Reasonable, but far from perfect.

Rating: 6/10 (22 December 2001)

Before I explain why I don't think this is worthy of much of the praise it's been given here, I'll point out that I haven't read any of the Lord Of The Rings books, so that may affect my judgement. The main reason I didn't like the film much was that I don't think many of the characters were very well developed. Once the fellowship was formed, it seemed that I was supposed to sympathise with the members, when there was barely any information given about them. From then the film became repetitive, moving from one fight sequence to the next, with emotional interludes that didn't involve me much. I lost most sense of excitement at the battles because in many cases we didn't know anything about the adversary - the name of something was mentioned and a fight began with little explanation. There were good points to the film - generally good acting, great scenery and special effects. Many films would get away with a procession of action set-pieces, but I don't think this does, because most of the fights are not well filmed. There are fast cuts and camera movements, presumably intended to make it feel more exciting, but I felt they simply confused and reduced the freedom to watch what was actually meant to be going on. My enjoyment of this film may have been affected by the huge hype. If I hadn't been expecting so much, I might've liked it simply as a fun sequence of battles and scenery. As it is I can say it was not bad, but I certainly don't reccomend it highly. The final thing that disappointed me was the ending. I know it's leaving it open for a sequel, but I still think the ending was disappointing. For a film with a sequel already planned, there should at least be something which appears to be an ending, or there should be a cliffhanger. Fellowship Of The Ring just seemed to stop in a random place. 5/10