Overrated

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2002)

This movie is indeed a spectacle like none other, the cinematography is unmatched and Jackson's adaptation is remarkable. However, Tolken never meant for the story to be viewed, and though it is a landmark in filmaking, the characters are simply weak, well acted, but weak, and my premise is that Tolken never wanted us to care for them. What tolken wanted was to free readers from their austere existense and bring them into a world unlike our own, and use our imaginations to get there. A movie, no matter how spectacular can never achieve the imaginative experience of a novel like Tolken's.