Every now and then, when you’re watching a movie, you realize that you’re watching something that has never been done before. When you see this type of movie, it not only immerses you into the world it has created, but it also continuously sets a new paradigm for what you will compare other movies to. No other movie in my lifetime will probably affect me to this degree as the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring affected me. Peter Jackson’s opening movie to the LOTR Trilogy gives the fantasy genre it’s Citizen Kane; it also showcases a vivid, majestic world with amazing creatures/characters, and an engrossing adventure epic.
The story takes place in Middle Earth, at a time and place where wizards, dwarves, elves, orcs and other creatures exist. Years before the story’s present, a Dark Lord named Sauron created a ring of power in an attempt to conquer Middle Earth. Sauron was defeated, but the ring vanished, ending up (via a short prelude) in the hands of a hobbit (tiny human-like creatures who walk with no shoes) named Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm). Bilbo then departs on a journey and leaves the ring and his possessions to his nephew Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). Their friend, and old, wise, wizard named Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellan) has been around since the defeat of Sauron, so he connects the dots and realizes that Frodo possesses the one ring. He sends him on a journey that eventually puts him in Rivendell the land of the elves. It is here that a Fellowship of the Ring is formed to protect Frodo in his journey to destroy the ring. The fellowship is a mishmash of interesting creatures: Gandalf, Frodo, an elf named Legolas (Orlando Bloom), a dwarf named Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), two men Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Boromir (Sean Bean), and three other hobbits: Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin), Meriadoc “Merry” Brandywine (Dominic Monaghan) and Peregrin “Pippin” Took (Billy Boyd). The fellowship has external opposition in the form of the Eye of Sauron and Saruman the White (Christopher Lee), but it more pressingly, has internal opposition due to the fact that the ring desires to be found by Sauron, which creates paranoia and aggression directed towards Frodo and his quest.
The Fellowship of the Ring immerses you in its setting starting from its first scene. The prelude could be a fascinating short in an of its own right, but for LOTR purposes it does a very clear, concise job describing the players and setting of the epic battle to the Hobbit’s home: the Shire. From there, the adventure jumps from one great location to another (the movie was filmed in New Zealand). What makes LOTR special compared to other sci-fi/fantasy stories is that the sheer magnitude of new locations, from mountainous highs to dwarf crafted depths generates an increasing length and dichotomy between the tiny Frodo and his seemingly impossible task. Credit the cinematographer Andrew Lesnie for finding these spots, and Howard Shore for creating music to match the mood during each set.
The art directors and set designers also brought their A game. It is hard to believe that the Shire isn’t a real place. The use of rolling hills and clothes for all of the Hobbits are very simple and very clever. The design is so good that distinguishing between an orc and a goblin is not even considered to be a problem. In fact, various orc species can be identified very easily. This attention to detail pays dividends as the story gets longer and newer characters get introduced.
As compared to JRR Tolkien’s story, this is not a word-for-word recreation, but a version filtered through a movie lens. This is a gamble for Peter Jackson, as there are many faithful fans to the story. What he has rewritten is the perfect mix: Jackson’s vision retains most of the Fellowship of the Ring while cutting unnecessary filler that can best be left in DVD editions. Most importantly, the adventure, world, and characters are very faithful projections of Tolkien’s book onto the big screen.
The projection would not be complete without interesting characters, and because of the setting change, these characters feel larger than life. Elijah Wood undergoes the biggest change across the film. He hits the right note of the beginning naivete to bearing the weight of the world. Of equal note are Ian McKellan, playing Gandalf as a wise, troubled wizard and Viggo Mortensen who gives Aragorn a tough internal dilemma that has no easy answer. Ian Holm, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler (playing Aragorn’s elven love interest), Hugo Weaving (playing a regal elf-leader), and Cate Blanchett (playing a regal elf-leader) all lend their services and each leave some sort of impression.
The Fellowship of the Ring doesn’t conclude, it is just the beginning. As a start of a trilogy, LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring stands alongside Star Wars Episode IV and Toy Story as the best of all time. The Fellowship of the Ring awoke my eyes to the wonder of moviemaking, and no doubt will it do the same for other generations to come.