Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the ring

Genre: Epic/Fantasy/Action/War
Director: Peter Jackson (go NZ)
year of release: 2001

I used to like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy so much before I smarted up and started enjoying greater movies, it is still an amazing story however it has some flaws that holds me back from liking it as much as I use to.

Lord of the Rings is complicated story about destroying a ring of power that could give a physical form back to the evil lord Sauron which would in turn probably ruin the world called middle earth. The fellowship is the first in the trilogy and is mainly about Frodo taking the Ring to rivendale, through Moria and a bit further. I must say the story is amazing, one of the best books made into a great movie. The charters and dialogue are written wonderfully, this is probably because of J.R.R Toliens in put in making the books so I blame him for all these wonderful advantages to this film although it could have been the three people who did the screenplay who
this quality (Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens and Peter himself). The direction is good and the music is great and hugely improves simple scenes like the title appearing.

The characters are written to perfection however acting holds this movie back. Elijah Wood plays the part he was born yet is still very average imo. He has the look for the character but the way he delivery's his lines are reasonably unnaturally and seemed if not forced then just annoying. He comes of as a hard core pussy that seems shy and held back although this is slightly how I believe the character should have been done I believe it has been overdone. Some lines make me cringe however he seems to get a better idea of his character through the movies and the trilogy, I watched the second one the day after I watched this and Elijah had seemed to improve and seem more natural. Sam is average in this one however is brilliant in the second I will watch the third soon however I remember loving his character by the end.

The dialogue is very good. Scenes make you shiver because the lines are rich in creativity and match the style and improve the feel of the movie. The scenes at the start make me shiver as they are so cool. As I have said many times I have a soft spot for narration a voice over that contains great sentences Lord of the Rings starts with "The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it." irejijvahalsjlkjf cool. The music adds to this scene so much as it is slightly sad playing slightly quite long shaky notes similar to the way it is done in the Godfather.

Legolas had the potential to be one of the coolest characters in history, he seems to save the day will the final blow to many enemies, pulls some awesome moves and has a distinct fighting style that suits his character. Orlando Bloom is bad it seems worse when the character has so much potential. He seems to try and create an accent then he keeps breaking it with certain lines e.g "Goblins!" when he picks up an arrow in Moria. I never remember not thinking much of Legolas and when a person said they liked him I realized back then that he had potential only now do I know why. Legolas is a quite character who likes using a bow and two small daggers when killing bad guys his style is not only unlike but looks amazing the choreography in this movie is very good epically with legoglas. He is the fast moving, aerobatic character that should be everyone's favorite however losses this to Aragorn.

Manly the acting wasn't too bad I liked Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn and Ian McKellen as Gandalf Merry and Pippin are good aside from a few scenes, Boromir was too bad Galadreil and Arwen when on the verge of bad and Gimili suited his part well and acted not badly. Many of the actors give a very small range they have a character that seems one certain mood and no other. Only the hobbits really show varying emotions it seems a bit strange possibly a bit annoying.

Lord of the Rings is a very dark trilogy I am sure every one has told you this however I am going to say it again. The lighting is often dim to create dark, mysterious and evil situations this is the only possible way it could have been done if they tried to make a happy light feel to this dark story full of evil it just would not of worked, I can not think of too many movies that have been done similarly to Lord of the Rings and it feels quite original.

Fellowship of the Ring is very singular storied this aspect is great as none of the scenes feel irrelevant a feeling as there are no silly side stories that could have been cut out and hold no effect. Every scene builds to one thing the ring being destroyed this makes the story all the more great. The Two Towers does not have this effect and has slightly fallen even though I enjoyed the second better. Recently a few of the movies I have been watching have the feeling that not everything is relevant and it has pissed me off a little, however it is the reason that I like the Searchers as it is a similar strength in that as well.

The fighting is pretty amazing many scenes have you on the edge of your seat cheering on the good guys, it is reasonably realistic and there are some amazing action scenes. Seven Samurai and this trilogy have some of my favorite battles scenes. Viggo and Legolas lead in there styles of killing Viggo with his big sword heaving heavy blows to his enemies and Legolas quickly using his bow and trying to keep his distance to the hundreds of orcs which he does well in even close quarters. Legolas also uses two daggers twirling them around in fast repetitive hits that look cool. The shaky camera makes you feel almost as if you are there a style created by the movie I just watched breathless (not quite as well done however).

This movie is not a fantastic, amazing, inspiring classic however it is quite good. It does not quite shake that modern feeling and with out the amazing writing mainly in the story, dialogue and characters it would be another average epic to make money with a selection of good and average acting. Jackson adds another layer to its greatness however underneath you can tell someone just wants to make money rather than make a great movie like a painting with a bad under layer that effects the whole bringing it down. The special effects are amazing and there are some amazing pans of my beautiful country. I believe there is defiantly a type of target audience for instance my dad does not like the trilogy as there is only about 1 or 2 jokes every 3 hours, still give it a chance as I believe it has a decent draw into the story.

8.5/10