film: review

> LORD OF THE RINGS (2001)
It is being called the fantasy genre's Star Wars.

By John C. Lyons
Film Critic

Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Cate Blanchett, and a host of others

Directed by: Peter Jackson

Written by: J.R.R. Tolkien (novel), Frances Walsh (screenplay)

Genre: Fantasy

Our Rating: 9 out of 10

I thoroughly enjoyed this film (all 3 hours of it). The action was great, the special effects were awesome and after seeing one-third of it, I can say that the story has a lot of promise. Please note as you are going into this film that this is going to be a trilogy. That's right, this is only the beginning. The cast is made mostly of above B-level actors, with some serious talent (McKellen and Blanchett) thrown in to the mix. Throughout the film you can see that they are merely touching the surface with some of these characters, so it will be interesting to see how everything turns out in 2003 when the final chapter is released in theaters.

The story picks up in a time and place following the classic tale, the Hobbit. In the first 15 minutes or so the audience is caught up on a story that could have been made into a film itself. In ancient times, power rings were created by a group of ruling men. But one man created a special ring with power above all others. This evil lord, Sauron, was unstoppable with his powers of the ring, until during one huge battle the ring was removed from him and seemingly lost forever. Jump ahead now years later. Frodo (a young Hobbit played by Elijah Wood) is given a ring of amazing power by his traveling cousin Bilbo. After discovering its purpose, Frodo and Gandalf (McKellan) must venture to the place where the ring was created, "the Cracks of Doom", to destroy it. Along the way, they meet many characters, some who want to help, and some who would do anything to gain the power of the ring for themselves.

I obviously gave The Fellowship of the Ring a good rating; however, I did not find this to be a perfect film by any standards. Some of the editing decisions that were made I felt were poor ones. I did not read the books, and the story is a bit overwhelming at points because they are just squeezing too much into those three hours. Rings fans are elated over this film, and I bet they are. But for someone that is new to this story, it all feels very rushed. And the ending was really poor in my opinion. We all know this is a trilogy, and there is more to come, but give me a break! There is a big battle in a forest, Frodo and a buddy get into a raft and that's about it. Not a good way to wrap a film, even if we all know another one is coming in a year. I also would have liked to see more of the opening story I spoke of earlier. Maybe they should have made this into a 4 or 5 part film series.

This film trilogy is one of the biggest gambles that Hollywood has ever taken and I am sure that we will all be rewarded in the end. I just wish that I could have taken about a 20 minute break after this movie and then started to watch the next one. I guess that we will all have to wait for the packed DVD box set in a few years to see this story the way it should be seen, together and uncut.

I saw this film at the Tinseltown theaters on upper Peach Street in Erie.

PROs: The story, characters, creatures, and effects are all on a grand scale and nearly all the time are done to perfection

CONs: The story is rushed in some points. The film goes and goes, and then just ends. People new to the story may be overwhelmed and confused.

(02-0125)

related links:

The Fellowship of the Ring - official site