconsistent, the Fellowship fails only a little after it begins

Rating: 6/10 (7 February 2016)

Although I was completely enraptured by the first hour of Peter Jackson's adaptation of the first installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, after Aragorn takes down seven Nazguls singlehandedly, I felt myself falling into boredom. The reason was simple. By showing that the Nazguls were as weak so as to be easily dispatched by one man wielding a sword and a torch, the threat posed to the Hobbits had been suddenly rendered inconsequential. Gone was the thrilling sense of dread, the terrifying feeling that a powerful, evil force was hunting them. They had become little more than creepy guys in masks.
Before that sequence, the film is exceedingly well-done, despite being filmed in a rushed fashion which, while reducing its already overextended running time, gives the film an amateurish quality that it could do without. The opening scene is awesome, and the subsequent scene in which we are introduced to Frodo, Gandalf, and Bilbo is beyond charming. Much of it feels as if Jackson has captured my personal recollections of Tolkien's masterwork: Epic battles, strange creatures, wizards, and names that roll off one's tongue like mini symphonies.
Leading up to Aragorn wiping the floor with the Nazguls, they are quite well done. "Baggins, Shire" is one of the coolest, creepiest things I've heard in quite a while, and their random evil acts, while at times hilariously cheesy, serve to establish them as truly formidable opponents. They are perfect embodiments of evil: unyielding, dark, and cruel, clothed in black armor and hoods, riding pitch black horses with red pupils. I was reminded of The Headless Horseman from Sleepy Hollow whenever they graced the screen with their sinister presence.
The casting is excellent. Wood plays the faithful and determined Hobbit Frodo Baggins, whose innocence protects him from the powers of the Ring. Ian Mckellen plays the wizard Gandalf, and Viggo Mortenson plays Aragorn. They are acted quite well, rendering themselves true inhabitants of Middle-Earth better than most actors could have done.
After Aragorn kicks some Nazgul butt, the threat dissipates along with much of the original novelty of the visuals and characters. The Fellowship is formed, and runs endlessly from place to place. Some shots are nice, while others feel like someone's demented cosplay home video. Even the battle scenes are disjointed and incoherent, jumping aimlessly from character to character as they each take on dozens of orcs singlehandedly (or occasionally with a little help). The appearance of the Balrog and the ensuing chase is very fun, but Gandalf's "You shall not pass!" is so badly directed that I almost retched.
The film is a jumble of inconsistency, bounding from excellent sequences and joyful character interactions to unabashed slogs, frantic nastiness, and pure cheesiness. It is well-endowed in the imaginative department, but can't seem to get a firm hold on anything else.