Simply Stunning

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 2001)

WOW!! What else is there to say? FOTR was pure magic from start to finish that had my breathing deep and my heart pounding. After reading all the hype ever since last year I went into the theatre wondering whether or not it would live up to my expectations. Ever since LOTR was written, it has been the consensus of many that it could not be filmed. Well, Peter Jackson has delivered something that so rightly deserves its title of "Masterpiece"; a film that will no doubt be the milestone of films of its genre, not unlike fantasy books have been compared to the original work.
What I find most incredible is just how every location in the film matched almost exactly the pictures I had in my head when I read it. Hobbiton, Rivendell, Lothlorien, Isengard and especially Mordor, were just as I had imagined them. I don't think that there has been a film that has matched my imagination as much. The grandeur of the landscapes, using CGI and the New Zealand vistas were moulded into something so far removed from our everyday experiences whilst at the same time being wonderfully familiar.
The casting was second to none, with full marks going to Ian McKellen as Gandalf (again, exactly as I'd imagined!). He so eloquently captured his character's nature, espcially in the scenes involving him and the Ring. And his performance in the Mines of Moria had me almost in tears.
If I had to venture one minor criticism, the character development was lacking slightly. Whilst Elijah Woods did a great job of playing Frodo, I felt that his plight, his fear of the unknown and his temptation by the Ring (written about so well in the books) wasn't concentrated on as much as it could be. It was only during his meeting with Galadriel (Blanchett) that we began to see something of his burden. I hope that as soon as Frodo gets closer to Mordor, we begin to see something deeper to his character.
Sean Bean (a fine actor) did sterling work and his confrontation with Frodo, subsequent battle scenes with the Orcs and final dialogue with Aragorn were extremely profound.
The effects were mind-blowing and the vastness of the Tolkien universe was truly captured using wide camera angles and vertigo-inducing, birds eye-view camera flight. The Moria scenes were just as fantastic as previous reviewers raved about; the fight scenes with the cave troll and the Balrog were truly awesome. One of the moments I remember so well from the book was Gandalf's confrontation with the Balrog and the tension of Tolkien's words were translated superbly in film. The fight between Gandalf and Saruman was also excellent.
I honestly cannot find any major faults with this movie. Although three hours is short for such an epic work of literature, Jackson captured exactly the flavour of LOTR and he rightly deserves his title of gifted moviemaker (I haven't caught anything else he's done). And I can breathe a huge sigh of relief that his massive gamble paid off. Here is a film that will stand the test of time and represent the pinnacle of movie making greatness, an important piece of work that cannot, and should not be ignored.
10 out of 10.
And Harry Potter? Let's not even go there!