Jul 22, 2011
Directed By: Peter Jackson
Written By: J.R.R. Tolkien, Frances Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson
Primary Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee
The Fellowship of the Ring roars in to theaters with all the power of today’s modern special effects and all the emotion and story of the literary classic behind it. It’s been a long wait for the technological capabilities of movie making to catch up to the imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien, but it was well worth the wait.
Director Peter Jackson (The Frighteners, Heavenly Creatures, Braindead) has taken the first book in a fantastic trilogy and turned it into a relatively faithful adaptation filled with terrific creatures, landscapes, and adventure. It doesn’t stop there; the cast selection couldn’t be better. The actors seem, not only to play their roles, but they become their characters. Sure their performances are good, but their looks seem to fit their characters, dead on. Casting Elijah Wood (The Faculty, Deep Impact) as the young hobbit, Frodo Baggins, was an inspired move. Wood seems to have good and innocence exuding from him, while his slight build and chewed fingernails drive his character’s frailty and smallness home. Everyone has their own image of what the characters should look like, but most everyone has the same idea of what Gandalf the Grey should be. Ian McKellen (X-Men, Apt Pupil, Gods and Monsters), with his long weather-worn face, pointy hat, and long white beard is Gandalf. Sure, anyone with a pointy hat could be a wizard, but McKellen with his mannerisms, his accent, and his eyes, pulls it all home. He is exactly what I imagined as I read the book. I could go on with the rest of the cast, but then this review would be far too long.
Of course, there is more to a film than having the actors look like the characters. Does the film provide suspense, adventure, action, and fun? You bet, at every turn. Jackson does a terrific job of capturing the fear of a Ring Wraith barreling down on the tiny hobbits and they rush to escape; the perilous cold and altitude of the White Mountains; the claustrophobic, deep, dark, caves of the Dwarves; and the power of Saruman the White’s impressive tower. The special effects that deliver all the creatures of Middle Earth provide just enough magic to deliver the look and feel of the monsters, but not enough to become the central theme of the film. Jackson uses his resources with perfect balance and feel, unlike other recent effects-laden films such as George Lucas’s The Phantom Menace, which went overboard by turning everything into a computer drawn cartoon.
Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. I did have a couple of complaints with the film, though I must admit they are small. The movie is long. Three hours is a lot to for an audience to sit still in one place. A lesser story would have certainly been walked out on. The ten or fifteen minute prolog just isn’t needed. For those of us who have read the Hobbit, we already know the story. For those who have not, most of the information presented here can be discovered inside the story as it unfolds. Since the movie is so long, this would have been an obvious place to cut time. My final complaint is that at times, the film dragged a bit. I don’t mean dramatic pauses, I mean it got slow. I remember feeling that the book started out a bit slow as well, and the movie does follow this trend. A bit of chopping and cutting from these parts of the movie would have helped the pace and the length just enough to power this one all the way through.
I’m extremely happy with what Peter Jackson put up on the screen. I was afraid I would be disappointed, since there was no way anyone could bring such a spectacular fantasy adventure to film. My fears were baseless, and I can’t wait to see it again.