LOTR 1 - The Fellowship of the Ring
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-Earth still it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell, by chance, into the hands of the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. On his eleventy-first birthday, Bilbo disappeared, bequeathing to his young nephew, Frodo, the Ruling Ring, and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-Earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.
(Summary written by The Tolkien Society)
The Fellowship of the Ring depicts the first part in Tolkien’s trilogy The Lord of the Rings. Frodo Baggins is entrusted with the responsibility of a powerful ring that threatens to cause the destruction all that is good in Middle Earth if it falls into the wrong hands. In this case, the wrong hands mean Sauron, a defeated bad guy wanting to get back what was his. He sends out his forces - Orks, Black Riders, and other nasty things - to retrieve aforementioned ring. Frodo journeys to Rivendell to see what is to become of the ring.
Fellowship centers around creating the backdrop for what comes later in the trilogy…establishing the friendships, history, mythology and what I’d like to call, general world knowledge. This film, with its huge following and fan base means that there is already a monolithic imaginary institution in place. Any film, or even any media, faces a daunting challenge of satisfying the fans, the attention of newcomers, the vision of the director and of course, the book itself. The previous animated version of the Fellowship of the Ring was received lukewarmly by the public. The fact that it was never completed might give it some excuse to the poor reception it received. So what about this new blockbuster film?
My first impression was wow. The locations, the make-up, the special effects, the rendered backdrops were all very, very good. It’s amazing for me that they so accurately portray what was already in my mind’s eye. Too many times in that film did I say, “Shit, that’s exactly how I pictured it.” Maybe I am cheating a little. The producers had a wealth of material to draw ranging from artwork, roleplaying games, and secondary books. Most of which I have seen. And there is official artwork that is done so its hardly surprising. But this makes it no less impressive.
The characters were always considered sacrosanct by Tolkien’s fans. We all have a different image of who looks like what. Casting for each role would be a tough task to maintain the delicate balance between the images embedded in people’s minds while also rationalising it with real life available people. One of the good features about this film is that the casting director chose to go with non-mainstream stars. So no Tom Cruises, Brad Pitts or George Clooneys. Nor are there any Julia Roberts, Sarah Michelle Gellars, etc. You get the picture.
I was happy with the choice of each of the actors chosen to play each role. They did seem to fit well into their roles and managed to bring a human and relatable dimension to each of the characters they played. Too often, when books are taken to film, are the characters slavishly facsimilied into visual versions. Not so in this film. For example, Aragorn was always a strong, quietly confident warrior that was larger than life. In the film, he become human - a competent warrior that is just as heroic as his book counterpart, but also with the added dimension of frailty - he is uncertain that he wants to take power that is his to take. This is underplayed in the book.
This accuracy in capturing the essence of the characters works well in this film. Budget and time constraints mean that an audience does not have the luxury to get to know each character like they do in the book.
What I also liked was the drawing on the wealth of information that Tolkien made available in his other works. This is used in both the storytelling aspects of the film and the visual elements. For example, the reason why Orks exist is because they were Elven spirits captured and tortured by the evil Sauron. I believe this is not covered in the book trilogy but it is mentioned in the film.
Despite a few niggling points, all in all, this is a good representation of a classic piece of literature. What might bother some is the ommission and changing of certain elements of the book into film. For example, Arwen does not save Frodo or meet the party at that point in time. And when Frodo meets Galadriel, Samwise Gamgee is also present. My personal dislike too is that I was laughing at the film in sometimes wrong places. The guy who played Elrond also plays the bad guy in The Matrix. While yes, I can see the merits in using the actor to play the detached, almost cold nature of the Elves, he sometimes just cracked me up. Which was not good. These two points sufficiently disturb the viewing experience for me as a Tolkien fan.
However, I still rate this as a great film. Go watch.
