CCC Reviews

The Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring

Quite possibly the most anticipated movie since the lacking sci-fi epic Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. J.R.R. Tolkien's famed tale, "The Lord of the Rings" is finally being put onto screen. Most know that the movie has been in filming for over a year and a half because they shot Fellowship and its two sequels consecutively.

As an adaptation of a book, it delivers strongly although there are discrepancies between the book and the movie. Yet it still has that epic feel that Tolkien conveyed so well. The biggest key to the success of the movie is the job the casting directors do. Ian McKellen (X-Men, Six Degrees of Separation) plays a perfect Gandalf and while Elijah Wood (The Adventures of Huck Finn, Flipper) doesn't look much like a hobbit, he plays Frodo Baggins very well. Rounding out the fellowship are Sean Astin (Rudy, Courage Under Fire) plays Samwise Gamgee, Frodo's best friend. Viggo Mortensen (Psycho, A Perfect Murder) plays the ranger Strider. Great jobs were done at rounding out the rest of the cast with the possible acception of Boromir who is played by Sean Bean (GoldenEye, Ronin). While Bean doesn't fit the part of Boromir physically, he has the perfect characteristics of Boromir.

The story stays fairly true to the story although giving Arwen a much larger role and omitting certain sections of the book. However at times it seems like this movie was just a reason to go to different locations as there are aerial shots of snow-capped mountains, jungle rivers and wide open plains. What's incredible though is the fight sequences which are beautifully choreographed and executed.

Unfortunately, the more times I see this movie, the more I realize that it's not much more than a B-movie with the budget of an A. Some of the actors seem a little stiff and there are obvious sections where midgets were used for the Hobbits and many of the special effects seem cheesy. But this is balanced by an even greater amount of sections where one gets immersed in the film and the world of Middle Earth seems so real.

All in all this is a great movie but not so much of a film. At a runtime of three hours that I didn't even realize had passed, Fellowship succeeds in brining Tolkien's world to the viewer. 

Scores for Spy Game
Slacker711 - - "Brings the epic story to life and is just a lot of fun."

Cast
Frodo Baggins - Elijah Wood
Gandalf the Grey - Ian McKellen
Samwise "Sam" Gamgee - Sean Astin
Strider / Aragorn - Viggo Mortensen
Peregrin "Pippin" Took - Billy Boyd
Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck - Domenic Monaghan
Bilbo Baggins - Ian Holm
Legolas Greenleaf - Orlando Bloom
Gimli - John Rhys-Davies
Boromir - Sean Bean
Saruman the White - Christopher Lee
Lord Elrond Undómiel - Hugo Weaving
Arwen Undómiel - Liv Tyler
Galadriel - Cate Blanchett
Gollum (Voice) - Andy Serkis
Isildur - Harry Sinclair
Sauron - Sala Baker
The Ring (Voice) - Alan Howard

Crew
Director - Peter Jackson
"The Felloship of the Ring" - J.R.R. Tolkien
Screenplay - Peter Jackson
Screenplay - Philippa Boyens
Screenplay - Fran Walsh
Producer - Barrie Osborne
Producer - Tim Sanders
Associate Producer - Ellen Somers
Executive Producer - Bob Weinstein
Executive Producer - Harvey Weinstein
Producer: Wingnut Films - Peter Jackson
Co-Producer: Wingnut Films - Rick Porras
Co-Producer: Wingnut Films - Jamie Selkirk
Co-Producer: Wingnut Films - Fran Walsh
Executive Producer: New Line Cinema - Michael Lynne
Executive Producer: New Line Cinema - Mark Ordesky
Executive Producer: New Line Cinema - Robert Shaye
Original Music - Howard Shore
Original Music - Enya
Cinematography - Andrew Lesnie
Film Editing - John Gilbert
Casting - Victoria Burrows
Casting - John Hubbard
Casting - Amy MacLean
Casting - Liz Mullane
Casting - Ann Robinson
Production Design - Grant Major