My review can be summed up in one word: Wow
Dungeons & Dragons this isn't. Not by a long shot. FotR lives up to the hype around it and then some. When my biggest complaint about the film is that its absolutely critical that now I have to wait a whole year before seeing The Two Towers, and then another year before Return of the King, you know they've got the film right.
They stayed true to the book extremely well, albeit in an abridged format. There's no possible way they could fit all the detail of Tolkien's work into the three hour run time of the movie. They glossed over many of the parts of the book that I myself thought were extraneous to the main plot, such as Tom Bombadil, but all that's important to the Ring Quest itself is preserved.
The action sequences are well played out, and in fact during a couple of them, the theatre burst into cheers and applause.
There are a couple minor points that stick out in my mind as things I personally would have liked to have seen differently, and both involve Galadriel. Though the casting for everyone else in the film is absolutely spot-on, Cate Blanchett fails to capture to stunning elven beauty that I came to associate with Galadriel from the books. Liv Tyler, cast as Arwen, would have been better in the role.
The other thing that left me with a slightly unpleasant taste in my mouth was Galadriel's portrayed behavior in Rivendell. Though perhaps this is just me, but while in the book, my mind's eye envisioned her never losing her elven grace, the filmmakers chose to take a slightly more direct and very ungraceful portrayal of her lust for the ring during the test where Frodo offers it to her. (Though I did enjoy the fact that she looked almost like a (_|_) during the sequence -- this will obviously necessitate me buying the movie when it eventually comes out on DVD and doing painstaking frame-by-frame ... uh.. "analysis"... before my opinion is finalized on the subject.)
The special effects artists have done absolute magic in scaling the actors playing the hobbits in relation to the more full-sized characters, and for the most part the rest of the CG fits well. I did notice a handful of places where things didn't quite look right, but perhaps I was just being overly critical.
In the end though, I left the theatre hungry for more. The three hours passed like no time at all. If the general moviegoing public can get past the cliffhanger ending, this movie is absolutely sure to be a total success.
I give this movie five (_|_)s. [ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Drysart ]
Behold, the power of (_|_)
The first 10 minutes of "The Fellowship of the Ring" renders all hype -- whether it's the kind that's bought and paid for or the kind generated by eager fans -- inconsequential. In adapting the story of hobbit Frodo Baggins and his mission to guard and ultimately destroy a ring that has the power to bring cursed evil upon the world, director Peter Jackson has given us an epic in the true sense, with none of the pretentious fakery that the word "epic" has come to imply.
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I agree.
this is amazing for more than just the reason that critics are rather cynical. Fantasy movies have never had a good rep even when they HAVE been good (Legend, Labrynth) so it's nice to see that aside from the few "It's a fantasy movie therefore it sucks" reviews LotR has been whoopn' it up.
....
This movie rocked. Going to see it again this weekend I think. Hope the DVD is 4 hours or more *foams at the mouth*
So those of you that have seen it, and think that Harvery Keitel couldn't act his way out of a napkin layed over him (this proves you know acting), Please tell me what you thought of Elijah Wood as Frodo.
Please tell me that the acting god hood that Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee rubbed off on this snot nosed dip whit.
Please tell me that he's not the same kid from Flipper and Deel Impact. Please tell me he's found his voice and skill and talent all at once.
Please? [ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Woody ]
Oh, and, I am going to see this in the theatre at least 2 more times.
quote:
Woody had this to say about Tron:
<snip demi-rant about Elijah Wood
What Woody said about EW, applies to Liv Tyler for me. Anyone care to give both of us a glimmer of hope?
I am just stunned after it. If there were any acting flaws, I was too stunned by everything else to notice. It was great. Read any other review for reason to see it.
All in all, wow is the most accurate description. I had my mouth open during the bulk of the movie. Epic, awe inspiring, tear jerking - just fabululous.
*sighs dreamily*
btw, anyone who plays an archer in a rpg, take notes - legolas is THE SHIT. Holy smokes, I've never seen such great bow moves, and who knew you could do *that* with an arrow!
quote:
Piper had this to say about Optimus Prime:
Elijah Wood and Liv Tyler both gave stunning performances.All in all, wow is the most accurate description. I had my mouth open during the bulk of the movie. Epic, awe inspiring, tear jerking - just fabululous.
*sighs dreamily*
btw, anyone who plays an archer in a rpg, take notes - legolas is THE SHIT. Holy smokes, I've never seen such great bow moves, and who knew you could do *that* with an arrow!
THEY LEFT OUT TOM!!!!!!!! WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
other then that i rather enjoyed it 
it was good
[ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Troodon ]
quote:I have very little respect
Troodon thought this was the Ricky Martin Fan Club Forum and wrote:
Critic Rant
Anyone who can't form their own opinion, and isn't open minded enough to figure out that what a critic says is their OPINION, not a fact, is, in my book, an idiot.(I'm not talking about you, Troodon 
)
I, personally, think all movie critics should be fired. 
<grins> I loved every minute of it, and as Drysart stated, what they cut out and slightly changed only took out extraneous stuff from the majority of the plot of the first book. I think I shall see this 3 or 4 more times before it goes out of theatres ^.^
quote:
Piper had this to say about Reading Rainbow:
who knew you could do *that* with an arrow!
I'm still extremely impressed with how they portrayed the book onto the big screen.
I went with 2 friends who have never read the books, and after they heard that the Two Towers wont be out for another year, they both went out and bought the books so they could see what would happen next.
Just like Drys said, some of the small things that got cut out didnt bother me. The way the characters were presented was just outstanding. And Arwen.../droooool!
Definatly heading back to see it soon
/bow Sauron
/grovel Sauron
/tell Sauron Love the armour, looking good!
There may be a few spoilers in my post, so I warn you now.
The audience I was with clapped when Aargon killed the orc that killed Bromar. Elijah Wood is to thin to be Frodo in my mind. They did cut out a few sceens, and some other details... it left me saying "Wasn't there a letter at the inn?" "And wasn't there a whole forest sequence before they even met Strider?" But it was mainly small things.
Oh, and the way they showed the Dwarf halls ROCKED.
But in battle... ohhh...
quote:
Bane had this to say about (_|_):
I do not like what they did to Arwen, she stole Legalos's part *snip*
I think you mean Glorfindle, because Legolas doesn't show up until the Council meeting in the book.
[edit for clarification] [ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Caela ]
Our group ranged from Tolkien Devotees to people who read the books awhile ago, to people who'd never read them. Everyone loved it, it had a very broad appeal.
Nothing about the acting screwed with me.
I think that the scene with Galadriel was mostly to replace internal dialogue... its hard to put internal dialogue into a movie well. However, note that all the scenes like that were done exactly how Samwise's one was in the book.
Most definitely worth my 9 bucks.
quote:I have very little respect
Densetsu wrote this then went back to looking for porn:
[QUOTE]Troodon thought this was the Ricky Martin Fan Club Forum and wrote:
[qb]Critic Rant
Anyone who can't form their own opinion, and isn't open minded enough to figure out that what a critic says is their OPINION, not a fact, is, in my book, an idiot.(I'm not talking about you, Troodon )
I, personally, think all movie critics should be fired. [/QB][/QUOTE]
Well, almost everybody seeing or not seeing the movie bases their decision based on an opinion, either formed from critics, previews, or testimonials from other people that have seen it. Going to it because your friend thought it was awesome is no less basing your decision on somebody's opinion than not going because some critic hated it. Or vice-versa. Have nothing against critics stating their opinions, as long as they make that clear that's what they are. Critics only piss me off when they get a self-righteous God complex, and act like their opinions are facts set in stone. Unless you're chasing down an Oscar, movie makers care more about the audience's opinions than the critics'. The critics aren't the ones buying the tickets. The critic I told you about in my first post was clearly not one of the people in the movie's target audience. He's among the several critics that for some reason have the attitude that a movie can't be a quality film and popular at the same time, as evidenced by an interview with him, where he listed what he thought were the best movies this year. Most nobody had even heard of. The number one movie for 2001 in his opinion? Memento. Nope, not kidding. He's one of the critics Spielberg always hated. Until Schindler's List, Spielberg's movies were loved by the audiences but usually hated by many of the critics. Took him 20 years to finally get the Academy to recognize him. The Academy is another rant altogether, don't want to go there right now...
Anyway, see the movie yourself, form your own opinion. [ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Troodon ]
I loved the movie, but there were some problems with it. It was very easy to tell when verse from the books was used, it almost made those scenes feel contrived. I think they could have done a better job intergrating dialog from the book and dialog written specificly for the movie.
The character of Arwen really rubbed me the wrong way. It felt that the only reason they wrote in the character, as she didn't have more than a cameo apperance in the first book, was to give Liv Tyler a stage. I don't think many will argue that while she is a fine looking young lady, her acting skills leave something to be desired. I've no problem with deviation for the sake of entertainment, but some things didn't make sense.
I loved the aura and setting though, it was done right. The enviroment for the movie was perfect, and I was in full awe of the full panarama of scenery. All the special effects were wonderful, especially the scene on the bridge of Khazud-Dum. I think Elijah Woods was great, he captured the moody and crossed desires of Frodo perfectly. Some of the other acting in the movie was alas suspect. Aragorn, Gandalf, and Bilbo were very good. But they should have found someone, umm larger and more bulky to play Borimar, a true giant of a man would have been better.
I cannot wait to see the next two, just to be able to sit down and finialy see the books I read as a child come to the screen properly. I still feel the 1978 Ralpha Baski film was better overall, and would have made this film obsolete if he had been allowed to complete it.
But that's just my opinion I might be wrong...
quote:
Woody wrote this stupid crap:
My major casting concern is Elijah Wood as Frodo. He's proven time and time again that he can not hold character, emotion, anything well enough to make me want to watch him.So those of you that have seen it, and think that Harvery Keitel couldn't act his way out of a napkin layed over him (this proves you know acting), Please tell me what you thought of Elijah Wood as Frodo.
Please tell me that the acting god hood that Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee rubbed off on this snot nosed dip whit.
Please tell me that he's not the same kid from Flipper and Deel Impact. Please tell me he's found his voice and skill and talent all at once.
Please?
Think you're not giving Elijah Wood enough credit. Think a lot of reputation is based on the words he had to read, than how he read them. A well acted crappy script can still make you look bad.
Deep Impact was melodramatic crap, but Elijah did the best he could with it, I think. He was also pretty good in The Client. He's not that bad an actor, but he was playing someone his age. Problem with playing a hobbit, is you need to cast a teenager because of the physical appearance, yet still play it with the maturity of adulthood. I've seen it done before, in all those stupid "child switches body with parent" movies. Though those movies were stupid, but seen some child actors who could make me believe they were an adult in a child's body for an hour and a half. Whether Elijah Wood can pull off Frodo, don't know, but think he might be able to pull it off. He's a better actor than most people think; he's just got some crappy roles, but he did the best he could with them.
[ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Caela ]
Just a side note...Don't let the babyface fool you, Elijah is at least twenty.
omgs *CRIES* It was the BEST movie I have ever seen (A title I gave to Braveheart, and before that Shindler's List)
Went with my hubby and two of his coworkers... There were times I had to remind him to breath... and myself.
and as a side note.. =( I want Legolas... no I mean it...
Lyinar Ka`Bael, Piney Fresh Druidess - Luclin
quote:
Mortious Shadowstalker had this to say about Robocop:
By the way, nice new sigpic Drys
Too bad Legolas is a fruity ranger, otherwise he looks exactly like I always wanted Drysart to look like.
quote:Seeing Legolas in action gave me newfound respect for Rangers/Archers.
Drysart thought this was the Ricky Martin Fan Club Forum and wrote:
Too bad Legolas is a fruity ranger
The movie was amazing. It had mostly small actors (good!) and was really well done. There was no jar jar binks, etc.
My only beef was the wizards. Im sorry... two arch wizards flinging themselves around a little? What happened to earch ripping, sky shattering, duels?
Two paws and a tail up!
Ferrel!
quote:parts of the movie with frodo and sam made it look like they were going to make out
Kinanik had this to say about Robocop:
The movie was great. Out of the battle, Legolas was a pansy who always seemed to look like he was going to make out with any of the other male characters.But in battle... ohhh...
I think they all did well in their part. I rather liked that Galadriel's temptation and test came out the way it did. I loved the horror factor on Bilbo when Frodo came to Rivendell. *nods at Caela* I was gonna say it if you didnt.. no.. arwen didnt steal Legolas' part, Bane. Please go back and read the books. It was Glorfindel. As Drys stated.. you cant possibly put all the detail that was in the books.. onto the screen.. the movie would have turned out to be.. as my friend said, 7 hours long. And though I am willing to sit around to watch something like that, I wouldnt do it in a theatre
I cant say anything more than what has already been said.. the movie was simply mind blowing. Numerous times I found myself sitting there , slackjawed and stunned.
Never read the books, but I do intend to do so now, and oh? whats this? Synny has the books? cooooooool
-KD
