Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) by Thomas L — 09 May 2014

Adapting the works of J.R.R. Tolkin was always considered impossible. The world he created was so vast, so rich and so original, it would seem any movie adaptation was destined to fail. More times than one can count, films have tried establishing a grand scale and an amazing story. Unlike James Cameron's admirable failure that is Avatar, which suffered from a weak story, bland characters and underdeveloped world, The Lord of the Rings: The fellowship of the ring manages to contain a great story with substance and depth within its enormous scope.

The setting is a perfect match to the incredible world of Middle-Earth. The art direction is absolutely incredible, and the costume design, makeup and overall technical aspects are absolutely brilliant. The movie makes you a part of its universe with the amazing sense of detail.

All the actors fit their roles perfectly. Ian McKellen is perfect as Gandalf the Grey, while Christopher Lee shines as well as the dark wizard. Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen and the rest of the cast fit their roles perfectly, selling their characters with a grace equal to the scale and validity of the world itself.

A movie easily suffers from a long running time. Fellowship does by no means suffer from that. The pacing never seems off or too slow. Instead, it seems extremely fitting. The score also helps to even further enhance the depth of the movie. The film is patient, taking its time to let you now the characters.

Although it makes some changes from the books which might anger some fans, the essence of what Tolkien created is still well translated to the big screen. The action sequences are amazingly choreographed as well, with a lot of creativity and thougt pu into almost each sequence. But even with all the technical praise, there are still amaing themes and characters to find as well. The movie contains valid character development of Frodo and Sam, as they must face the changes that are about to come, not just to them, but to the rest of the shire.

To round up everything, Fellowship is, quite simply, a masterpiece by every means.