Choose your viewing companions wisely

Rating: 10/10 (21 December 2001)

If someone 15 years + has not read Load of the Rings (LOTR), it is not because they haven't had the chance, or because they haven't stopped by a book store or library lately, it is probably because they don't like that genre of book. That is fine, but those people should be aware that this movie is based on the book that is the very FOUNDATION of that genre.

I went with 4 work buddies, 3 of whom had not read the book (I didn't know this before). Of the five of us, the two who had read the book were awed, one was neutral - he appreciated some of the scenes, and the other two were disappointed. They compared the movie unfavorably against Harry Potter. OK, they're entitled to there opinion, of course, but how many people will be talking about Harry Potter in 10-20 years?, or 50+ years?! LOTR is a classic in every sense of the word. I wanted to discuss the movie and the scope and details - share thoughts on what I had just seen. Having to explain why time in this 3 hour movie was 'wasted' on 'meaningless' scenes of Gollum greatly subtracted from my enjoyment of the post viewing experience.
OK, The Movie:
In a word, stunning. I have never seen digital effects interwoven into a movie so seemlessly. The book has so many strong characters that I thought would not work together on the screen, but Jackson juggled everything beautifully. One of my favourite things throughout the show was that effects were often subtle. I found this refreshing. For example when Legolas walks on the snow while the others are trudging through it, or when Gandalf goes blow for blow with the Balrog 10 times his size nobody says anything idiotic to bring attention to it (How does he do that? - or something to that effect). There were a few scenes that I felt were overdone, (Galadriel's ring scene for example), but hey, we are talking about a ring of evil that corrupts all, so it wasn't out of place.
Sure there was a little artistic merit on the part of the director, but not to the sacrifice of the plot (for the first book anyway). I last read the book about 10 years ago, but I would say this is as close as I can imagine to having the book jump off the page onto the screen.
I go to maybe 6 movies a year, and I've never paid to go to a twice in the theatre, but I will go to this one again - 10/10.