A brilliant production of a dour tale

Rating: Null/10 (8 February 2004)

I'm lost in admiration at the effort required to produce something like this  the sets, the people, the horses, the computer graphics, not to mention the make-up, costumes and the catering. What comes out of all this is a spectacular but rather dour saga, the most memorable moments being rather small-scale such as Frodo's and Sam's climb up Mount Doom and the battle with the tank-size spider. I came away from the big battles not really sure how the good guys had won, though I suppose the ghost army helped in the last one.
Ian McKellen, tall and snowy headed, made an impressive Gandalf, but the script did not allow you to find out much about his motivation. Frodo was easier to work out  he just wanted to stay alive and get home. In the end, of course, he succeeds too well. Like the Tolkien novel, the film takes itself very seriously. You don't have to believe in magic to enjoy this film, but it helps.
As a former NZer I enjoyed the visuals, especially the city transplanted to the Rangitata river in Canterbury. The location is close to Mesopotamia Station where the English author Samuel Butler, in a profitable interlude as a sheepfarmer during the 1860s, wrote much of `Erewhon', his Utopian fantasy. Tolkien of course, a political reactionary did not believe in utopias but he did believe in heroism and destiny. Peter Jackson has managed somehow to assimulate Tolkien's ethic but it does make for stodgy viewing at times.