Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring

Hmm...I've never read the books.

I really wanted to LOVE this film, but I came away with a gentle fondness for it instead.

For me, pacing is something that a great film gets right, and I didn't think the pacing was right in this film. Perhaps it was the source material, perhaps it was the director's choice. Either way, I found the film to drag in more just just a few spots, and some of the wonderment of the locales left me restless after a while.

Don't get me wrong, I think set design, and the landscape of the journey that we are shown was very well done, there was some really imaginative CGI work on full display on the screen.

I had some problems with the lack of tension and urgency in the film. It was languid when it might have been better if it were a little more manic.

Another thing that bothered me, probably more than someone who's read the books, was the character development. The main problem is having 9 characters in the FOTR, it's a difficult job to imbue life into all of them, while also pushing the story along. Such is the limitation of cinema versus a book. And you add in all the characters that they meet along the way, and
it gets pretty confusing to know who's on Frodo's side, and who's got another agenda.

Also, there just too many male characters crying in this film! I found myself not really connecting with any of the characters in this film. I felt like a cousin twice removed from the interactions between the characters.

While the achievement in cinema is something that'll set the standard for fantasy films, I will be one of the lone dissenters and give this film a lowly 3.5 stars, or a grade of B+.