Film Review: The Lord of The Rings - The Fellowship of The Rings (2001)

Good evening to all from the Movies and TV Shows community, I am Justin (aka vaynard86) and it is my first time posting in this community.

Today I will be doing a review on a movie that might have been already been watched by many because it released in 2001. But somehow this is a film that allows me to go deeper and deeper into the realm of the actual story writer J. R. R. Tolkien. To note, The Lord of The Rings trilogy story chronologically happened after The Hobbit but in terms of movies, it was the release of the trilogy prior to The Hobbit. For the record, I have watched this movie 3 times.

Plot
The Fellowship of The Ring is the first part of the trilogy to help set the stage for an epic journey by different individuals brought together with one mission to destroy the ring of Power created by The Dark Lord Sauron to rule over Middle Earth. The ring disappeared for a long time but resurfaced once again on an unsuspecting Hobbit, Frodo Baggins who inherited the ring from his uncle Bilbo Baggins. A wizard named Gandalf who was the friend of Bilbo investigates the ring, uncovering the truth behind the ring and told Frodo to leave his hometown the Shire.

Frodo heeds Gandalf's advice and sets out from the Shire with his loyal friend/gardener Samwise Gamgee, and two others hobbits Merry and Pippin. With Sauron knowing of the ring's resurface, Nazgûl, Ringwraiths bound in service to Sauron, was instructed to bring the ring back to Sauron. Along the way, they met Aragorn, a ranger whom helped them evade capture and together made their way to Rivendell to reach out to the elves.

Upon reaching Rivendell, the council made up of various individuals came up with a plan to bring the ring to Mount Doom to destroy it. So a fellowship made of Hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin), Man (Aragon and Boromir), Elf (Leoglas), Dwarf (Gimli) and a wizard (Gandalf) was formed with Frodo to bear the ring due to his pure heart to prevent magic from the ring to corrupt their heart and succumb to darkness.

The route to Mount Doom is no simple fare, Sauron's forces were heavily guarding and seeking out for the ring. Nazgul were always on their heels and another wizard Saruman who changed his allegiance to Sauron were also sending orcs to go after the ring. While crossing Moria, the fellowing encountered an ancient Balrog which Gandalf sacrificed himself to ensured the safety of the remaining members of the fellowship. After surviving the Balrog, they encountered orcs and it is at this moment, Boromir was tempted by the ring and wanted to snatch it from Frodo. But in the midst of it, Frodo successfully escape but Boromir was killed by the orcs. The once 9 man strong fellowship now weakened significantly and Frodo from this particular incident realized how the ring can corrupt others decided to pursue the journey alone.

Love and Hate of The Movie
From me watching this movie 3 times, there is definitely more love than hate.

What I like

• The screenplay is just awesome, the sets were beautifully crafted, the landscapes featured just wow me from start to end.
• Realism to depict how the characters are. Hobbits were halflings and they are significantly shorter than man and elf. Hence there were careful thought during the filming to showcase that. Good blend of CGI and shooting techniques just made every scene that needed to have an epic effect go to the fullest and scenes that depict interaction between the different cast on their physical dimensions were carefully thought upon.
• The story and concept behind is way deeper and had many potential discussion points in terms of life lessons and why certain cast interacted in a certain manner.
• The fight scenes such as the one at Moria of Gandalf vs the Balrog was just amazingly presented. The scene of Arwen drowning Nazgul was an amazing creation. - The soundtrack was just so good, elevates every scene to the best it can.

What I didn't like

• Elf language talk, while there were subtitles etc, I find it was unnecessary to create a new language during the screenplay to bring confusion. Could have just do all in English.
• Too many talking scenes which at certain times felt a little draggy.

Lesson Learnt
A special thing that I want to call out for this movie is that, there many learning points that I can get out of it which I will name 2 of it.

1. Perseverance
   Even with Gandalf's loss and subsequently the loss of Boromir, the fellowship still had eyes on their goal and want to finish it. They could have just throw in the towel and said that it is tough for them, but no they did not. And even on Frodo, who holds the biggest responsibility, he even thought about the others and wanted to continue the journey alone so as to protect the rest of his fellowship from the tempting powers of the ring.

2. The Temptation of Power and its Downfall
   Many a times characters in the film were tempted by the allure of the ring and its promise of rule over others. There so many whom couldn't resist the temptation of the ring and brought upon dire consequences. From the King of Man whom took the ring to Gollum and Boromir, they all encounter bad consequences like being tortued, becomining a Ringwrait and even losing their lives.

Verdict
An amazing movie from the cinematic hands of Peter Jackson and iconic music from Howard Shore with almost nothing to pick other than some small stuff which I shared in the above section. Great screenplay, compelling narrative and exceptional performance. If you have yet to watch this movie/trilogy, do catch it and be wowed.

Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars

Thank you for your time in reading my review.