"The Fellowship of the Rings" Rated PG-13
*****/*****
The first installment of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien, is an extremely colorful movie. All different colors fill this movie from start to finish. There is the drowned out, dreary blue of the awe inspiring epilogue, followed by the deep, luscious green of the Shire, the home of the hobbits. There is also the all-consuming black of the ring wraiths, a group of hooded riders set out to find the fellowship. The dark, dangerous red of the dark lord, the light, vivid white of the elves world, all make an extraordinary rainbow of depth, and texture to the movie.
It's not only the colors that make the movie so vivid. The landscape and visual aspects to the film are absolutely jaw-droping. My mouth was gaping the entire time (3 hours... more on running time later). The cinematography in this film rival that of Lawrence of Arabia, and just about any other movie you can think of. The landscape changes from the grassy fields of the shire, to the snowy caps of mountains, to the density of the forest.
The story is about a hobbit named Frodo Baggins (Elijah Woods). Hobbits are like a diminutive human with extremely hairy feet, or, the most unlikely being ever to handle such a grave job. Frodo has inherited a magical ring from adopted father Bilbo. This ring contains the spirit of the dark lord who forged it from the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. When Frodo's friend, the Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) explains to him the ability of this ring to enslave all of humanity if it were to fall into the wrong hands, he knows that he must destroy it. However, the only way to do this is to drop into the fires of Mount Doom.
Along the way, Frodo and his hobbit friends Sam, Merry, and Pippen, encounter the vicious Ring wraiths, dark, hooded riders seeking out the ring to use it for evil, the mysterious loner Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson), and their fellowship: The four hobbits, Aragorn, Gandalf, an elf, a dwarf, and another human. From this point on in the movie, there are many tense battle scenes, and misadventures.
The story that people fell in love with in the books is amazing, yes, however this film successes for another reason: the directing. Peter Jackson (Heavenly Creatures) deserves an Oscar for this movie. It is not a simple adaptation, it is a mammoth undertaking, and he films it like one. He keeps the pace up for all 3 hours of the movie. It feels long, yes, but i wanted it to be much, much longer. He uses many seeping camera setups, and intensely designed shoots to create the mood for the film. I believe that no other director could have made the film like he did.
You don't have to be a fan of fantasy or J.R.R. Tolkein to love this movie. It is simply an immensely entertaining and well done "journey" movie. An amazing amount of care a dedication went into this movie. Let's hope the next ones follow in its footsteps.
