Psycho's Movie Reviews #425: The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson, based on the 1954 novel The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The film is the first instalment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was produced by Barrie M. Osborne, Jackson, Fran Walsh and Tim Sanders, and written by Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Jackson. The film features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, and Andy Serkis. It was followed in 2002 by The Two Towers and in 2003 by The Return of the King.

Set in Middle-earth, the story tells of the Dark Lord Sauron, who seeks the One Ring, which contains part of his soul, in order to return to power. The Ring has found its way to the young hobbit Frodo Baggins. The fate of Middle-earth hangs in the balance as Frodo and eight companions (who form the Fellowship of the Ring) begin their journey to Mount Doom in the land of Mordor, the only place where the Ring can be destroyed.

The Fellowship of the Ring was cofinanced and distributed by American studio New Line Cinema, but filmed and edited entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand, concurrently with the other two parts of the trilogy. It premiered on 10 December 2001 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London and was theatrically released worldwide on 19 December 2001. The film was acclaimed by critics and fans alike, who considered it to be a landmark in filmmaking and an achievement in the fantasy film genre. It received praise for its visual effects, performances, Jackson's direction, screenplay, and faithfulness to the source material. It grossed $880 million worldwide in its initial release, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2001 and the fifth highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release. Following subsequent reissues, it has as of 2021 grossed over $897 million.

The Fellowship of the Ring, like its successors, is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. The film received numerous accolades; at the 74th Academy Awards, it was nominated for thirteen awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for McKellen, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song for "May It Be" and Best Sound, winning four: Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, Best Original Score and Best Visual Effects.

In 2007, the American Film Institute named it one of the 100 greatest American films in history, being both the most recent film and the only film released in the 21st Century to make it to the list. In 2021, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

In the Second Age of Middle-earth, the lords of Elves, Dwarves, and Men are given Rings of Power. Unbeknownst to them, the Dark Lord Sauron forges the One Ring in Mount Doom, instilling into it a great part of his power, in order to dominate the other Rings so he might conquer Middle-earth. A final alliance of Men and Elves battles Sauron's forces in Mordor. Isildur of Gondor severs Sauron's finger and the Ring with it, thereby vanquishing Sauron and returning him to spirit form. With Sauron's first defeat, the Third Age of Middle-earth begins. The Ring's influence corrupts Isildur, who takes it for himself and is later killed by Orcs. The Ring is lost in a river for 2,500 years until it is found by Gollum, who owns it for over four and a half centuries. The ring abandons Gollum and it is subsequently found by a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who is unaware of its history.

Sixty years later, Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday in the Shire, reuniting with his old friend, the wizard Gandalf the Grey. Bilbo departs the Shire for one last adventure, and he leaves his inheritance, including the Ring, to his nephew Frodo. Gandalf investigates the Ring, discovers its true nature, and learns that Gollum was captured and tortured by Sauron's Orcs, revealing two words during his interrogation: "Shire" and "Baggins." Gandalf returns and warns Frodo to leave the Shire. As Frodo departs with his friend, gardener Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf rides to Isengard to meet with the wizard Saruman, but discovers his alliance with Sauron, who has dispatched his nine undead Nazgûl servants to find Frodo.

Frodo and Sam are joined by fellow hobbits Merry and Pippin, and they evade the Nazgûl before arriving in Bree, where they are meant to meet Gandalf. However, Gandalf never arrives, having been taken prisoner by Saruman. The hobbits are then aided by a Ranger named Strider, who promises to escort them to Rivendell; however, they are ambushed by the Nazgûl on Weathertop, and their leader, the Witch-King, stabs Frodo with a Morgul blade. Arwen, an Elf and Strider's beloved, locates Strider and rescues Frodo, summoning flood-waters that sweep the Nazgûl away. She takes him to Rivendell, where he is healed by the Elves. Frodo meets with Gandalf, who escaped Isengard on a Great Eagle. That night, Strider reunites with Arwen, and they affirm their love for each other.

Facing the threat of both Sauron and Saruman, Arwen's father, Lord Elrond, decides against keeping the Ring in Rivendell. He holds a council of Elves, Men, and Dwarves, also attended by Frodo and Gandalf, that decides the Ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, accompanied by Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Elf Legolas, Dwarf Gimli, Boromir of Gondor, and Strider—who is actually Aragorn, Isildur's heir and the rightful King of Gondor. Bilbo, now living in Rivendell, gives Frodo his sword Sting, and a chainmail shirt made of mithril.

The Fellowship of the Ring makes for the Gap of Rohan, but discover it is being watched by Saruman's spies. They instead set off over the mountain pass of Caradhras, but Saruman summons a storm that forces them to travel through the Mines of Moria. After finding the Dwarves of Moria dead, the Fellowship is attacked by Orcs and a cave troll. They hold them off but are confronted by Durin's Bane: a Balrog residing within the mines. While the others escape, Gandalf fends off the Balrog and casts it into a vast chasm, but the Balrog drags Gandalf down into the darkness with him. The devastated Fellowship reaches Lothlórien, ruled by the Elf-queen Galadriel, who privately informs Frodo that only he can complete the quest and that one of his friends in the Fellowship will try to take the Ring. Meanwhile, Saruman creates an army of Uruk-hai in Isengard to find and kill the Fellowship.

The Fellowship travels by river to Parth Galen. Frodo wanders off and is confronted by Boromir, who tries to take the Ring as Lady Galadriel had predicted. Uruk-hai scouts then ambush the Fellowship, mortally wounding Boromir as he fails to stop them from taking Merry and Pippin as prisoners. Aragorn arrives and comforts Boromir as he dies, promising to help the people of Gondor in the coming conflict. Fearing the Ring will corrupt his friends, Frodo decides to travel to Mordor alone, but allows Sam to come along, recalling his promise to Gandalf to look after him. As Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli set out to rescue Merry and Pippin, Frodo and Sam make their way down the mountain pass of Emyn Muil, journeying on to Mordor.

Production

Development

Director Peter Jackson began working with Christian Rivers to storyboard the series in August 1997, as well as getting Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop to begin creating his interpretation of Middle-earth. Jackson told them to make Middle-earth as plausible and believable as possible, and to think of it in a historical manner.

In November, Alan Lee and John Howe became the film trilogy's primary conceptual designers, having had previous experience as illustrators for the book and various other tie-ins. Lee worked for the Art Department creating places such as Rivendell, Isengard, Moria, and Lothlórien, giving Art Nouveau and geometry influences to the Elves and Dwarves respectively. Though Howe contributed with Bag End and the Argonath, he focused on the design of the characters' armour, having studied it his entire life. Weta and the Art Department continued to design, with Grant Major turning the Art Department's designs into architecture, and Dan Hennah scouting locations. On 1 April 1999, Ngila Dickson joined the crew as costume designer. She and 40 seamstresses would create 19,000 costumes, 40 per version for the actor and their doubles, wearing them out for an impression of age.

Special Effects

The Fellowship of the Ring makes extensive use of digital, practical and make-up special effects. One notable illusion used in almost every scene involved setting a proper scale so that the characters all appear to be the correct height. For example, Elijah Wood is 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) tall in real life, but his character, Frodo Baggins, is barely four feet in height. A variety of techniques were used to depict the hobbits and Gimli the Dwarf as being of diminutive stature. Fortunately, John-Rhys Davies – who played Gimli – happens to be the correct height in proportion to the hobbit actors, so did not need to be filmed separately as a third height variation. Large- and small-scale doubles were used in certain scenes, while entire duplicates of certain sets (including Bag End in Hobbiton) were built at two different scales, so that the characters would appear to be the appropriate size. At one point in the film, Frodo runs along a corridor in Bag End, followed by Gandalf. Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen were filmed in separate versions of the same corridor, built at two different scales, and a fast camera pan conceals the edit between the two. Forced perspective was also employed, so that it would look as though the short hobbits were interacting with taller Men and Elves. Even the simple use of kneeling down, to the filmmakers' surprise, turned out to be an effective method in creating the illusion.

For the battle between the Last Alliance and Sauron's forces that begins the film, an elaborate CGI animation system, called MASSIVE, was developed by Stephen Regelous; it allowed thousands of individual animated characters, or "agents" in the program, to act independently. This lent the illusion of realism to the battle sequences. The "Making of" Lord of the Rings DVD reports some interesting initial problems: for instance, in the first execution of a battle between groups of characters, the wrong groups attacked each other. In another early demo, some of the warriors at the edge of the field could be seen running away. They were initially moving in the wrong direction, and had been programmed to keep running until they encountered an enemy.

The digital creatures were important due to Jackson's requirement of biological plausibility. Their surface texture was scanned from large maquettes before numerous digital details of their skeletons and muscles were added. In the case of the Balrog, Gray Horsfield created a system that copied recorded imagery of fire.

Score

James Horner turned down the offer to compose the score. The musical score for The Lord of the Rings films was composed by Howard Shore. It was performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Voices, The London Oratory School Schola, and the Maori Samoan Choir, and featured several vocal soloists. Shore wrote almost four hours of finalized music for the film (of which just over three hours are used as underscore), featuring a number of non-orchestral instruments, and a large number (49–62) of leitmotives.

Two original songs, "Aníron" and the end title theme "May It Be", were composed and sung by Enya, who allowed her label, Reprise Records, to release the soundtrack to The Fellowship of the Ring and its two sequels. In addition to these, Shore composed "In Dreams", which was sung by Edward Ross of the London Oratory School Schola.

Release/Reception/Box Office

A special behind-the-scenes trailer was released in 2000. The trilogy teaser was shown before Thirteen Days and the teaser trailer before Pearl Harbor. The final trailer was with the television premiere of Angel and before Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Both trailers appeared as Easter eggs on the Rush Hour 2 and Little Nicky DVD and on the VHS.

The world premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring was held at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 10 December 2001. It was released on Wednesday, 19 December 2001 internationally in most major territories on 10,000 screens. It opened in New Zealand on 20 December.

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 236 reviews, with an average rating of 8.20/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Full of eye-popping special effects, and featuring a pitch-perfect cast, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring brings J.R.R. Tolkien's classic to vivid life." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 92 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

The Fellowship of the Ring was released to universal critical acclaim. Colin Kennedy for Empire gave the film five stars out of five, writing "Brooking no argument, history should quickly regard Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring as the first instalment of the best fantasy epic in motion picture history... Putting formula blockbusters to shame, Fellowship is impeccably cast and constructed with both care and passion: this is a labour of love that never feels laboured. Emotional range and character depth ultimately take us beyond genre limitations..." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and stating that while it is not "a true visualization of Tolkien's Middle-earth", it is "a work for, and of, our times. It will be embraced, I suspect, by many Tolkien fans and take on aspects of a cult. It is a candidate for many Oscars. It is an awesome production in its daring and breadth, and there are small touches that are just right". USA Today also gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "this movie version of a beloved book should please devotees as well as the uninitiated". In his review for The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell wrote, "The playful spookiness of Mr. Jackson's direction provides a lively, light touch, a gesture that doesn't normally come to mind when Tolkien's name is mentioned". Lisa Schwarzbaum for Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A grade and wrote "The cast take to their roles with becoming modesty, certainly, but Jackson also makes it easy for them: His Fellowship flows, never lingering for the sake of admiring its own beauty. Every detail of which engrossed me. I may have never turned a page of Tolkien, but I know enchantment when I see it". In his review for the BBC, Nev Pierce gave the film four stars out of five, describing it as "Funny, scary, and totally involving", and wrote that Jackson turned "the book's least screen-worthy volume into a gripping and powerful adventure movie". In his review for The Guardian, Xan Brooks wrote "Rather than a stand-alone holiday blockbuster, The Fellowship of the Ring offers an epic act one", and commented that the ending was "closer in spirit to an art-house film than a popcorn holiday romp".

In his review for the New York Post, Lou Lumenick gave the film four stars out of four, praising Jackson's direction, the casting, the sets, and the score, and describing the film as "the three most exciting hours we've seen on a movie screen in years" and "easily one of the year's best movies". In her review for The Washington Post, Rita Kempley gave the film five stars out of five, and praised the cast, in particular, "Mortensen, as Strider, is a revelation, not to mention downright gorgeous. And McKellen, carrying the burden of thousands of years' worth of the fight against evil, is positively Merlinesque". Time magazine's Richard Corliss praised Jackson's work: "His movie achieves what the best fairy tales do: the creation of an alternate world, plausible and persuasive, where the young — and not only the young — can lose themselves. And perhaps, in identifying with the little Hobbit that could, find their better selves". In his review for The Village Voice, J. Hoberman wrote, "Peter Jackson's adaptation is certainly successful on its own terms". Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Travers wrote, "It's emotion that makes Fellowship stick hard in the memory... Jackson deserves to revel in his success. He's made a three-hour film that leaves you wanting more". A mixed review was written by Peter Bradshaw. Writing for The Guardian, he lauded the art direction and the visual look of the film, but he also commented "there is a strange paucity of plot complication, an absence of anything unfolding, all the more disconcerting because of the clotted and indigestible mythic back story that we have to wade through before anything happens at all". Overall, Bradshaw found the tone of the film too serious and self-important, and wrote "signing up to the movie's whole hobbity-elvish universe requires a leap of faith... It's a leap I didn't feel much like making - and, with two more movie episodes like this on the way, the credibility gap looks wider than ever." Jonathan Rosenbaum was also less positive about The Fellowship of the Ring: in his review for the Chicago Reader, he granted that the film was "full of scenic splendours with a fine sense of scale", but he commented that its narrative thrust seemed "relatively pro forma", and that he found the battle scenes boring.

On its opening day, it grossed $18.2 million in the United States and Canada from 3,359 cinemas and $11.5 million in 13 countries, including $3 million from 466 screens in the United Kingdom. It grossed $75.1 million in its first five days in the United States and Canada, including $47.2 million on its opening weekend, placing it at number one at the US box office, setting a December opening record. It also opened at number one in 29 international markets and remained there for a second week in all but the Netherlands. It set a record opening day gross in Australia with $2.09 million from 405 screens, beating the record $1.3 million set by Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It had a record opening weekend in Germany with 1.5 million admissions and in Spain with a gross of $5.3 million from 395 screens. It also grossed a record $2.5 million in 15 days in New Zealand. In its first 15 days it had grossed $183.5 million internationally and $178.7 million in the United States and Canada for a worldwide total of $362.2 million. In its initial release, it went on to gross $313.4 million in the United States and Canada and $547.2 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $860.5 million. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 54 million tickets in the US and Canada in its initial theatrical run. Following subsequent reissues, the film has grossed $315.7 million in the United States and Canada and $581.9 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $897.7 million.

Budget $93 million

Box office $897.7 million

My Review

Director Peter Jackson and wife Fran Walsh have successfully created an epic movie in both look and feel to equal J. R. R. Tolkien's novel (itself awarded the title of "book of the century"), bringing to the big screen a film nearly flawless in its execution. My biggest disappointment is that two chapters are missing from the novel - Tom Bombadil and the following encounter with the barrow-wrights - but everything else is present and correct.

Visually the film is stunning, and Jackson's decision to shoot it entirely in New Zealand is one that pays off. From the incredibly lush green opening scenes of the Shire, to the enchanting elvish woods, to the imposing mountains and plains, it really is a great film to look at and enjoy the backdrop. Even the computer-generated images, like that of Mount Doom, are pretty realistic. Jackson's fluid camera leads to some great sweeping shots through orc-infested mines, huge towers, cameras in places you've never dreamed of. The soundtrack is also perfect, with Howard Shore's suspenseful, exciting, and emotional score a real plus, especially with the cool chanting that fills the Mines of Moria sequence. On top of this, great stuff is done with sound effects - in particular one scene involving a horn suddenly blowing had me jumping in my seat with its realism.

I don't really need to examine the story, because it sticks closely to the book with so few minor changes that it's impeccable. The script is intelligent and well-written, the characters charismatic and believable in the situations they encounter. Despite a three hour running time, the film never drags, even in some of the slower sequences - I just didn't want it to be over while I was watching it. The costumes, sets and appearances - down to the hobbits' hairy feet - are all exactly as you would picture them in the book. Jackson's bizarre, arty depiction of life in the "netherworld" when Frodo puts on the ring and becomes invisible is as good as it could ever have been - spooky, supernatural and utterly weird. Lighting, pacing, suspense, tension, and the rest - it's all here and done 100% correctly for an overall brilliant effect.

Elijah Wood seemed an odd choice to me for the lead role, but I immediately fell in love with his character. Through his acting he creates an emotional, weak in body but strong in spirit hero, a real centre piece for the film to evolve around, and the film makes great use of the actor's slightly odd eyes (especially in the sequence in which he nearly becomes a wraith). Ian McKellen is also excellent as Gandalf and seems to have been perfectly cast in the role, making it his own. Then there's the fellowship itself - Viggo Mortensen excels as the proud and just Strider (later Aragorn), especially in the action stakes where he fights with such fierce determination that he's a presence to behold. Orlando Bloom is fine as the elf warrior Legolas, and moves as fast with his bow as he does in the book. Screen stalwart John Rhys-Davies IS Gimli the dwarf, and couldn't be better. Then there's Sean Astin - lovable as the dopey but loyal Sam Gamgee, and Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan in slight comic relief roles as hobbit buddies Pip and Merry. Finally, kudos to Sean Bean, for creating in Boromir a flawed but deeply likable and understandable character, with a sympathetic performance that eclipses all of the actor's previous work - bravo.

The action sequences are magnificent and really get the heart going - they put you into the middle of the action with all the blood, sweat and clanging steel, and are edge-of-the-seat stuff. Highlights include Strider fighting the ring-wraiths with his burning brand on Weathertop and the final assault by orcs on the fellowship, which leads to one of the most noble deaths ever in a film. And what of the special effects? In a film dominated by CGI work, I'm happy to say that most are unnoticeable. The digital manipulation to create four-foot hobbits is sometimes dodgy but most of the time you don't notice. The backdrops and effects are great, expensive looking but solid and real at the same time - whoever said they look "cartoony" just got it wrong.

My favourite scene in the movie is the Mines of Moria sequence - a fantasy fan's dream come true, and the best on screen depiction of a Dungeons & Dragons game so far. The lurker in the lake is a Lovecraftian monster par excellence and the spooky and atmospheric trip through the corpse-strewn deserted mines exceptionally eerie stuff. Then follows a fantastic battle with a cave troll, thankfully on screen for a fair amount of time so we get to admire the fluid and superb effects, and then a truly gob-smacking encounter with the fiery Balrog, just as you imagine it from the book. This half an hour is probably the best film sequence I've ever seen, flawless and perfect in its depiction - amazing. A highlight of what is an impressive and epic film throughout, and a must see for any film fan worth their salt - I can't recommend this film highly enough, and plan to watch it again before the cinema run expires. In my opinion this is better than any STAR WARS movie or HARRY POTTER - and easily one of the best fantasy movies ever made, although it has to be said the competition isn't exactly stiff. Bring on the sequel! 10/10!!!!

{That and I love Enya's music, she was the perfect fit in this film for the soundtrack}