A wonderful beginning which sparks a fantastic middle and perfect ending.

Rating: 10/10 (22 December 2005)

A hobbit named Frodo (Elijah Wood) has been given the task of taking a powerful ancient ring to the fiery pits of Mount Doom, so it can be destroyed with the help of The Fellowship, which consists of Boromir (Sean Bean), Gimly (John Rhys- Davies), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gandalf (Ian Mckellen) and three hobbits named Merry, Pippin, and Sam (Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, and Sean Astin). The ring once belonged to a powerful warrior named Sauron, who it wishes to return to, causing him to rise to power once again.
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three Lord of the Rings films and sparks the journey that has intrigued millions of people. Peter Jackson does an excellent job explaining the background of the ring and the background of the characters as well as tying their pasts into the journey they all begin to take. Contradictions between the heroes and the enemies are frequently found throughout, making the film quite complicated, which I found to be one of Jackson's greatest success with character development.
The most mind-blowing thing about the film though has nothing to do with the characters or story. It is Jackson's creation of Middle Earth that fascinated me more than anything. Jackson puts so much detail into the setting of every scene that the audience visualizes a whole different world without even thinking. Jackson's success at making the audience accept this different world and all of the different types of mythological creatures that live on it was really the key to making the films what they are. Overall, The Fellowship of the Ring is just an incredible beginning to the greatest trilogy ever put on film. Bravo Peter Jackson, Bravo.
I highly recommend this film.