The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Special Extended Edition)

Title: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Special Extended Edition)

Year: 2001


Director: Peter Jackson

Synopsis: A meek hobbit of The Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring and the dark lord Sauron.

Official Trailer

STEPH SAID

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Review:

I'm glad the director of this movie, Peter Jackson, is a fan of Tolkien. His work is impresive, detailed and magnificent, enough to make any other fan proud. The Lord of the Rings is an original, visually majestic, perfectly constructed story and Jackson made it justice.

The Fellowship of the Ring was an amazing introduction to the story. It clearly explained the origins of The Ring, and started the journey to destroy it. The story overall was epic and thrilling. Some say it is too long and slow, thus making it boring. Since this is the first part and introduction of a trilogy, is not action packed from beginning to end; characters and background stories have to be presented.  However, Jackson did a great work presenting these in an interesting and exiting way. I enjoyed every second of it.

The movie was visualy impresive; the landscapes and cities were glorious, dinamic and very vivid. The hobbit's hometown, The Shire, Rivendell and The Woods of Lothlorien were beautiful and impressive. Mordor and Isengard, on the other hard, were monstrous, yet, no less impresive. The characters who live in these cities or regions are varied and different from one another, each with a different and established lifestyle, history and viewpoint. Which leads me to the actors portraying said characters.

The casting for this movie couldn't have been better. I've been trying to decide who is my favorite character based on the actor's perfomance alone and have not succeded. Every actor excelled at their job, each of them put their heart and soul on their enactments. 

Two things I did not like of this movie; however, they are so small, they don't affect my feelings towards the movie and thus, it still received five stars. First, in the two battles Frodo was involved, Weathertop and Moria, he just fell and laid there while Aragorn saved him. He didn't fight or try to defend himself. He was just lying there. And, second, when Legolas said that going through Moria was "needlessly". It was explained that there was no other way to cross the mountains and Gandalf said he wouldn't go through Moria unless there was no other way. I don't understand why he thought it was needless. 

When it comes to the book, this movie is an amazing adaptation. Jackson managed to maintain the feeling, essence and the important moments of the book, while quickening its pace so it could be more thrilling. Jackson also include many small moments that are not important to the story's development and, yet, are important to maintaing the essence of what Middle Earth is: the stone trolls, the songs, Gandalf's magnificent fireworks, among others. Nevertheless, what I loved the most was the ability to actually see the impressive landsacape portrats Tolkien painted in his book. In addition, the movie makes it easier to understand the background story of The Lord of the Rings. The book gives you bits and pieces from time to time, yet in the movie, it is all summarized at the beginning.

I know I have written a lot, still, I'm falling short. There are no words to fully describe, and make justice to, the story, the landscapes, the characters, the actor's natural endowment, everything. You will have to watch the movie or read the book to fully undrestand why so many people love Tolkien's stories.

The Fellowship of the Ring (LotR #1)

Title: The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1)

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Year: 1954

Synopsis: In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

STEPH SAID

Rating:

Review:

This book is a piece of art; the landscapes and visuals presented by the author are magnificent, vibrant, vivid and breathtaking. The delicacy with which he painted such detailed portraits left me in awe. I felt like I was in Middle Earth journeying with the Fellowship.

I also admire the hard work Tolkien put into developing such a story. Every race and people have a complete, detailed history. Everything fits perfectly; there are no loose ends or incongruencies in a story that spawns thousands of years. The actual plot of this book is also perfectly constructed. Whatever hapened had to happened, there was no other way. People can't say "if this person had done that, then things would have been different" because Tolkien thought about those possibilities and explored them, and explained in the book why it had to be a certain way.

The Fellowship of the Ring is mostly an introduction to the story of The Lord of the Rings (it being the first volume of a continuous story). The story of The Ring and the reasons for its compulsory destruction were presented. The members of The Fellowship were chosen and from that moment on ties began to form and alligaces began to develop. The bigger part of this book consisted in journeys, most of them on foot. Another big part is about the traps and stops the enemies of the Fellowship planted to either stop, delay or thwart their journeys.

However, to me the story of The Ring and Sauron's rise to power weren't clearly explained. I couldn't understand how a ring could bring such malice and could give someone such power. Just because it is a Ring of Power? What power; from where? I found it unbelievable. If it was just a Ring of Power it could be used for good. I was as skeptic as Boromir. Thus, at first, I wasn't engaged with the story. It wasn't until I watched the 2001 movie adaptation that I understood. In this adaptation it's said that Sauron poured his soul and malice into The Ring. When I heard that I felt like I'd just had an epiphany; I understood the power of the ring, why it was a necessity to destroy it and why people would even die in the process.

I know this book is actually a sequel to The Hobbit. Hence, after I finish reading The Hobbit I will read The Lord of the Rings again and will update this review if necessary.