Rating: 
Summary: Near to Perfection
Review: As a relative new-comer to Lord of The Rings, I wish to state that I am not just a casual fan who went to see the movie. I had read the Hobbit and started FotR before knowing that there was a movie planned. Wanting to know the whole story, I quickly read the trilogy. I enjoyed the books as much or more than some of my other top favorites, including "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Aurthur's Court". I was geekily excited when movie time came around, however, because I really wanted to see the characters I had seen in my mind come to life along with the even more impressive scenes such as Moria and Isengard. This movie is the nearest to perfection that any movie I have ever seen has come. It takes people and places them in middle-earth and envelopes them in the environment that the characters are in. I feel sorry for those who won't see it till it is released on DVD, for they will never know the experience of seeing the immensity of the picture on a large screen. The prologue is wonderfully effective at introducing non Lotr readers to the pre-story of the books. Visually, this part of the movie is stunning. The battle scene is massive in scope. Braveheart's and Gladiator's battles are only fistfights in comparison. Scenes in the Shire show us how hard it must have been for Sam and Frodo to leave in the first place. The Shire truly is a peaceful place in a chaotic world. Then there is Gandalf. As far as I'm concerned, Ian McKellen is Gandalf. Some characters come close to the way I imagined them as I read the books, but McKellen is literally the same in ever detail. McKellen steals the show with his dialogue, his appearance, his power, and his humor. The movie would not be the same without McKellen. All the roles are perfectly cast. All are totally believable. The character who I ended up liking the most, (besides Gandalf), actualy surprised me. I beleive the movie is much more effective in showng that Boromir, who is really a good, honest, decent man, is corrupted not by his own self, but through the power of the ring. Towards the end of the movie, as he falls to its power, we hate him for his treachery. Only minutes later, when we see that his only true desire is for the well being of his people, and that he cares so little for himself that he sacrifices his life for the two hobbits, we can finally see what a true hero he is. The death and redemption of Boromir is one of the most effective pieces of the film. The action of the film is quite simply amazing. The initial battle in the prolouge is a good glimpse of what will be seen in the future movies, but does not last long enough to really critique. Scenes in Moria, however, are more than any LotR fan could ever hope for. The enormous dread of the mines is simply overpowering. The battles in moria and at the end of the film are very intense, and focus more on action than gore, such as in the also excellent Blade 2. Legolas and Gimli were the most fun to watch but did not have enough screen time. When the extended version is released on DVD later this year, this will be remedied and will much improve the battle scenes. Seeing Legolas shoot three orcs with three arrows in under three seconds demands that he is given more shots. Aragorn's fight at the end of the film is also amazing. His abilities show are well portrayed in his fight against Lurtz. I believe the creatures in this film are some of the most believable that I have seen to date. They fit in the environment very well, and are not too far fetched to accept in the environment. The cave troll moves and fights as if they films the actual monster instead of pasting him in with computer effects. Gollum also looked very realistic, but his character did not have enough screen time to really make a final descision. The most scary foe of the film was also the most well done creature. The Balrog, a "demon of the ancient world" introduced as he walks the halls of Moria, illuminating the black caverns with the flames from his body long before we ever see him. When he finally rears his head at Gandald at the bridge, we see only blackness and flame. The film shows just enough of him to offer a scare and leaves enough to the imagination to give us sheer terror of the unknown. Filmakers can shock us with the things we see and terrify us with that which is left up to us to imagine and both methods are used here to create horror and fear beyond anything seen before. As Gandalf falls and the broken Fellowship leaves Moria, all hope seems to be lost. It becomes almost hard to breath when you see the extent of their loss. This moment is the only other in the film that is as effective as Boromir's death. All in all, this is an amazing movie that only wets my appetite for the next two. The director, Peter Jackson, known before this for gross-out "horror" films such as Brain Dead, truly captures the feel of the book and instantly elevates himself into the top directors of all time with this single acheievment. This movie is as near to perfection as a movie can be, and truly show the power of film.
Rating:
Summary: An awesome and terrible experience
Review: As a teacher, I know that one of my responsibilities is to ensure that children's sense of "Awe and Wonder" is allowed to flourish. The modern child seems so cynical and sophisticated that he can be very difficult to impress. When I was eight years old, a student teacher had tried to read The Hobbit to my class. I hated it. But seeing the BBC's 1968 radio adaptation of the story in Waterstone's when looking for something to listen to on my journey to work, (one which lasts an hour and a half, There and Back Again) I felt sure that I could overcome my prejudice. I did. I loved it. I was hooked. I wanted more. I bought the BBC's radio Lord of the Rings (1980) and was now a confirmed Tolkienite. Fascinated by the mythology, I visited the "official" Tolkien website and discovered that a film was being made. However, having seen Peter Jackson's hand held close-up-to-the-nostril style in "Braindead" and "The Frighteners", I was somewhat fearful of what he might do to the Frodo, Gollum and Aragorn imagined in my head. When I downloaded the first trailer, my fears were allayed more than somewhat. The hairs prickled on the back of my neck. Alas, I knew that I was going to have to wait another eighteen months to see a film about a book that I hadn't read; that if I read it I might be turned by the Power of The One Book into a Tolkien geek (too late already) and then be disappointed by the changes I knew Jackson would have to make. I gave in of course, completing the trilogy last summer and rereading the Fellowship of the Ring this summer. Despite my enjoyment, Tolkien's writing leaves much to be desired and I became hopeful that a director who captured the spirit of the book rather than every dry detail would be doing us all a service. When last night, the hour finally arrived, I was not disappointed. No, it was not like the BBC's version which I have now listened to countless times. No, the book has not been translated directly to the screen without any changes. Jackson has taken a number of liberties with the book, but has in the process, produced a film that in many ways is superior in vision to that achieved by Tolkien himself. There is a theory that artists are not originators of their work, merely imperfect vessels for the expressions of universal truths. Whatever Tolkien may have intended by his book, there is a story, not necessarily his, to be imagined and reimagined by the readers, some of whom will baulk at seeing their version significantly altered. Perhaps the most obvious element missing in this film is the story and song, the literature and lore of Middle-Earth. But what is not only preserved, but magnified and rightly so, is the sense of a universe where the powers of good and evil, of nature and the landscape, are vastly greater than man can understand. Jackson's triumph is to have sewn this thread of truth into every frame, and, according to my wife, by no means a fan, "made it all look so real". The essence of the book for me is epitomised by Gollum, a pathetic character so twisted by the lust for power that he has no control over his own destiny. We have yet to see his role fully revealed, but it is clear that Frodo, Aragorn and even Sam too are controlled by their fates. What Jackson has achieved is a realisation of the scale of the hidden forces which direct man in love, in battle, throughout life. It is the sweep and power of the opening battle which sets the tone for the whole movie, not just the narrative detail. The detail is almost irrelevant. It matters not that we do not see properly the individual thrust and parry of a fight, because this film is not about the mechanics of war. It is about the forces which drive man to wage war and which are beyond his understanding - the same force which drives man to fall in love, to lust for power, to procreate. It is a marvellous achievement. This film scores over almost every other that tries to grapple with the same themes. Star Wars, often quoted by those of short memory as the top movie of all time, does not come close in projecting the real, hidden powers of the universe. For all its talk of "The Force", it fails to convey half the passion and fear to be found in Fellowship. Star Wars is of course a different film - clever, knowing, a technical marvel, paying due allegiance to many other films and books, most notably Lord of the Rings. But Fellowship is not about special effects, or baddies and goodies in the simplistic sense, or buddy-buddies, or soap-opera moments ("I am your father Luke!"). If it lacks intimacy it is because it tries to get beyond the individuals that make up the story and instead visualise the unknowable meanings of life. A risky strategy, but one which works. Jackson delivers a hugely spiritual film; not the kind of spiritual experience that dopeheads declared Kubrick's 2001 to be, but with the same sense of awe which I must arouse in my schoolchildren; the same sense of the "terrible" (reach for your dictionaries folks) which filmmakers generally shy away from. "Awe and wonder" is a rather embarrassing and much underrated theme for filmakers in a post-modern world, which heaps endless praise on self-referential Tarantino movies. The grand and meaningful can seem so absurd that such films can only be made full of wise-cracks to make them accessible to the closed-minded. This epic is therefore only for the open-minded, the innocent, even the naïve, who are willing to allow "awe and wonder" to take over their lives for three hours. Like a six-year-old child, I can't wait for next Christmas.
Rating:
Summary: A dream came true
Review: As a teenager, I discovered The Lord of the Rings. At that time, my friends and I wondered if anyone could ever make a movie that would render the beauty, drama, magic of Tolkien's masterpiece. We believed it would be very difficult to transmit all the subtlety of the book, and we thought (it was 20 years ago) that the technology could not make it look real. When we heard about the project, we received the news with some skepticism. Wouldn't a film destroy the magic that was in a reader's mind ? It does not.
Peter Jackson had achieved what we thought impossible. The movies are remarquable, faithfull to the book and its spirit.
This edition includes additional scenes that will rejoice fans and recent discoverers. Mr Jackson, "chapeau" to you and your team !
Rating: 
Summary: Great Cast, Great Look
Review: As a Tolkein geek since about age six, I was, overall, impressed by Peter Jackson's take on Lord of the Rings. Most of what he did I liked a great deal. There was only one thing I REALLY DIDN'T like: his interpretation of Galadriel and the scene at her mirror, which Jackson turned into some _Craft_-like evil witch nonsense. I always imagined Galadriel's reflections on what would happen if she took the one ring to be much quieter in tone, with almost a wry self-knowledge. I had expected this would be conveyed with acting rather than FX, and I found that the way it was done diminished the power of the scene. If the movie had a general fault it was that certain things were just overblown. It was almost as if Jackson felt he had to point out significant events, rather than let them point themselves out. Some of the lingering, slow motion went on too long. Both times Frodo was wounded, Boromir's death and Sam's near drowning stick out for me as places where I thought the pace lagged and the story verged on the melodramatic. There were also a few places where Jackson inserted action that I definitely hadn't imagined, which gave the whole a kind of video game feel. I thought at first that this represented the difference between a woman's take on Tolkein;'s work and a "guy's" -- probably 75% of the theatre audience was male -- but my husband agreed with me, so I don't know. Just a dfference in vision, I guess. Some of the cuts and substitutions, though necessary, bothered me. I missed the journey through the Shire. I REALLY missed Tom Bombadil, and I'm unsure about the substitution of Arwen for Glorfindel. The action between Bilbo's party and the arrival at Rivendell seemed rushed. I think the fact that there were 15 years or so between Frodo's inheritance of the ring and his leaving the Shire was an important one, and Jackson just ignored it. I also think that the "conspiracy" between Merry, Pippin and Sam was a major contribution both to the story and to the three younger Hobbits' characters, and I was sorry that it wasn't included. As Jackson portrayed it, Merry and Pippin ended up going along to Bree and farther completely by accident and that didn't work so well for me. On the plus side: this movie looked FANTASTIC! Some of the scenes were obviously built from Tolkein's own drawings. The Shire, the mines of Moria, the Pillars of the Kings all were unbelievably real. I can't say enough about how incredible the look was; it just blew me away, which doesn't happen often. The cast was also incredible. The only one who didn't really meet my expectations was, surprsingly, Christopher Lee; I expected Saruman to be more suave and oily. The rest were phenomenal, though, particularly Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) and Ian McKellen (Gandalf). I also thought Elijah Wood did a fine job showing Frodo's transformation from a rather happy-go-lucky hobbit to one forced by circumstance to carry an incredible burden. I was consistently amazed when I realised that none of these actors was a little person, but that all the size differences were done with CG. The CG environments were also amazing; if this movie doesn't win at least one award I'll be shocked. _Fellowship of the Ring_ kept me on the edge of my seat for its entire three hours. (I would actually give it four and a half stars if I could.) I think it will stand the scrutiny of most exacting Tolkein afficianados. Go see it.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE!
Review: As a zealous fantasy reader and movie goer I was extremely pleased with the movie "The Lord of the Rings". Elijah Wood and the rest of the cast do an excellent job portraying J.R.R. Tolkien's characters in this special-effects-blowout of a movie! ANYone who is familiar with the books will enjoy flowing plot of the movie while it all-most completely follows the books, and for those who don't... THE actions scenes will quiet your appetite! I will definitely see this movie again before it leaves theathers... YOU should at least take the journey ONCE. YOU will NOT regret it! ENJOY!!!!
Rating:
Summary: A true tribute to Tolkien fans
Review: As an avid fan of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings, and also an aspiring filmmaker, I understand the difficult position Peter Jackson was put in when he took on the impossible task of turning these books into movies. The detail is absolutely impossible to recreate, even if we had two days to sit and watch the films. The original movies were to give the best picture possible of what Lord of the Rings was. This extended version is designed for the readers, those who will truly appreciate and understand the extra half hour of detail that would have depleted the attention span of moviegoers who were simply there to see the movie. However, for those of us who know the books well and are looking for those details, this extended version is fitting to our tastes. Though some details are still left out (As I said, we don't have two days to watch this film), I was able to sit through the entire three and a half hours because I was simply seeing what I had just read taken out of my imagination and put on screen. Plus, I have watched all the special features twice. (But I don't know if that's because I'm a LOTR fan or that I just love filmmaking.) Altogether, I am very grateful for this extra effort of work and I cannot wait to see the Extended version of Two Towers.
Rating:
Summary: Movie magic.
Review: As being one of LOTR all time followers from reading these books over and over. I was amazed to see how magnificent this movie turned out. Peter Jackson has outdone himself. Sure the movies strays from the books a bit, as watching the movie I kept wanting to compare the two. About 30 min into the movie I forgot everything that I once knew about LOTR. This movie will pick you up, bring you into its world and makes you forget about everything you once knew. Just as the books did when I first read them. From the acting to the beautiful scenery. Prepare to loose all thoughts and be taking for one of the best stories in the world. Thank you Peter. All I can ask for now is a movie about my next hero...... Drizzt do'Urden
Rating:
Summary: A promising DVD
Review: As for the theatrical version- it is an amazing, breathtaking, view into the world that JRR Tolkien created 40+ years ago. Having seen the movie first, and then reading the book, I was able to get a unique perspective regarding the movie.
The first thing that a viewer has to keep in mind is that the movie, in its original form, was over six hours in length, which was, needless to say, too lengthy to show in theaters. Therefore, certain things, and I'm sure very interesting things, had to be left out. The viewer can take comfort in the fact, however, that what is left is the product of a series of cuts that ended up being the three hour epic that it is. Certain characters (i.e. Tom Bombadil) are omiitted in the film, however the film is extremely effective in portraying the book. So although the film is cut down, it is a masterpiece; a theatrical gem.
This DVD offers the oppurtunity to bring home this amazing masterpiece- what an oppurtunity! The DVD comes in two formats; widescreen and full screen. If you do not have a widescreen TV, I suggest buying the full screen version as it will not be "cut off" in terms of height, which some find annoying. This DVD incorporates some interesting special features, which are listed at the top of the screen. Among them is a sneak peak at the Special Exteneded DVD, which is going to hit stores November 10. This special extended version, according to lordoftherings.net, will be a unique version of the film with over thirty minutes of new footage incorporated into it.
Personally, I intend to buy both of these DVDs, one, which I have preordered now, and the other, which will come out November 10th. I will do this because I simply can't wait to own this masterpiece of a film.
Rating:
Summary: A New Film-making Standard
Review: As has been stated by countless others, the Lord of the Rings trilogy is a dazzling and terrifying, epic and intimate masterpiece. And 'Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Edition' is the jewel in the crown. It is the most lyrical, most fantastical, most charming and holds the dearest place in my heart among the three instant classics.
Rating:
Summary: Extended fun
Review: As having never read the LotR series in the print version, I really didn't have much of an expectation when the film arrived on theaters, and ended up not going to see it. But I've heard the many ravings of fanatical LotR fans who swore the film was the greatest movie of all time. I had no choice but to check it out, but again I pushed the date of purchase back. I'm glad I did, as I was able to purchase the extended platinum series of the movie. I'll say this right off...the 2 extra DVD (along with 2 DVD for the movie with extra scenes) with the bonus material is the BEST extra material ever to ship on a movie. They've literally put the best 'making of' documentary to date on this thing. From the camera tricks, to the mini-me of the littler charactres, to showing how many of the sets were made, the extra material will give you a wealth of knowledge that I imagine the only way to surpass that is to actually have been working on the film. This is more then worth the extra cash you'll be paying.
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