The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2005)

This is the first part of the famous trilogy based on the well-loved books by writer J.R.R. Tolkien. Long ago in Middle-Earth an evil lord Sauron in the land of Mordor forged a ring of evil powers in the fires of Mount Doom. Years later Bilbo Baggins (Sir Ian Holm) of The Shire finds this ring and leaves it to Frodo (Elijah Wood). Accompied by a fellowship of friends/heroes he must return this ring to Mount Doom to destroy it. This fellowship includes Sam (The Goonie's Sean Astin), Pippin (introduction by Billy Boyd), Merry (introduction by Dominic Monaghan, now known in TV's Lost), Gandalf the Grey wizard (Oscar and BAFTA nominated Sir Ian McKellen), Aragorn/Strider (Viggo Mortensen), Boromir (Sean Bean) and Legolas (introduction by Orlando Bloom). Meanwhile, betraying White wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) in Isengard has an army hideous of Orcs and Urukhai to find the ring, along with the terrifying Nazgûl (Ring-wraiths). Also starring Liv Tyler as Arwen, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, The Matrix's Hugo Weaving as Elrond and Andy Serkis as Gollum/Sméagol. BAFTA winning, and Oscar and Golden Globe nominated director Peter Jackson has created an excellent start to the trilogy filled with marvellous landscapes and great action. It won the Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup and Best Music for Howard Shore, and it was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, Best Song for Enya's fantastic "May It Be" (also nominated the Golden Globe) and Best Picture, and it won the BAFTAs for the Audience Award, Best Special Visual Effects, Best Make Up/Hair, the David Lean Award for Direction and Best Film, and it was nominated for the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, the BAFTA Children's Award for Best Feature Film, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Original Score. Christopher Lee was number 31 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, he was number 13, and Sir Ian McKellen number 4 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, and McKellen was number 5 on Britain's Finest Actors, the film was number 16 on The Ultimate Film, and as part of the trilogy, all three films were number 11 on The 100 Greatest Family Films. Outstanding!