If this is the Star Wars of my generation...

Rating: 9/10 (26 December 2001)

and Harry Potter is the Wizard of Oz of my generation, then my generation is truly pathetic.
Okay, it's not like FotR is a bad movie. In my opinion, the first two hours are flawed but very entertaining. It is the third hour where it gets really clunky, repetitive, and nonsensical.
First off, I have not read the books. I claim that as an advantage, since I cannot criticize the filmmakers for skipping my favorite parts. No one else should be doing this either, but it is inevitable. But my first major criticism has to do with the novels. This film has the same setback that all fantasy novels do - too many characters. It works better in novels, to be sure, but it certainly is a disadvantage to a film. I knew only about three or four names among the main characters by the end. Also, character development is impossible here. I knew only two characters by the end of the movie: Gandolf and Bilbo. You wanna know why? Because the actors who played them, Ian McKellen and Ian Holm, are masters. Their characters are not developed in dialogue, but by acting. Elijah Wood is almost there. None of the others comes close, although Liv Tyler didn't seem too bad (her character was too small here to judge well). It's also true that none of the situations were at all well developed. The whole film feels rushed, which we might expect in a movie based on a long novel. That still isn't forgivable. A lot of references get thrown out in the air with little explanation, and I heard several groups of viewers talking amongst themselves to see what was going on.
But that's not all. There's plenty to criticize elsewhere as well. The story itself is lame. Let me guess: another uber-evil villain wants to control the world. How uninteresting can you get? I guess these novels may have started that trend, although I doubt that. Still, it was lame when Tolkien invented it and it's still lame in fantasy novels today. Then there's the cinematography: it's repetitive. The novel's structure is basically one of an endless parade of locales, and the basic shot is an aerial view of the umpteen good guys walking in a straight line across whatever locale they've reached. Peter Jackson must have spent at least half of the 16 months it took to make these three films sitting in a helicopter! Also, the battle scenes are ridiculous. Anyone who complains when the rebels live in the battle scenes in Star Wars, or how the Storm Troopers always miss is going to laugh themselves silly when they see these nine fellows, four of whom barely fight (the hobbits), dispatch hundreds of drooling orcs in a matter of ten minutes.
So what did I like? Well, some of the action sequences are awfully entertaining, despite their ludicrousness. I especially like the special effects of the troll, and his fight with the group. That was very exciting. To further criticize the poor structure, I felt that the Balrog sequence was quite boring after that. It looked far too much like the devil from Fantasia's Night on Bald Mountain number. The Balrog in the Ralph Bakshi cartoon looked much cooler, actually. The showdown between Balrog and Gandolf was rather lame considering. I also liked the lovingly created and detailed locales, except for the Shire, which is boring. But most of everything else was great. The Ring Wraiths were pretty cool. I especially liked the way everything looked when Frodo puts on the ring.

Other than those scant things, this was a huge disappointment considering the recent imdb fiasco. This truly is a blight on our great site. Embarrassing to the highest degree. 6/10.