Lets get things into perspective

Rating: Null/10 (9 August 2002)

I have been reading some of the user reviews on this film and have been amused by some of them, slightly angered by others. I appreciate that everyone has their own opinion otherwise it would be a very dull place to live, but there are a few points brought up by other users that I would like to add my own opinion to.
Warning - There ARE spoilers.
1) Not as good as the book! This is an issue that will always come up with book adaptations. The key word here, however is adaptation. In the film medium artistic licence is a compulsory factor in order to appeal to a mainstream audience and also soften the Executives who are doling out all the finance for the film. The fact is that LOTR is an adaptation. It was never gonna be exactly like the book, no film could be. The alterations made by a director tells us alot about his/her courage,imagination and enthusiasm about a project. With that in mind, Peter Jackson is a very courageous, imaginative and enthusiastic person. He has shown such genuine love for a project (highlighted more on the DVD extras) that his adaptation has maintained the integrity of the original plot. The ommitance of Tom Bombadil was, in my opinion a very wise move, as was the ommitence of the character Glorfindel. Both these characters, while an interesting aside in the book bear no relevance to the plot and if where kept in the movie would probably draw out more critisism cos of the nature of driving a plot along in a film medium. The extension of Arwen's role in the film was a clever move as it does give us more of an insight into the elves and her role with regards to how she fits in with the Mythology and the Sacrifice she makes to Aragaon. This makes the reunion in the third book more poignant.
2) Too long? Well I think Jackson got this just about right. I was overjoyed when I heard it was going to be that long because I knew that Tolkiens work was not going to be cut to shreds. Make it any shorter and it will feel like a rushed movie. Make it longer by making the additions mentioned above and people will lose interest.
3) Bad Acting. This was one comment which did surprise me. It is very rare for a fantasy movie to have any real good acting because most of the dialogue is going to be hammy anyway. LOTR to me was the exception to the rule. The acting was surperb - One example where this can be seen is at the council of Elrond where as the debate was raging, Frodo stood up and said that he will take the ring to Mordor. The camera then switched to Gandalf. He slowly closed his eyes and you could see the pain he was feeling. The one thing Gandalf wanted was not to let the Hobbits find out about the horrors of the world and in that one facial expression he had realised he had lost that dream, A moment subtle and beautiful with all credit to Ian Mackellen. It is moments like that that shows real talent, and it was very much abundant in the film. I don't understand what some people expect with regards to acting when I hear comments like they thought the acting was poor. Do you want people on film to be screaming at each other all the time, breaking down in tears, confessing to their long lost fathers that they really love them....hmmmm No. Each genre has a tone and LOTR got it perfectly.
4) Doesn't deserve to be in the top 250? Who cares!!! A film to everyone should be something personal. It is always hard to put down in words how you are feeling. It shouldn't matter that your peers don't like the film and you do. The fact that some people gained something from it, either awe, sadness, anger, hope even..(Although that is more Shawshank territory) is a testiment to the film itself and it should not matter where it appears in some chart (No disrespect to IMDB intented). It all comes down to whether you as an individual like it or not and what it did for you.
After all that - Did I like the film....Yes. It is in my top five, it affected me on many different levels and I am in awe of Peter Jacksons vision and talent. How it affected me? .....well like I said it is hard to put down in words.