The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – 2001
Put simply, this was one of the best fantasy films ever made. And it is a rare enough thing when the Academy recognizes anything from the fantasy genre. The casting was perfect, the sets and costumes were phenomenal, and the music was grand and dramatic. If the movie had any weak point, it would be the script, but even that was exceptional. But I’ll address that in a bit.
First, it is important to note that I think it deserved to win the Best Picture Oscar… but it didn’t. Neither did its first sequel, The Two Towers. But the third film in the trilogy, The Return of the King, won, and was one of the biggest films ever to sweep the Oscars in 2003. That film not only won Best Picture, it was nominated for a total of eleven awards, and took home every single one. It is in a three-way tie for the most Oscars won by a single film with 1997’s Titanic, and 1959’s Ben-Hur. I only take the time to mention all this, because The Return of the King’s massive victory was for the entire trilogy, not just for itself.
But it was this film, The Fellowship of the Ring, which started the entire franchise off. It was a gargantuan success. It did so many things right, the biggest one being that it stayed true to most of the source material, thus holding the loyalty of existing fans of the books, and keeping what made them popular in the first place, thus creating new fans. J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the original books, has been called the father of modern fantasy. The fantastic and unbelievably detailed world that he created is like the gold standard by which most other fantasy series are measured. It doesn’t get much better than this.
That being said, Director Peter Jackson really paid attention to every detail he possibly could. He really understood the characters, the races, the languages, the style and aesthetics, and the complexity of the narrative. The basic story follows a Halfling, or Hobbit, named Frodo Baggins, played by Elijah Wood, who inherits a mysterious ring from his uncle. The ring turns out to contain the spirit of an evil demigod, and must be destroyed.
Aided by the wizard, Gandalf the Grey, played by Ian McKellen, and a ranger named Strider, played by Viggo Mortensen, Frodo and his friends, Sam, Merry, and Pippen, played by Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd, make their way to the elven city of Rivendell. There, they gain the help of Boromir, played by Sean Bean, Legolas the elf, played by Orlando Bloom, and Gimli the dwarf, played by John Rhys-Davies. Together the nine companions go on a quest to destroy the evil ring by casting it into the fires of Mount Doom, deep in the dark lord’s territory. As they journey across the land, they have to deal with the forces of the evil wizard Saruman, played by Christopher Lee, an ancient fiery demon called a balrog in the underground dwarf city of Moria, and the mysterious elf Queen Galadrial, played by Kate Blanchett, in the elven tree city of Lothlorian. This is fantasy at its best.
And that’s the basic plot. The story was complex, but for those of us who love the books, it is familiar. The changes that Jackson’s script made to the source material were understandable and necessary to bring the book to the big screen at all. Time lines were shortened. Unnecessary characters were left out. In some cases, character motivations were slightly altered. But these were minor changes made to set a faster pacing for a film, whereas a book has the luxury of taking its time.
I think the only real weakness in the script was the dialogue. Tolkien created some very memorable characters, and a lot of that was his brilliant dialogue. Much of it was kept for the movie, but a lot was added. The dialogue that was added didn’t seem as refined as Tolkien’s, in some places. But at least it was consistent, creating a slightly more modern feel for the movie. But this is like saying that the script was a nine instead of a ten. It was still a nine!
But for me, what really made the movie spectacular, aside from the mind-blowing visual effects, was the cast. Now, I can’t think of any actor who could have played Gandalf as well as McKellen. He was incredible. He really stood out to me as a cut above the rest. And as a fan of the books, I have always had a special love for the character of Galadriel. She is, after all, the oldest living elf in Middle earth, having been born in Valinor, kind-of Middle Earth’s version of heaven on earth.
And while I’m talking about her, I have to mention that the first time I saw the movie, I was disappointed with her big scene. I had a preconceived notion of what the scene should have been, based on the 1978 Ralph Bakshi animated version of the Lord of the Rings. The nature of Galadriel’s test was different, and I thought the Bakshi version was written better. I still do, but I can respect what Jackson did, having the power of the ring make a direct assault against her willpower.
Either way, this is a phenomenal story that has been turned into an incredible movie, the perfect set-up for the spectacular movies to follow. I will never tire of watching it.