(2001, colour, 208 mins)
Director – Peter Jackson
Starring – Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean, Christopher Lee, Ian Holm
I planned on watching a quick film today to get the mission off to a fairly easy start. Ironically, my dad decided that today would be the day he finally started watching the extended DVD versions of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy (something he’s been meaning to do for a few years now). So I figured “meh, why not”. At least pretty much every other film I watch this year will be shorter.
There have been some pretty big gambles made throughout the history of film. Some ended up being financially successful – George Lucas’s new Star Wars trilogy springs to mind – whereas for others the risk of a big budget didn’t pay off: stand up, Waterworld.
But for New Line Cinema to let Peter Jackson, a director with no real blockbuster hits at that point, take a huge budget ($500 million dollars including publicity and marketing) and film a nine-hour long trilogy of movies back-to-back – not to mention the fact that the films were based on one of the most well-respected works of modern fiction ever – was one hell of a huge gamble.
Thankfully, it paid off.
The Fellowship Of The Ring is the complete opposite of your typical action-packed, 90-minute “popcorn film”. Clocking in at around three hours in length (with an extra half an hour on top of that if you’re watching the extended DVD version I watched), the pace is slower than a snail going through mud and there’s very little action throughout the whole of the film, with only one major sword fight. Yet despite this, the film doesn’t actually drag.
It’s strange, because had this been any other film with any other director I’d probably be saying that it was incredibly dull and asking the likes of “how many wide overhead shots of a group of people walking on a mountain do we need”. Yet for this film, somehow, it doesn’t matter. In choosing his native New Zealand as the shooting location, Jackson has given the world of Middle Earth an amazing backdrop and every one of those wide shots – dull as a two-watt bulb in other films – look amazing. This film is screaming out for the HD treatment.
In terms of the other components of the film, there can be no complaints. The acting is absolutely spot-on from everyone involved, with the possible exception of Billy Boyd who just seems out of place with his accent. While I do love hearing a Scottish accent in a film (it brings out the patriot in me), it just doesn’t work in this fantasy setting. How come all the other Hobbits in Hobbiton have decent “Farmer Giles” accents, whereas one single Hobbit sounds like he’s just turned up from the west end of Glasgow? Had Boyd tried a similar accent to that of his Hobbit mates then it’d have made his character more believable. As it was, every time he spoke I just kept thinking that he was a Scottish actor rather than a Hobbit.
Thankfully, Boyd’s accent is the only thing in that film that was unwelcome to my ears. The film has a fantastic orchestral score that really tugs on the heartstrings at just the right moments.
Although the other two films in the trilogy are better due to the introduction of Gollum and huge battle scenes, The Fellowship Of The Ring is still a fantastic film, even if all that really happens throughout the three and a half hours is a lad getting a ring, being told to destroy it, getting chummy with some bigger guys, heading out then splitting up to go on two different adventures that don’t actually happen yet. In the grand scheme of things, it’s only a prologue: you couldn’t just watch this film on its own and be satisfied at the ending. But what a prologue it is.
Director – Peter Jackson
Starring – Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean, Christopher Lee, Ian Holm
I planned on watching a quick film today to get the mission off to a fairly easy start. Ironically, my dad decided that today would be the day he finally started watching the extended DVD versions of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy (something he’s been meaning to do for a few years now). So I figured “meh, why not”. At least pretty much every other film I watch this year will be shorter.
There have been some pretty big gambles made throughout the history of film. Some ended up being financially successful – George Lucas’s new Star Wars trilogy springs to mind – whereas for others the risk of a big budget didn’t pay off: stand up, Waterworld.
But for New Line Cinema to let Peter Jackson, a director with no real blockbuster hits at that point, take a huge budget ($500 million dollars including publicity and marketing) and film a nine-hour long trilogy of movies back-to-back – not to mention the fact that the films were based on one of the most well-respected works of modern fiction ever – was one hell of a huge gamble.
Thankfully, it paid off.
The Fellowship Of The Ring is the complete opposite of your typical action-packed, 90-minute “popcorn film”. Clocking in at around three hours in length (with an extra half an hour on top of that if you’re watching the extended DVD version I watched), the pace is slower than a snail going through mud and there’s very little action throughout the whole of the film, with only one major sword fight. Yet despite this, the film doesn’t actually drag.
It’s strange, because had this been any other film with any other director I’d probably be saying that it was incredibly dull and asking the likes of “how many wide overhead shots of a group of people walking on a mountain do we need”. Yet for this film, somehow, it doesn’t matter. In choosing his native New Zealand as the shooting location, Jackson has given the world of Middle Earth an amazing backdrop and every one of those wide shots – dull as a two-watt bulb in other films – look amazing. This film is screaming out for the HD treatment.
In terms of the other components of the film, there can be no complaints. The acting is absolutely spot-on from everyone involved, with the possible exception of Billy Boyd who just seems out of place with his accent. While I do love hearing a Scottish accent in a film (it brings out the patriot in me), it just doesn’t work in this fantasy setting. How come all the other Hobbits in Hobbiton have decent “Farmer Giles” accents, whereas one single Hobbit sounds like he’s just turned up from the west end of Glasgow? Had Boyd tried a similar accent to that of his Hobbit mates then it’d have made his character more believable. As it was, every time he spoke I just kept thinking that he was a Scottish actor rather than a Hobbit.
Thankfully, Boyd’s accent is the only thing in that film that was unwelcome to my ears. The film has a fantastic orchestral score that really tugs on the heartstrings at just the right moments.
Although the other two films in the trilogy are better due to the introduction of Gollum and huge battle scenes, The Fellowship Of The Ring is still a fantastic film, even if all that really happens throughout the three and a half hours is a lad getting a ring, being told to destroy it, getting chummy with some bigger guys, heading out then splitting up to go on two different adventures that don’t actually happen yet. In the grand scheme of things, it’s only a prologue: you couldn’t just watch this film on its own and be satisfied at the ending. But what a prologue it is.
4 out of 5
Nice review, 4 stars is probably what i'd give that one too since although it was full of spectacle and wonder, there were a couple of boring bits near the end.
ReplyDeleteBut they're three movies about walking...
ReplyDeleteGood wee review. And I agree with your score. You watching the other two?
Aye mate, I probably will at some point.
ReplyDeletePretty good review. I haven't seen this film in years, but I got the extended edition of The Two Towers (complete with Gollum figure =P) for Christmas, so I should probably start over again soon.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Gollum play a very (very) brief role in The Fellowship Of The Ring? To my memory, and somewhat ironically, that was my favourite part of the film...
Its Turkey Toad by the way:
ReplyDeletePlex: Are you referring to the scene in the Mines of Moria where you get a short glimpse of Gollum's face as he watches the Fellowship go past?
As for the review: I suppose I agree with everything you said, except from Billy Boyd's accent. I never really felt it was out of place to be honest. Reading your comment made me think about it a bit, but when I'm engrossed in the film, I never seem to notice it. Besides, I like the way he brings a bit of comedy and light-heartedness into the film.
And I completley agree with your comments on New Zealand as the predominant setting. It just worked so well and I don't think Peter Jackson could have achieved such a mind-blowing fantasy setting if he had chose to film it anywhere else.
When the films were announced, I was really sceptical because, as you said in the review, it was a big risk converting the greatest literary works of all time into a motion picture, but after I saw the first film the day it was released, I just knew that he would do a fantastic job. He really did do the books justice.
Good review, although I would have given it 5 stars, naturally =P
(using my CVG username)
ReplyDeleteGreat review (although I couldn't help but notice that your writing style is pretty much the same as in ONM :-P).
Personally, I don't really like LOTR (both the books and the films) as I find them quite boring and I don't really follow the plot (I prefer watching films with a straightforward storyline).
Anyway, good luck with this. I'm positive that you're going to watch all 366 films. :-D