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

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a fantastic achievement in filmmaking by director Peter Jackson. It’s a visual spectacle with outstanding visual effects, costumes, and sets. I’ve seen this movie so many times since it first came out, and I’ve always loved it.

The movie takes its time (it is about 3 hours long) but that really eases you into the movie’s world, and gets you to like its characters.

While not all the performances blow me away, the movie is still perfectly cast, with each actor truly embodying their character. Jackson didn’t necessarily cast the biggest stars in the world (I think the biggest star at the time of this would have probably been Liv Tyler), but he cast very capable actors who were dedicated to shooting three films at once. My favorite performances are Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Sean Bean as Boromir, and Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn.

And you have to appreciate the effort that went into this movie. The film, along with the other two, would be in production for years, and it’s all so seamless; the movies would have consecutive shots that were often accomplished years apart, and you really can’t tell.

Jackson is faithful to the novel’s lore, but focuses far more on the action than Tolkien’s book does, making it pretty entertaining. The action is well shot and choreographed.

Jackson also digs deep into his horror past to bring out some great thrills with the Nazgul, or Ringwraiths. These guys are so terrifying, and the scene in which one Ringwraith tracks the Hobbits through the woods is just about the scariest scene in a non-horror movie.

It’s really a great movie and a great trilogy of movies, with this standing out as the best, in my opinion. It’s masterfully handled in the acting, writing, directing, and visuals, and the only real downside is that there’s no real conclusion since it’s just the first part of a three-part story.

Rating: 10/10