Among many masterpieces of writing, one is likely to include the many works of J.R.R. Tolkien, who penned The Hobbit and the Lord Of The Rings trilogies. Back in the late 1990’s, relatively unknown director Peter Jackson decided to undertake the monumental task of directing three films at the same time, adapting the Lord Of The Rings book trilogy into a film trilogy. New Line Cinema bankrolled the massive $281 million dollar production of what was to become a box office behemoth. Budget aside, the films garnered unanimous critical acclaim and The Fellowship Of The Ring collected the first four out of the series seventeen total Oscars. It just goes without saying that The Fellowship Of The Ring is a masterpiece of filmmaking, one film to rule them all and one that everyone should make sure they see at least once in their life.

The Fellowship Of The Ring begins with some exposition from Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) who gives viewers a quick backstory of the rings, where they came from and how the one ring came to a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm). From there, Bilbo decided to hand the ring down to his nephew Frodo (Wood). To get into more than just a couple details of this world J.R.R. Tolkien created would be beyond the scope of this review. Suffice it to say, this one ring is a ring to rule all others, it’s inherently evil and corrupting, can also turn it’s wearer invisible but was lost in the sands of time. There are several different kinds of humanoid creatures in this world, wizards, elves, dwarves in addition to the hobbits, half-sized people, as well as many varieties of evil creatures like goblins, orcs and trolls. But soon a wizard named Gandalf (McKellen) shows up to visit Bilbo and Frodo to check in on them and evaluate the ring that he suspects is the one ring that’s been missing for centuries. The adventure begins when the enemy begins to awaken and search for the ring. If he were to find it, he could use it to cover all the lands in darkness and Frodo and his friends must embark on a journey like no other that will take them to the ends of middle-earth.

Once they’ve completed the first leg of their journey which saw them in shambles, one can truly appreciate how much Jackson cares about this story and these characters. This adaptation is impeccable as its attention to detail within the makeup, costumes, production design are all first class. Jackson directs with such skill and precision, it’s almost unbelievable how he brought this alternative world to life so vividly. The casting is also phenomenal, it’s easy to run out of superlatives here. The cast is terrific and even though they had to cast half of Hollywood to fill all these roles, everyone brings their A-game. Meanwhile, Howard Shore composes a masterpiece of an original score and although some of its CG visuals are a little dated, most of the effects are so practical that they hold up extremely well. The Fellowship Of The Ring is a cinematic triumph in virtually every way a series of films can be and all this praise fail to do justice to what these films mean to film lovers everywhere.

If one has never taken a trip with Peter Jackson to middle-earth, they should do so as soon as they possibly can. The Lord Of The Rings trilogy are a one of a kind cinematic experience that anybody, cinephile or general moviegoer can be caught up in and swept away by. While the final installment was the one that gathered all the Oscar gold, it was The Fellowship Of The Ring that set the stage for what very well could be the greatest movie trilogy ever made.

still courtesy of New Line Cinema

(original review)

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Russell Miller

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