Pure fantasy

Rating: Null/10 (14 September 2015)

J. R. R. Tolkien changed literature with his trilogy The Lord of the Rings. A new genre was created practically from nothing. Owing much to fairy tales and epics of old, yet still being something new, fantasy soon captured the imaginations of generation after another. The Lords of the Rings was written as a myth, as an epic, a tale about the struggle against ancient, undying evil. In it great warrior kings and armies of legend fought for the control of Middle-Earth against armies of darkness, filled with hordes of orcs, goblins and trolls. Yet it was a small, insignificant being, a hobbit from the Shire, that would decide their fate through his deeds.
Since then this story has influenced pretty much every single author that has come after it. Naturally, a movie adaptation was going to be made at some point, but for the longest time people in the business thought it couldn't be done. You needed to introduce a whole new world, including back stories that could fill whole shelves with books and tomes. The amount of characters alone would make it cumbersome. Without even mentioning the special effects needed. But, finally in the late 90s, movie technology had advanced enough that you could theoretically pull it off. And so Peter Jackson accepted the challenge and in the process created a movie trilogy that affected cinema almost as profoundly as the original book trilogy had affected literature.
All three The Lord of the Rings movies are fantastic, but if I had to name my favourite, it'd be this one, no doubt. Not because it's the most direct or has the most flowing narrative. Quite the opposite. The first one contains the most story, has the most detail, jumps around the most. And yet it succeeds in pulling you in. I had read the books numerous times before this movie came out. I knew how much sheer information Jackson had to convey in this first film. I had my doubts. But, the thing is, it's beautiful. From the very first chord of music, from the very first lines of dialogue, from the very first scene of the rings being forged, you're in Middle-Earth. There's just no other way to say it. There's movies capture the essence of Tolkien's original books nigh perfectly.
For those that read this and have yet to see this film - yes, all three or four of you - know that this is my second favourite film of all time. It is a fantasy film unlike any other, a tale almost without equal. It is the courage and nobility of men distilled into story form. It is The Lord of the Rings.