A very good adaption despite a couple of setbacks

Rating: Null/10 (30 December 2001)

I mentioned in my one line summary above that this film has a couple of setbacks that detract from this film being a classic fantasy epic. Since so many people have seen and will see this film and will form their own opinions - and since so many people have already written so much about this film - I will get right into the film's flaws. In doing so I will leave its positives to be commented upon by others who have already written about this film. In effect I pretty much agree with them about those aspects of the film. Essentially, there are two problems I have with "The Fellowship of the Ring." First, this is an unnecessarily dark and gory film. Its joyless action and overbearing heroics take away from the audience's enjoyment of what is intended to be a rousing adventure. I liken it to a heavy meal whereby one eats too many thick, dense foods and, while enjoying the food when one actually eats it, he regrets doing so afterwards. It looks like the film makers put too much of a good thing into this film, just like the meal analogy. In relation, this film takes itself way too seriously, to the point where it does not ask us to delight in hating the many antagonists of the film. It just plain wants us to hate them, and because of this quality the "bad guys" are too horrific for their own good. Second, the film is rather long. It does not matter if the film makers wanted to keep to the story line of the J.R.R Tolkien's novel. What seems like a never-ending yarn of excitement as a book does not directly translate into a similarly thrilling experience as a film. The film should have been injected with a greater sense of brevity about the proceedings because the film becomes a tad bit tedious after a while. However, I should mention that the vague homage to the grand Harryhausen epics of the late 50's and early 60's apparent in the fellowship's battles with an assortment of ghastly ghouls in the film's third act is effective and is the best part of the film. Taking into account these reservations (which I should not downplay; they certainly do have a negative impact), "The Fellowship of the Ring" just barely manages to live up to the hype. Final Grade: B+