And so it begins, the start of an immense movie trilogy that will surely dwarf the past efforts of the Star Wars saga. This review is coming from someone who only read The Hobbit. Now I will make the time to read the rest of the Lord of the Rings books, so anyone who has read them, please submit your reviews, it would be interesting to get an alternative viewpoint! On to the review�
The story opens with the history of a powerful Ring forged by an ancient evil, Sauron. This ring passes from one owner to the next and is ultimately lost for hundreds of years. That is until a certain Bilbo Baggins finds the ring by accident. His friend Gandalf the wizard instructs him to hide the ring as it must not come into the hands of its creator. Anyway, this review will become as epic as the movie if I carry on like this, so an ageing Bilbo gives up the ring and leaves. His nephew Frodo takes over the job and to cut a long story short, Frodo, Gandalf, and others set off on a quest to destroy said ring. It�s a long and complicated affair, but all will become clear when you see it.
After 3 hours, I left the cinema numb, bedazzled by this wonderful piece of storytelling that I�m told remains true to the book. You cannot possibly be unsatisfied by this movie, it has everything in abundance, epic battles, intolerable suspense, scary monsters, beautiful scenery backed up by the best cinematography I�ve ever seen, almost flawless special effects, I could go on and on�ok I will! The acting, from a superb ensemble cast consisting of Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee, Sean Bean, and Liv Tyler among others, bring this tale to life, culminating in some very emotionally fuelled scenes. Deaths come with true sadness and you cant help but get drawn into it all.
On the down side, anyone who hasn�t yet read the books will be confused by the endless bombardment of info at the start, but keep with it, and it will all become clear (including a lot of strange character and place names!). Sort of. I also thought there was just one or two sweeping landscapes with our heroes walking in single file too many. It just seemed like someone was trying to milk it a little, and the pace sometimes becomes a little dreary where it needs to speed up to keep our attention, and before we realise that we have a sore ass. That said, Peter Jackson, who in the past made gore-flicks with a few mates on a shoestring budget (watch Bad Taste if you dare!), has outdone himself, and he deserves a medal for an amazing start to something that would make other directors tremble at the knees. |
