Movie Review: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) directed by Peter Jackson
Many years ago, Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) left the Shire on an adventure. Along the way, he found a ring that allowed him to turn invisible. Now it’s Bilbo’s 111th birthday, and at the height of the festivities, he disappears, leaving everything (including the ring) to his nephew Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). The wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) has long known that Bilbo’s trinket was one of the missing Rings of Power created by the dark lord Sauron (Sala Baker), but now realizes that it is in fact the One Ring that controls all the others. If Sauron regains possession of the One Ring, he will be nigh-unstoppable. In order to prevent this, the ring must be tossed into the magma of Mount Doom, where it was forged.
Gandalf persuades Frodo to take the ring to the nearby human village of Bree, and drafts gardener Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin), who was eavesdropping, to accompany the young hobbit. Gandalf goes off to consult with his colleague Saruman the White (Christopher Lee), only to discover that Saruman has already allied himself with Sauron. Meanwhile, the hobbits increase in number when local rascals Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) are dragged into the quest as they too are targeted by the dark riders after the ring.
In Bree, the hobbits find no Gandalf, but do attract the protection of the ranger known as Strider, properly named Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen). He helps them escape an initial attack by the riders (also known as Nazgul), but a second attack leads to Frodo being gravely injured. When Frodo wakes from his wounds, he finds himself in the elven city of Rivendell. There a council is held to decide what to do with the One Ring. Someone must take it to Mordor, site of Mount Doom, even though that’s the seat of Sauron’s power. Frodo more or less volunteers, with the other hobbits, Gandalf and Aragorn agreeing to join him on the quest. Moreover, three others also volunteer to help. The elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom), the dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and the human Boromir (Sean Bean), son of the Steward of Gondor. There’s some politics going on with that last one, as Aragorn is rightwise king of Gondor, but has always shunned the possibility of taking the throne.
And so is formed the Fellowship of the Ring!
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy is now recognized as one of the great works of fantasy. But it took a while to get there. Doorstoppers were not in fashion in fantasy literature in the mid 1950s, let alone a trilogy of doorstoppers. Tolkien had originally meant it to be all one volume, but given bookbinding limitations of the time, the publisher balked. But by the 1960s it really took off internationally. Good visual adaptations took longer. Special effects just weren’t up to the challenge of presenting Middle Earth, and even animation had to consider both budget and time limitations.
But by the late 1990s, special effects had advanced immensely, and the demand for a good adaptation of the trilogy was great enough that a major studio was willing to bankroll it. Principal filming was done in New Zealand, where the landscapes were unfamiliar enough to stand in well for Middle Earth’s scenery.
A lot of effort was taken to consider Tolkien’s themes and influences, and which parts of the story still had to be changed or clipped to create something that even book fans could admit was a stab in the right direction. Arwen (Liv Tyler) was moved out of the appendix for a couple of scenes with her beloved Aragorn to help with the gender balance of the story, while Tom Bombadil was cut entirely for time (and because he’s such an unexplained anomaly.)
This is, honestly, a very good movie, even a great movie. Cinematography and music are blended with a deep story and Tolkien’s best dialogue hits, with a truly epic feel. If you can see it in a theater, do.
On the other hand, that very epicness means that it’s a long, long movie. Pausing for nature breaks is an advantage of watching the movie at home instead. And the extended cut credits last a full half hour! Ouch.
The ending is a bit of a downer, with two of the Fellowship dead and the rest scattered over the landscape, but since all three parts are out, you don’t have to wait forever to see if the One Ring can truly be destroyed.
Highly recommended.
