Perfect Adventure

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2003)

Watching this movie I was absolutely awed by it's impact, the way Star Wars made me feel when I was a teen. And I think this is already one of the movie's biggest achievements: To achieve a level of, well, if not reality, then involvement, to let oneself absolutely fall into it. Stunning special effects, well done writing (absolutely forgivable the deviations from the book for better dramatic effect, like absolute darkness in the spider's lair). In fact, everything is so gorgeous, grand and stunning, that it is even more noticeable when actors don't live up to everything that's going on around them. Even so, there was only one personality that I would have liked to see changed and that is Frodo. Elijah Wood's face for me didn't show enough pain, cruelty or any of the wide range of emotions necessary when not doing the baby smile. Viggo Mortensen certainly looks heroic, although he seemed to move too slow for a ranger in battle and talked too low during the 3 movies be recognized as one with great blood. I would have wished for a more energetic performance to show his finally accepting the role of king, like a more determined walk or whatever.
Let me list some things that I saw as goofs, but then again, everything was happening so fast sometimes, I could be wrong :-) The White Wizard always fights with his staff - hm, he is a mage, isn't he? SOME display of battle magic would certainly have been nice... In one scene, a hobbit on a horse slashes the tendons of the hind legs of an oliphant - excuse me, but I just can't believe he would have the armlength... In one shot on Mount Doom, a slope against the sky, we actually see blue sky although everything was supposed to be dark in Mordor... And finally, the two hobbits crouching on a rock in the midst of running lava, well, the rising heat alone would be enough to burn them to cinders and let's not forget about the sulphur smoke :-)
If not for these tiny imperfections, the movie could have been a 10, now it will have to make do with a 9 :-)
And I feel empty, that now, after 3 years, there is nothing more to look forward to in Middle Earth...