Making My Peace With "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring"

This is going to be a long one. It’s been a long time coming. This movie came out over a year ago, and although I’ve been compelled to write something about it, I haven’t ever been entirely satisfied with what I’ve written. I’m hardly a professional writer or reviewer, but I wanted to do justice to my feelings about the first of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” films. I felt I had unfinished business. So, in the hope of absolving myself of some imagined guilt, here’s what I have to say about “The Fellowship of the Ring.”

Here’s some background about my experience with “Lord of the Rings” that you may or may not care about, but it definitely colors my feelings for the movies, so I figured I’d include it here. Despite being enamored with all other things geek, I’ve never been the biggest fan of “Lord of the Rings” (from here on usually abbreviated “LOTR”). I didn’t read it until I was well into my twenties (I’m approaching the big 3-0 now), and when I did read it, I found it to be a masterpiece that was best read once, and left for analysis by geeks greater than I. I appreciated it, but got bogged down in the elvish, the poetry, the songs…all of the things that true Tolkien fans love, and the rest of us skim over as we plunge ahead with the story. In fact, I remember putting down “The Two Towers” for a full year before picking it up again—I found it to be horribly slow paced, and things in my own life were more important than the darkness threatening Middle Earth. I remember finishing the third book, “The Return of the King,” and feeling enormously satisfied, triumphant, loving it…and knowing full well I’d never read the fantasy meisterwerk again. We’ll see about that.

I had followed with interest the entertainment stories leading up to the release of “Fellowship of the Ring,” and saw it the week it opened in December 2001. And I was a bit stymied by it. Visually it was breathtaking. The adaptation was good—cutting parts out that I wish had been cut from the book, for the most part. The casting and acting was exactly as I had imagined the characters appearing and behaving; I got caught up in Middle Earth as I had never been reading the books. But I still had mixed feelings about it. Some of those feelings were born of a sort of envy; goodness knows, I have my various media addictions: Star Wars, Muppets, Star Trek, DC Comics…and all of their recent efforts had been sub-par. Now along comes Peter Jackson’s “Fellowship,” and he blows everything away. I felt envious, and wished someone with this same scope, same vision would come along and rescue some of MY favorite properties. So, bitter S.O.B. that I am, I only watched it once, didn’t buy the DVD when it came out, and moved on with my life.

Fast Forward (like anything about this “review” will be FAST) to last week. Valentine’s Day. Melissa, my dear wife, gave me the BIG version of “Fellowship” on DVD. The big green boxed set that adds 30 minutes to the movie (she didn’t realize that at the time) adds hours and hours of documentaries, and does it in a presentation that (appropriately for Valentine’s Day) melted my stony heart and started my path to accepting Lord of the Rings. Throw in two cast stone bookends that replicate the enormous statues seen in a memorable movie scene, and you've got yerself a gift set.

The scenes which Peter Jackson and company have put back into “Fellowship” have given the movie more meaning . One of the criticisms I had of the theatrical cut was that it was too dark, too soon. It was very violent, loud (seeing the Ring Wraiths in action when you have a migraine is a bad idea), and some of the spirit of the novel seemed to be lacking in the otherwise extraordinary fantasy film. The restored scenes give us additional information, develop the characters more, and slow the pace enough that this galloping quest through Middle Earth can be enjoyed a bit more for those of us who have over three hours to devote to it. More on these scenes shortly.

My other chief criticism was that “Fellowship of the Ring” is very obviously the first part of a story—and it FELT like it, more than any other trilogy I’ve ever seen. Of course, the source material is really one BIG book, not three distinct books (something that I’ve heard bugged Tolkien no end—his publisher chopped it into three books, hoping it would sell better). So at the end of “Fellowship,” when Frodo and Sam turn toward Mordor and leave their comrades behind, we’re just left hanging. Happily this criticism has been assuaged by the second film, “The Two Towers,” which I enjoyed more than “Fellowship,” so I don’t have that unresolved discomfort that I had when I saw the first flick in the theaters.

For the three of you who haven’t read, seen, or heard of “Lord of the Rings,” it’s a fantasy story full of elves, dwarves, goblins, men, wizards, and hobbits. There’s a supremely evil bad guy who created a magic ring of power thousands of years ago—this ring gave its bearer unimaginable power, but at a price. The ring was lost and won and stolen and found and hidden…until it came into the hands of a hobbit—humble creatures about half the size of humans. They’ve got big hairy feet and they live in clean, comfortable holes in the ground. They’re very cozy creatures.

This hobbit surrendered the ring to his nephew, Frodo, who along with three other hobbits, the wizard Gandalf, a dwarf, an elf, and two men form the Fellowship of the Ring. The goal of this fellowship is to destroy the One Ring by chucking it into the fires of Mount Doom—the heat of which forged the ring, and is the only way to destroy it.

Their journey is interrupted by the attacks by an evil Wizard, Saruman…the leader of Gandalf’s own order, and who’s now playing god and creating life—ugly, twisted life, in the form of Uruk-Hai. These hideous creatures are savages, destroying life in favor of industry, and they’re under the command of Saruman.

The fellowship meets with allies, loses a member, gains strength, and continues on—only to break apart because of temptation and treachery. THE END. Does Frodo eventually triumph, destroying the most powerful weapon his world has ever known? Will our heroes survive the loss of their fallen comrades? Will they ever get to take a shower? These and other questions are answered by subsequent chapters.

So. After all this nonsense, what did I LIKE about this movie—more specifically, the Special Edition DVD?
Well, Lord of the Rings is the ultimate fantasy story. Until Tolkien came along, no one had really distilled all of the myth and legend about wizards, dwarves, elves, goblins, etc. into one immense saga like this. And since his time, we’ve never thought of these beings the same way. Whether it’s on the printed page or the movie screen, this is the iconic version of these characters. And I love it. In the same way I love Superman for being the ultimate superhero, I love Gandalf for being the ultimate good wizard. If that makes any sense. Combine that with the superb acting in nearly every role, and you have an excellent film.

The adaptation of the script is faithful to the spirit of the books, if not the actual content. I know Tolkienators out there have decried the cuts, but truthfully a 220-minute film is already too long…and what was lost in the translation were things that I hated in the books, and didn’t want to see on film. I don’t miss the whole Tom Bombadil sequence, for example. There is one cut that I took particularly hard, however, and that’s the bestowing of Galadriel’s gifts; more on this in a minute. There are many themes to be gleaned from “Fellowship of the Ring,” and they’ve all been covered by better authors than I. Some that I see most are themes of loyalty, friendship, temptation, nature vs. technology, cooperation despite differences, and good vs. evil. Some of this goes over the top, but in the context of the film, I think it’s fine. I’ve heard all about the Sam-Frodo homosexuality rumors, and I disagree—they’re loyal to each other, and they love each other. There are men I love—doesn’t mean I’m gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The visuals in the film are striking—and that’s attributable to a few things. First, the natural beauty of New Zealand. My grandparents spent some time there, so I feel a tie to the place—but the rugged landscapes, the lush forests, and the wilds of the North and South Islands will forever be associated with Middle Earth. Augmented only occasionally by computer generated trickery, this is a place you WANT to save from evil. Another visual choice that Peter Jackson made, to the film’s benefit, was choosing artists who had been painting LOTR scenes for years for illustrations for books, calendars, posters, etc. These men already KNEW Middle Earth, and they aided in its realization as a real world we can visit as moviegoers. The third choice Jackson made was in using miniatures and real models as much as possible—this has enormous impact, and is Reason One in my book that LOTR looks so real, and all of George Lucas’ computer generated worlds look so fake. Which breaks my heart. Really.

So beyond making the DVD version of the film so long that my wife will NEVER watch it with me, what do the additions do for the film? The restored scenes are mostly additions to existing scenes—adding a few lines here or there, giving characters more room to grow. This benefits Gimli the dwarf and Legolas the elf especially, but also Merry and Pippin and some of the other secondary characters.

One of the most memorable scenes from the book was when the fellowship is leaving the forest-city of the high elves, Lothlorien. When they leave, the beautiful elf “queen” Galadriel gives gifts to each of the members of the fellowship. Each gift will be used at key points in the rest of the story. It’s a poignant moment, after having lost so much early in their journey, these gifts complete their healing and move them along their way. This scene was trimmed down in the theatrical release, so we only see Frodo’s gift—a vial of light “to light your darkest hour.” This was the one cut from the book that made me feel robbed, and I was delighted to see it on the DVD. Seeing the gifts that Galadriel gives to the eight remaining heroes does two things: first, it gives us insight into the heroes. Some of them are predictable, like Legolas receiving a fine bow, or Merry and Pippin’s swords; others are less obvious, like Sam’s rope, and Frodo’s vial of light. Gimli’s is most surprising, and touching of all—and I won’t reveal what that gift is here. The second thing Galadriel’s gifts do is soften the character of Galadriel—something necessary that’s missing in the theatrical cut. If you just saw the movie in the theatres, and hadn’t read the books, I don’t know what you’d think of Galadriel. She comes across as almost sinister—coldly beautiful, but distant and harsh. When she gives the gifts to the fellowship, she actually smiles—and I don’t think she does that in the theatrical cut. It brought her closer to the way I remember her in the book, and that’s good in this case.

I’ve said way too much about way too much. If you made it to the end of this “review,” congratulations. You’ve completed a journey as perilous as Frodo’s trek to Mordor. Possibly more so. I wish I had some sort of reward for you. If you enjoyed Lord of the Rings, and you’re hankering for more Tolkien action, this DVD set is definitely for you. If you’re interested in filmmaking or the artistry behind this film, the two supplementary DVDs are a wealth of information; hours of documentaries that are beautifully filmed and edited, and made me appreciate the movie more than I ever have before. If you didn’t enjoy “Fellowship of the Ring,” I don’t think this will make you like it any more—but if you’re already a fan, you shouldn’t hold back—even if you already bought the first DVD release. This is something you need in your DVD library. You will watch it. You will enjoy it.