LOTR: The Fellowship of The Ring — One Ring to Bind Us All

Did you really think I was going to let a little thing called sleep get in my way of watching this movie? If you even have to think about it, then you have more of a brain than I do because I surely wasn't using mine at the time. Then again, when it comes to something I am passionate about, brain activity flies out the window. Don't believe me. Just ask all those poor, decapitated souls who actually had the nerve to stand in my way as I salivated my way into the theatre. Poor buggers. They didn't know what hit them. There's a good possibility they would have definitely fared better against Orcs instead of Visdo. After all, how many can say that they know this prophecy by heart:


"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."
(The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien)

Okay, so I lied, I really don't know it by heart, but I do know the story—this story—of a prophecy, a warning, of great magnitude and impending doom, of immense change in the lives of many, and how one small person can make that difference. Epic tales have always fascinated me especially one that involves mysteries and quests. That's why I have always been enthralled with the early Final Fantasy games and I'm sure the Dungeons & Dragons purists can attest to the same. All this stems from one source, the one many consider to be the catalyst of this influx of fantastical and mythological proportions� The Lord of the Rings.


The Lord of This Ring

It is quite obvious that director Peter Jackson was determined to do justice to J.R.R. Tolkien�s Lord of the Rings Trilogy and makes his point with the first installment — The Fellowship of the Ring. To say that this wasn't a labour of love for Jackson would be a lie for it is clearly evident by the way he meticulously put the pieces together to captivate and enthrall. At the same time, too, he stayed true to the spirit of what Tolkien envisioned in his novels. One does not work on a project of this magnitude without genuine affection for the source material. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone who worked on the film is a Tolkien fan.

The technological advancements of the 21st century finally caught up to Tolkien's vivid imagination; it has taken that long. Many have tried to interpret Tolkien's masterpiece onto the big screen with pathetic results, mostly mistaking it as a child's film. It isn't.

The story is very simple in nature but it doesn't mean it has to be simple minded; the execution, however, is complex with results that stagger and perhaps, sometimes boggle the cranium. I don't envy the task Jackson had to capture with this monumental film. What I do envy is the playground he gets to romp around in to do his work, a whole new world—Middle-earth, to be exact—which tells a tale of the fate of this world as it rests upon the most unlikeliest of heroes—a Hobbit named Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) who inherits a powerful ring from his uncle, Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm). Unbeknownst to this young Hobbit, the ring is the source of a terrible evil, as learned by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Sir Ian McKellen), and must be destroyed. Only Frodo can do it for he is the ring bearer and he takes up this challenging quest, not because he is brave, for he very much afraid, but because it is the right thing to do. A band of fierce warriors unite in this quest to destroy the ring, the one ring that can destroy them all, while the forces of evil try to stop them and steal the ring for their master— the Lord of Mordor and evil incarnate, Sauron.

The Fellowship of the Ring

The actors make Jackson look like a genius as they all did a superbly, wonderful job in their roles. Each one of them, regardless if their role was major or minor, made you believe in everything that they say with the strength of their convictions.

Elijah Wood makes you understand the dilemma that Frodo Baggins is going through as the ring bearer. Everything rests on his shoulders, which doesn�t seem fair. He is, after all, very innocent and wide-eyed in nature. Sean Astin, surprisingly, plays an excellent Samwise (Sam) Gamgee, a faithful and loyal friend to Frodo who will never leave his side no matter the peril that awaits them. I guess his training in The Goonies helped him prepare for this most incredible and adventurous role. Slapstick antics take true to form as Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd bring Meriadoc (Merry) Brandybuck and Peregrin (Pippin) Took's childish naivete to life.

Viggo Mortenson as Strider/Aragorn is every boy's fantasy� a brooding, handsome figure and reluctant king-to-be. But it's the swordplay that enthralls us. Okay fine, that and the fact that an elf princess named Arwen (played by Liv Tyler), who is smitten over him, doesn't hurt matters at all. Not one bit.

Sean Bean captures the conflict and anger of Boromir, the Steward of Gondor, while Orlando Bloom makes me want to take up archery as the loyal elf Legolas shows such grace in both actions and words. Gimli, the warrior dwarf, is both comical and fierce as John-Rhyes Davies brings him to life.

Rounding up the Fellowship is Gandalf the Grey, which is the role Sir Ian McKellen, was born for. I will always see him in this role whenever the name Gandalf is mentioned.

Other familiar faces appear on the screen, including Cate Blanchett as the Lady Galadriel who displays an equal balance of warm kindness and fearful detachment, Christopher Lee as the misguided wizard Saruman the White, Ian Holm as the jittery and neurotic Bilbo Baggins, the former ring bearer, and many others.


Wizardry to the Nth Degree

Jackson took many liberties in this film, but you wouldn�t really know unless you were a die-hard Tolkien fan. The purists did cry foul but uttered their disgust in Elvish, so no one really knows what they are yelling about (even the fact that they do know Elvish scares me even more). But it's not his fault that Tolkien is long-winded in his descriptive narrative. Jackson had to discern which elements were needed to make sense and which elements weren't necessary to avoid confusion. The fact that the film's pacing keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire movie is a testament to the director's judgement.

Did you know that in the novel, 17 years actually pass between Frodo receiving the ring and Gandalf returning to tell him to get rid of it? In the movie, it happens instantaneously. Or how about the story between Arwen and Aragorn? It is barely mentioned in the novel except as a back story in the Appendix. It must have been an afterthought to Tolkien to include these elements after the story was told to flesh things out. Jackson picked up on this and included it in the film to make viewers understand the relationship between these two. Yes, liberties were taken but they weren't done to disrespect Tolkien; it has done the opposite—it has made things a lot more clear for everyone to understand.

The special effects left me breathless so much so that seeing this movie once wasn't enough. I was fortunate enough to see it twice, less than 24 hours apart from each other, to really absorb the details and magnificence that was displayed before my eyes. Even though there were some flaws, it didn't deter me from believing that these places do exist. The cinematography convinced me of that even more than I did possibly thought it could. But all that would have been for naught if it wasn't for the acting. Without great acting, this movie would have flopped. Fantasy movies in the past have left me with more bad tastes in my mouth than I would like to admit. There have been a few exceptions but none have dared push the limits to this degree. The Fellowship of the Ring has wiped away any memory prior to this and I am glad. The marriage between good, solid storytelling and special effects has brought forth a renewed faith and spirit of what can be done right if done with care and diligence.

Do you think George Lucas is taking notes? After all, he is competing with a fan base even longer than his Star Wars mythology.

I now just need a good night's sleep and a princess� maybe even a fairy queen. It will be a whole year before we see the continuing saga. I need to find ways to kill time.

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Addendum
as of Dec. 22, 2001, I have now seen it 3 times.... still counting. I'm such a geek