Tuesday, August 1, 2017

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, PG-13)

This is the first time I’ve seen any of the original trilogy in years, and after The Hobbit soured me pretty hard on Peter Jackson’s franchise, I wasn’t sure if the earlier movies would pale in comparison to how I remembered them.  Well, now that I’ve dipped my toes back in with The Fellowship of the Ring, it might not be quite as mind-blowingly awesome as I remember, but that’s largely because of the years I’ve had in the interim to consume all kinds of excellent genre movies/shows.  Sixteen years later (more than half my life ago, goodness gracious,) this movie still holds up damn well.

Frodo Baggins, unassuming hobbit of the Shire, has his world turned upside-down when he inherits a magic ring from his uncle.  The wizard Gandalf explains to Frodo that it’s the legendary One Ring forged by the dark lord Sauron.  Despite the dark lord’s defeat centuries ago, Sauron’s spirit survives through his connection to the ring, and evil forces are amassing to steal it so it might restore him to life.  Frodo sets off on a quest to destroy the Ring, aided by fellow hobbits, Gandalf, humans, elves, and dwarves alike, but the intoxicating lure of the Ring threatens to devour the company from within.

I have to say, it’s almost astounding how much better this movie is than any of The Hobbit films.  It shares the good aspects with the latter trilogy – namely, knockout casting and killer production design – but it’s the story that’s such a relief here.  Things happen!  With purpose!  The plot moves!  Despite the fact that it’s a trilogy, there’s still a clear beginning, middle, and end!  Even though it’s definitely a long movie that takes its time, it’s based on a long book that calls for it, and to me, there’s very little “fat” in the film.  It indulges in small character moments, sprinkles humor throughout, and offers up some nice action setpieces.  But I really never feel like it’s just treading water or wasting its time, and that’s so good.  I’m glad – as unfortunate as it is that The Hobbit got lost into such an enormous pile of self-indulgent crap, I’m relieved that The Lord of the Rings still seems to have gotten it right.  (Side note:  the CGI does seem to show its age a bit, but not much.  The Two Towers will be the real test – when I saw An Unexpected Journey, my impression was that Gollum looked exactly the same, but I’m not sure if that’s just my memory.)

Might as well start my cast lovefest now.  As the top of the list is Sir Ian McKellen, who simply is Gandalf, no question.  I love all the hobbits – as of this stage of the rewatch, Sean Astin’s Sam stands out as my favorite, but I also love Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan (so funny to hear him with more of a West Country accent after so many years of his Mancunian accent on Lost) as Pippin and Merry, and of course, as Frodo, Elijah Wood is carrying a heaping chunk of the movie on his shoulders, a burden almost as heavy as the Ring.  Viggo Mortensen rocks as Aragorn, John-Rhys Davies amuses as Gimli, and Orlando Bloom makes a great Legolas (not to mention being conspicuously better here than he was in The Hobbit – was his heart not in it there?)  Extra shoutout in this film to Sean Bean as Boromir.  It’s another one with accent strangeness after Ned Stark’s strong Northern-ness (especially since both are medival-esque fantasy characters,) but he’s excellent.  Throw in a creepy Christopher Lee as Saruman, an otherworldly Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, and Martin Csokas (oh my god, Quinn from Into the Badlands, I had no idea!) as Celeborn, and the sheer saturation of talent/casting dynamite here is just insane.

Warnings

Lots of fantasy violence, thematic elements, and drinking/smoking.

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