Well, I've seen the movie (more than once by now), and first, I must reiterate my above statement when I exhort you to READ THE BOOK. If you already have, you now know that I speak the truth when I claim that the novels are superior to the film. But I digress: the film. The thing I was most impressed by was the attention to detail, the exquisite design of the sets, props, costumes, and the like. Hobbiton is the perfect example; Peter Jackson began planting flora and fauna a full year in advance to filming to create the impression that hobbits had lived there for hundreds of years. You can see the chimneys sprounting from the ground where the hobbit-holes are. The design of Rivendell and Lothlorien were similarly terrific. Imladris (Rivendell) could have been taken straight out of one of Ted Nasmith's paintings (the link to pages with his work is at the bottom of the page). However, when it came to sets, I must give the gold to Moria. I have always harbored a special penchant for caverns and underground explorations, and if you visited my Tolkien page, you will know that my favorite place from The Lord of the Rings is indeed Dwarrowdelf or Kazad-dum. The journey through the perilous mines is, just, cool! There's no other word for it. Again, the attention to detail is great, especially in the Chamber of Mazarbul when they find the record of Balin's reign, and they repel the first wave of orcs. The corpses, dust, cobwebs, dilapidated old book, everything is done to perfection. It truly was a labor of love by Jackson, who has been labelled a "real hobbit" by most of the main cast members. Before we go on, I must also say that the people they found to do the book are superb. Ian McKellen IS Gandalf! I am a massive fan of Sean Connery, but I shudder to think of what would have happened had the producers taken my advice and casted ol' 007 as the venerable wizard. McKellen is a Shakespearean actor, for crying out loud; He Knows How To Act! Elijah Woods is good as Frodo. I noticed that he seemed to assume an elvish air towards the end of FotR, which is good since the book says that he does appear more and more elvish as the story unfolds. What can I say: Legolas is SO Cool! Orlando Bloom is excellent, sleek and deadly, an assassin, just like he is in the book. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan are hilarious as Pippin and Merry. Those two characters are mostly for comic relief, at least in the first book, and the actors perform admirably. I am anxious to see how PJ handles the more serious nature of the next two books, but my confidence, which was high to begin with, has had nothing to dent it thus far. John Rhys-Davies is decent as Gimli, as is Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee. The film version of Sam struck me as being a bit more emotional than in the book, especially in the boat scene at the end. Minor quibble. I really liked Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn. He was tough, deadly, dark, brooding, vulnerable, and emotional at the proper times (with Boromir in Lorien and at Tol Brandir when the Fellowship breaks). The only thing I didn't like about Viggo was his voice, something that he can't really do anything about. Hugo Weaving and Liv Tyler were good; in fact, I was pleasently surprised at Tyler's performance. Now, the fights and special effects. The fights were properly gory and chaotic; orcs don't use fighting styles after all. The confrontation on the Bridge of Kazad-dum was spectacular. Legolas' archery was great as well. The special effects were O.K. The cavetroll sequence was a bit shaky, as was Sauron's dispatching of foes at the start of the film, but on the whole I was not disappointed.
I could go on, of course (and I may create another whole page where I just run through the film) but I shall sum up by saying that this film has something for everyone. For the romantic/sensitive viewer, the scene between Aragorn and Arwen is tender, as are quite a few scenes with Frodo (with Bilbo at Rivendell, with Sam at Tol Brandir, with Gandalf in Moria). For the action/adventure buff, just watch the Wizard/Balrog part and tell me you don't get shivers down your spine. For the comic fan, the hobbits are humorous for most of the movie. All in all, a film for the ages. |
