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Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Amazingly good adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's groundbreaking fantasy epic. The film, too, is epic in scale, and stays very close to the book both literally and in spirit. The changes that are made are good, in keeping with the story, and not very disruptive or annoying. The story involves a young Hobbit, Frodo, who is burdened with the safekeeping of the One Ring, which, if found by the dark Lord Sauron, will bring about the end of Middle Earth and everything that the races of men, elves, dwarfs and hobbits hold dear. This film tells of the first leg of his quest to destroy the Ring, as he and eight companions (the wizard Gandalf, the men Aragorn and Boromir, the elf Legolas, the dwarf Gimli, and the hobbits Sam, Merry, and Pippin) set out toward Mordor, the seat of Sauron's power. The ending is rather abrupt, but no more so than in the books--in fact, less so. Tolkein never really intended his story to be split up into three books, but since this film runs close on three hours long, perhaps for movie-making purposes it was a good thing it was. There's really nothing to dislike about this movie (unless you, too, perhaps think that the cave troll was a bit overdone), and much to like: the characters are well-drawn, and well-acted; the scenery is gorgeous (filmed in director Jackson's native New Zealand); the photography is beautiful, and for a three-hour movie, it moves along briskly, instilling a desire to see more rather than less. Still, it doesn't replace reading the books... **** out of ****
Page last updated 8/1/04 |
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