Rating: 
Summary: Astounding!!!
Review: J.R.R. Tolkien blew away his readers when they read "The Lord of the Rings" and now Peter Jackson has astounded us by making it come to the silver screen! Although many do complain that for a 3 hr long movie to leave you hanging at the end is quite stupid, I applaud Mr. Jackson-- I look forward to next December with much enthusiasm!
Rating:
Summary: To Be the Greatest Epic Trilogy Ever Made!
Review: Forget Star Wars. This new version of Lord Of The Rings is 100% the best version ever to be made. There is so much action and wonderful brand new special effects in this film I hardly had a chance to breath. Just when you think the film is about to end, more of the story continues and continues and continues again. This is wondeful. The story is unpredictable and the great suspense and anticipation is enjoyable. The casting of Elijah Wood as "Frodo Baggins" is perfect. Mr. Wood puts so much emotion into his acting. His role is believable. The casting of Ian McKellen as "Gandalf" is perfect as well. I would like to see an Academy Award nomination here. For anyone who has seen the animated version of The Lord Of The Rings (1978) will throughly enjoy this film. If you have not, you may not want to see the 1978 version because it might spoil the next two Lord Of The Rings films for you. That is if you do not want to know the ending. What is so excellent about this Peter Jackson directed film "The Fellowship Of The Ring" (2001) is that you will not have to wait 2, 3, or 5 years for a sequel. The next continuing story of Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers will be released in movie theatres next year in December 2002 and the conclusive third film Lord Of The Rings:The Return Of The King will be released in December 2003. I hope this film will top the record 11 Academy Award nominations. This film is a wonderful roller-coater ride and you will be emotionally involved with the great acting of the fine cast.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent envision. Solid and fun. One of the year's best!
Review: (**** of 4)Peter Jackson's riveting adventure soars with delight and fun. The book comes alive perfectly. The additional scenes only add more to this electric velocity film that will lift you from your seat and let you take the ride yourself! Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen and Liv Tyler star in this brilliant masterpiece. I can honestly say that this film goes beyond the book. I know it takes all three hours, but it is well worth the time, because it never slows down. The adventure never lets up. This is one of the top five films of the year. Harry Potter- take a hike, The Lord of the Rings is taking the throne. What draws me to this film most is how it has a rather less super-star cast and a director who's never even jumped at trying to make a blockbuster before. This film kicks with a spear edged boot. It can't be stopped. You either take the ride, leave it crying, or don't take it at all. The loss goes to the ignorants who purposely stay away from the film adaption, simply because no movie is ever better than the book. People, get over it. -The Green Mile, Pearl Harbor, The Lost World- all better than the books. Have a little more faith in Hollywood these days. Lord of the Rings has it all. Go for it. QUOTE: "The first film is unexpectedly perfect and lives up to the hype. This is simply one of the year's best films. It's this generation's Star Wars. George Lucas better take a look at what's on his way to trample him. The Lord of the Rings is a tour de' force of astonishment, amazement, adventure, and action! Superb! Excellent! Awesome! Amazing! Rocking! Explosive! Powerful! Epic! Dignified! What more can I say? It is a perfect film for everyone."
Rating: 
Summary: Too Long and Too Boring
Review: I read all the rave reviews and decided to see what all the hype was about. Sure it has some cool graphics and special effects, but I have to admit after the first 2 hours and 20 minutes I dosed off in the theatre. I woke up to see that the movie had no ending. You must see the sequels to find out what happens. Frankly, I don't think I could sit through 6 more hours of boredom to find out if some boy throws a ring into a volcano or not.
Rating:
Summary: Now I have to read the books.
Review: "The Fellowship of the Ring" is a great movie all in all and I don't see how one can not like it, or better yet, love it! The whole imagery and setting is beautiful in every way. As for the special effects, you can't criticize it because the visual images are all very convincing and I was very impressed by how they made the Hobbitts look the right size. Although I have read only the first few pages of the book, I was a little worried that the normal sized actors would be too big. The special affects, however, made the hobbitts look as small as they are supposed to. It looks very real. Of course what matters in this movie is not necessarily the images, but really the whole mood, feeling, and excitement of the movie. Even one who hasn't read the books can sense the evil of the One Ring and how it influences the characters and heroes. Any person who possesses or wears the Ring is driven mad by its powers and even the good are corrupted by the tempting powers of invisibility and to control others. Elijah Wood deserves a great deal of credit for how well he plays the hero Frodo, who is given the burden of the Ring and experiences the dark images of the Ring's evil powers. It is very dark and dramatic the way it is all done. The subtleness and tensity is all too great and never been exceeded in any other movie I've seen(although "Princess Mononoke" comes close). All of the actors do deserve praise for how well they've done with Tolkien's characters. Some favorite scenes of mine include the flight to the ford to escape the dark rider, the fight on the tower where Frodo gets stabbed, the setting of Lothlorien with the mystical Queen Galadrial, the meeting of Arogorn and Arwnen, and the ending scenes known as the Breaking of the Fellowship. The music itself is very grand as Howard Shore's score helps add to the enchantment and magic of the movie; not to mention the Celtic "goddess", Enya, whose music has enchanted many around the world(she's my all-time favorite singer!). For some reason I have felt like comparing this movie to the Harry Potter film, probably because of the cruel critics who have. Well, I do find both "Fellowship" and "Harry Potter" to be both magical in every way, with setting, story, characters, and mood. To all complainers who complained about "Harry Potter" being too scary, "Fellowship" is mega-scary and many times more scary than "Harry Potter". My nine year old brother handled this movie very well, but I don't think my five year old sister would have been able to handle it. "Fellowship" is also much long, as "Harry Potter" quickly moves from scene to scene, but "Fellowship" stays longer with certain scenes. At first I couldn't decide which I liked more, "Harry Potter" or "Fellowship", but I did find "Fellowship" to be more lively and enchanting. For that reason, I like "Fellowship" a bit more, but even so, there is still plenty of room for "Harry Potter". I will, on the other hand, have to read the whole book to see how well the movie follows along. I do expect both "Harry Potter" and "Fellowship" to recieve many Oscar nominations and surely some winners. If not, there will be great outrage. Anyway, in the end, I highly recommend going out and seeing this movie. You'll miss out on a lot of magic if you don't.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: Superlatives fail me. It took J.R.R. Tolkien fifteen years to write his opus 'The Lord of the Rings (LotR)', of which this particular film covers the first third, 'The Fellowship of the Ring (FotR)'. It took Peter Jackson, a New Zealand native, five years to bring Tolkien's work from ink and paper to the visual feast of film, condensing LotR's 300,000 words to three movies. Now, finally, FotR has arrived in the theaters for the Christmas season of 2001. Anticipation is huge - LotR is one of the most widely read books worldwide - as is expectation: Tolkien purists are an exacting, demanding lot, and while casting decisions and early imagery releases seemed to conform to that of the text, several interesting (and disturbing) revisions/changes also arose, leaving some sighing with relief and others gnashing their teeth at the prospect of a deleted Tom Bombidil or a beefed-up love story between Arwen and Aragorn. As someone who has read the book four times, I have to say that my expectations were probably as high as any, especially after watching the marvelous trailers for FotR. Thus, I joined an eager audience on Dec. 19th to witness this long awaited event, excited and extremely nervous - and luckily, I left my expectations at the door. The tone and dialogue of the prologue gripped me immediately, and though my inner purist had a couple gripes - where was Gil-Galad? - the emergence of Sauron, mace in hand, dashed my hopes and doubts with a brutal swing; and upon entering the Shire, all reservation was lost. The vibrant colors and earthy textures of Hobbiton; the stunning design; the deft characterizations --; all pulled me in, and for three short hours I was lost, completely and utterly lost, in this marvelous film. Afterward I reeled out of the theater with a dozen scenes fighting for dominance in my memory; through it all, I realized that this was near enough to the perfect adaptation for Tolkien's work. And having watched the movie a second time, I've come to the conclusion that Peter Jackson has not only faithfully reproduced all that *essential* to FotR, he has also improved on the book in several important ways. I do have a few nitpicks as well, but they stem more from the suits at New Line than the man behind the camera. What works: Pacing: Purists may disagree, but the pacing of the original book was rather flawed: conflict/tension is minimal and the hobbits seem more content to eat and sing than take the Ring seriously. Anyone who has read Christopher Tolkien's 'The History of Middle Earth' will discover that Tolkien himself had no strong idea of where LotR should go, thus the long wanderings in both story and prose before the other elements of the story come together. Heck, in the first couple drafts the ringwraiths didn't exist, Frodo was named Bingo (!), and Strider was a hobbit with wooden legs named Trotter (!!). -Given the enormous amount of exposition at the start of the film, Jackson's decision to excise Tom B, the Old Woods, the Barrow Wights and the dawdling therein, was a necessary one: film and writing are two different mediums, one must remember, and what works for one might not for the other, and vice versa. That said, Jackson did an excellent job of balancing the relevant information, character introduction/exploration, and action, all the while tossing in the odd tidbit for the hardcore Tolkien fans ("ProudFEET!"). Expanding the Moria and Amon Hen sequences helped raise the overall tension tremendously, another improvement on the source material: Tolkien was never much one for sweat-and-sinew action. Only the Lothlorian segment and a few of the traveling scenes are cut too close to the bone. Script: It took two years and three participating individuals to properly condense Tolkien's epic into a script format; the end result is a marvel, capturing the key dialogue of the book while making important and seamless improvisions on the material, mostly for the sake of humor and character development. Character Development: A massive improvement on the source material. Tolkien didn't so much write characters as he did archetypes. The movie gives them depth, emotion, conflict and nobility above and beyond the text. The entire cast of the movie is superb, yet even better is how each actor inhabits his or her character. Through speech and facial expressions, Sean Bean expresses the pathos of Boromir's inner turmoil; Viggo Mortenson manages, through subtle gestures, to show Aragorn's doubt, strength, and resolve; Ian Holm is Bilbo, pure and simple-in fact, all of the hobbits are well cast and seem to be true comrades, not actors pulling together for a paycheck. And the twin forces of Ian McKellen and Chris Lee as warring Istari blaze through the 16mm: Gandalf and Saruman, in character and conflict, are flat-out fantastic. The Score: I'll be brief here, as I plan on reviewing the score separate: suffice to say it is an elegant, subtle piece, highlighting the tensions and echoing the imagery without ever really calling attention to itself - it mirrors the peaks and valleys of the movie without exception - the true mark of a successful score. Well done, Howard Shore. The nits: Not many. Apparently New Line told Jackson to bring FotR to three hours, so as to guarantee a return profit and not scare away the uninitiated with an extreme viewing length. Thirty minutes were cut from the final director's cut. The sum and whole of my nits extend from these forced cuts. The film does feel 'rushed' in certain places, and the butchering of the gift-giving scene in Lothlorian is almost unforgivable - but hope is to be found in the upcoming DVD, where those 30 minutes will (MUST!) be restored. In conclusion, FotR was one of the most satisfying film experiences I've ever had, a rich, majestic interpretation that compliments and adds flavor to the original work. And this is only the beginning, folks! The fact that Jackson handled FotR, arguably the most difficult and slowest book of the three, this well shows that 'The Two Towers' and 'Return of the King' should really be something. A mere year will tell...but anyone who loves epic film and/or Tolkien should not be disappointed. Less than five stars would be an injustice.
Rating:
Summary: A truely timeless tale becomes a classic film
Review: There is something to be said about turning a book into a film. No matter how you go about it, somethings will have to be left out and almost everything will have to be condensed. Trying to condense one of the most popular books of the modern era, makes it that much harder because you will never make everyone happy. I say this to start because, although, I enjoyed this film like no other I've ever seen, and I have read Tolkien's books several times each, there are those in opposition to my opinion which is fine. I do believe, however, that the only way that one cannot enjoy this film, is to go into the theatre with that idea firmly entrenched in your mind. While the film is not a visual recreation of the book, which it seems others seemed to have wanted, although the prospect of sitting for ten hours to accomplish this feat hardly seems to enter the mind of those who combat the film. With that being said, this is not your silly, tongue in cheek fantasy film...ala Dungeons and Dragons or the dreadful Xena. Once you settle yourself into your hopefully comfortable seat, be prepared to be wisked away to the land of Middle Earth for the next three hours, which still go by, I think you will find, way too quickly, and have you longing for the next installment which is a(insert favorite adjective here) year away. The story is your good characters set out to destroy an item of infinite evil. A story that has obvious implications nowadays. A story that rings forth with the virtues of true friendship and doing what one can "with the time one is given."(Direct Quote) Prepare to honestly care about the characters and the turmoil that they are presented with. Having seen this movie twice the acting of this film is equal to the story they are trying to present. Elijah Wood is phenominal as Frodo. His eyes and expressions match the emotion he is trying to convey. You can literally feel his joy coming off the screen when he sees Gandalf at the beginning of the film. The rest of the cast does an equally well in protraying their respective roles, though clearly Wood steals the film...and I am not by any stretch of the imagination an Elijah Wood fan. The story does seem a bit rushed, although that is to be expected when trying to condense a book the size of the Fellowship down to three hours. The dialogue is outstanding, most of it coming directly from the books, though not all of it, and the lush scenery will make you want to book a trip to New Zealand at your earliest convience. In closing, I encourage those of you who have not seen the film yet, not to be intimidated by the book, which you have not read, after you see the first film, I believe you will be encouraged to read the book merely to find out what happens to the characters rather than wait the year for the next film, or two for the end, go out and see it...actually see it twice or three times. The important thing, though, is to definitely see it. You will not be sorry, and for a purely logistical standpoint, at 7-10 dollars to see a film, it is the most cost efficient movie of the year, between 2-3 dollars an hour. Seriously though, see it, and you, like myself, will be encouraging all you know to see it, and probably volunteering to go with them, just to make sure that they actually see it...(Right?)
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I really enjoyed this film. I have not read the books so I can't speak to whether it is a worthy adaptation or not. Not being a fan of fantasy type stories, I still found this a highly engrossing film. The performances are well done and the effects are not overshadowing. I am looking forward to the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterful Sensation
Review: I experienced all the pain, pleasure,exhilaration, devastation the Ring portrayed. I left the theatre encouraged and fulfilled, looking forward to the next production. A skillfully presented masterpiece not to be forgotten. Elijah Wood, in his usual fine form, presented a soulful Frodo and Ian McKellan, a superb Gandolph. The supporting cast was also to be commended on their excellent performances. I would rate this movie five star and will recommend it to all my friends...
Rating:
Summary: A non-reader's point of view
Review: I just saw the movie last night(December 28)and I think that in order to be perfectly fair I would have to say that the movie was AMAZING! Anything short of that word would be a falicy. I have never read the books myself, always meaning to but never having the motivation to buy them. I know I could just go to a library but you just can't reason with me. So last night when I walked into the theatre I was expecting to be dazzled. You know, to have surface feelings of how neat it was and how great the characters were portrayed and so on. I never expected to be pulled into the story line the way I was and find myself moving with the characters and relating to them.
There was never a chance to catch a breath either. It kept moving from one wonderful adventure to the next, all the time leaving your mind racing as they tend to do when you know more then the characters inside the movie and you are wondering what will happen.
The characters were spectacular. Each person filled their role so well that to say I didn't enjoy any of them, even the obvious "bad guys" would be unfair. I cried at least three times that I recall throughout that movie because you become so attached to the people on the screen you can't help but be moved when something bad strikes.
For anyone who likes action, this is definitely your movie because the action never stops. For anyone who likes adventure, once again this is the movie that will leave you speechless. For anyone who likes fantasy, mystery or for anyone who just likes movies...go see this one in theatre while you still have the chance. You won't regret it. And if it happens that you never get the chance to see it on the big screen, then take a chance, and buy the dvd. It is WELL worth the money.
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