The Greatest Movie Of All Time-Part 2

Rating: 10/10 (8 March 2009)

Another fantastic layer to the film is the art direction, which is not only elegant and organic at times, but rugged and industrial. It also fabricates a realism into itself that creates infinite impact on the audience.
The cast is also very good, they play off each other perfectly, different nationalities keeping each character fresh and interesting. Due to the huge number of characters in this film, I will only mention the most notable performances: As far as Hobbits go, Elijah Wood gives us a brilliant transformation from a wide-eyed innocent to a paranoid ring-junkie. Sean Astin gives us a beautiful portrayal of boundless friendship and unlikely courage. Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd provide delightful comic relief when together, compelling character development when apart. Ian Holm has only a small amount of screen time, but in it he is incredibly memorable as Bilbo. Ian Mckellen is powerful as Gandalf, as well as providing hope and exposition along the long journey. Now we come to the miss-matched Three Musketeers: Viggo Mortensen is powerful, rugged, and tortured as Aragorn, where as Orlando Bloom and John-Rhys Davies are both simply awesome when they get to play off each other. When it comes to Sean Bean as Boromir, during the course of the story, he does a villainous deed, but we still feel sympathy for him, as we do for his younger brother, Faramir, played to perfection by David Whenham, who strives to please his father by emulating Boromir. I see no reason why John Noble, who plays Denethor, the tragic, corrupt father of the two sons mentioned earlier, should'not receive an Oscar for his Shakespearean performance.
The film also holds its own brand of visual amazement. Combining fantastic lighting that further effects the tone of a particular scene, elaborate sword fights that give each character their own method of fighting, incredible action scenes including a single warrior climbing a giant elephant and single-handedly taking him down, 2,000 horses sliding down a hillside, a giant staircase falling down a chasm, a man and a fiery beast fighting while falling miles down a tunnel into an underground lake, and a mile-high tower falling and exploding on it's way down, and dynamic camera moves, that include something of a roller coaster ride through massive tunnels, a minute-long shot of a moth flying over a tower, or a pan past a mile-high life-like statue of a forgotten king.
In a film with so much spectacle, CGI is expected, but here, not even noticeable. Giant monsters, CGI sets and landscapes, and fabricated armies, all flawlessly integrated into the film by a computer, looking as real as if they were all there right in front of the camera. But for all the films technical achievements, they hail in comparison to one: Gollum. His movements are flawless, his voice perfect, his amazingly realistic flesh tones breathtaking. Whether you hate him, pity him, or identify with him, is your decision. The film portrays him in such a way, unbiased, unprejudiced. But one thing we can all agree on, he is quite simply, one of the greatest technical achievements of all time.