The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

YOU SHALL NOT PASS on watching this amazing film! The Hobbit was written in 1937 by J.R.R. Tolkien. The producers saw the critical and commercial acclaim of the novel, and demanded a sequel. And so the ‘founder of modern fantasy’ came up with The Lord of the Rings, a three-part epic saga published in the 50s. There have been many attempts to make this epic into film, but none have been that successful until Peter Jackson got his big break. The man who was previously known for the slapstick horror films reminiscent of The Evil Dead, Bad Taste and Braindead (released as Dead Alive in America), Peter Jackson made a movie in 2001 that made his place on the map well-known and outstanding. He later went to direct the second and third films in the series, the 2005 remake of King Kong, and…The Lovely Bones. But he also produced District 9. Either way, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was a landmark for Jackson, one well-deserved. The plotline of the film follows the basic plot of the first book in Tolkien’s epic, having young hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), nephew of Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm), on a mission to return the One Ring, a magical malevolent ring created many years ago and resurfaced by the once-hobbit Gollum (Andy Serkis), to Mordor in order to destroy it. He is a part of the ‘Fellowship of the Ring’, consisting of him, his best friend and fellow hobbit Sam (Sean Astin), master wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian ‘Magneto’ McKellen), Dunedain ranger Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson), Elvish prince and master archer Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and the axe-wielding dwarf Gimli (John Ryse-Davies), among a few others. These men are on a mission to go destroy the One Ring, and especially not let it get into the hands of Saruman the White (Christopher Lee), who is a servant for Sauron, a giant floating eyeball, who is attempting to return in human form, who created the One Ring many years ago, and wants to use it for his own evil-doing. I am being completely serious. In the context of this world, this makes complete and utter sense. And I am okay with that. Because the film is graceful, fun, magnificent, and just bloody brilliant. I find few problems with this brilliant little gem, but there are some there. There are a few moments in the film where I just stared blankly, and said-“Really?” I mean, there was nothing that extremely took me out of the film, just a few things that I know I would have done a different way. But those small things mean absolutely nothing against the brilliance that is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. NOTE: A lot of my friends read these reviews, so I direct this last passage to you-As soon as you all can accept the fact that Harry Potter is not coming back, and you need something to fill the void in your heart, watch these movies. They’ll do you good. Oh, I’m gonna pay for that tomorrow.
9.5/10