Ok, before anyone bombards me with unhelpful ratings, I know I have already done an opinion on this movie when it came out onto the cinemas but now that it has been released on DVD with a disk full of extras, I am doing another one to tell you all about them. This opinion is basically an update of my old one but now that it is out on a 2-disk DVD set, Ciao have given it a separate category, so it is legal.
Anyway, I have had to correct loads of typo's from my old one and changed a few lines, so the work is there...LOL
~~~~~~MOVIE REVIEW~~~~~~
Lord of the Rings: the fellowship of the ring, extremely long title, matches an extremely long film all of 3 hours worth.
The question being, is it really worth sitting there for nearly 3 whole hours while your backside slowly goes numb to see.
The answer: Absolutely
This movie is nothing short of fantastic, the wonderful all star cast including Elijah Wood (The Faculty, Forever young), Viggo Mortenson (A Perfect Murder, Daylight), Liv Tyler (Armageddon, One night at McCools), Cate Blanchett (The Gift, Bandits) and Hugo Weaving (the matrix, Pricilla – Queen of the desert) and Brit stars Ian McKellen (X-Men, Apt pupil), Ian Holm (the fifth element, Alien) and the ever popular Sean Bean (TVs Sharpe, Ronin), all give top notch performances (especially Ian McKellen).
You will have fun just spotting the endless hoard of familiar faces, there’s also Sean Astin (the young kid from The Goonies) and who doesn’t know Christopher Lee by now?
The plot without giving too much of it away, is basically, that
when the modern world was created, a number of rings were made each with different supernatural powers and given to various entrusted keepers.
One ring however, molded in the fires of hell by an evil overlord was powerful enough to control all of the world and give its bearer the power to rule.
The only drawback being that it has the power to turn its bearer to the dark side meaning that hell would spill out and engulf the world. The overlord who crafted the ring was defeated in a gruesome battle and the ring was lost for centuries waiting for the reincarnation of its true master.
Years later the ring falls into the hands of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) - hobbits are a dwarf like people who live in a tiny village in the forest. He is then forced to give the ring, against his will to his adopted cousin, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) by the kind but powerful 9ft tall wizard Gandolf the gray (Ian McKellen).
Frodo must then journey to the place where the ring was made and destroy it, before the overlord returns to claim back his ring and rule the world in darkness. Frodo makes all manner of friends along the way to help him in his quest and together they must face a whole inventory of the overlord’s evil helpers.
They come in all sorts of forms from the evil looking Orcs to the giant club wielding troll and the fire-breathing dragon. The fate of the world rests with young Frodo who must try and resist the temptations of the ring and lead his tiny army against the evil that awaits.
The special effects in this movie are fabulous and the camera work and visuals are breathtaking. The most impressive of the effects being how they have made normal sized actors such as Ian Holm and Elijah Wood look so tiny up to the giant 9ft tall wizards like Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee and even the life-size characters played by the likes of Viggo Mortenson and Sean Bean.
The film for anyone who doesn’t know, is based exclusively on the timeless books by J.R.R.Tolkien.
The Director, New Zealander Peter Jackson, has done miracles with this film considering that his previous efforts all bar one (The Frighteners with Michael J Fox) were very low budget gore flicks like bad taste and brain dead, (still good films non the less).
His vision and direction have made this first installment of the lord of the rings trilogy an absolute thrill to watch. Many people that I know who have seen the film, were disappointed with the ending, which leaves the door wide open for the sequel to follow on to.
Personally I think the ending leaves you gagging for the next movie to come out, and so leaves you eager to know what happens next, before the already completed sequel is released in December. The soundtrack for LOTR is remarkable, nothing that you would belt out of your living room window before a Friday night out you understand, but it suits the atmosphere of the film perfectly.
The film thankfully, put Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone to shame at the box office and in my eyes deservedly so. No offence meant to Harry but if your one of the millions of people that were sick of Harry’s face being just about everywhere you looked over the past year or so, then you will know what I mean.
LOTR – The fellowship of the ring, walked away with four Oscars but sadly missed out on the coveted Best film award. The one drawback with this movie is the before mentioned 3 hour running time which does leave your backside on the throb, but believe me it is worth while.
If you must see just one film this year then make this the one. Great story, great acting, fantastic special effects and basically great all round entertainment. The Lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring: 10/10 Fabulous.
~~~~~~DVD EXTRAS~~~~~~
Now that the movie is finally in our Video stores on both VHS and DVD formats, we can watch this film in the comfort of our own homes (with comfy seats, so your arse doesn’t go numb).
Anyway, a certain Chicken friend of mine bought me the DVD using her Ipoints account, (nice lady) and when it arrived on my doorstep on Monday morning, I was jumping around like a raving lunatic.
The DVD’s are brilliantly designed and you can clearly see that no expense has been spared in bringing them into our homes. Retailing in the shops for around 20 quid, LOTR comes in a 2-disk DVD set, the first disk houses the movie (all 3 hours worth) and the second disk contains a bevy of wonderful extras. They are:
*Fully animated menus and screen changes.
*3 in depth programs revealing all the secrets behind the production of the film: Welcome to middle earth, Quest for the ring and A passage to middle earth. This is really for anyone who is interested in how the movie was made, it shows how the special effects were done and all the technical stuff that made the movie the classic that it is.
*15 featurettes including interviews with all the cast and crew members. If you are going to watch all of these, then you will need to make yourself comfy as they do last for quite a while but are mega interesting nonetheless.
*An exclusive 10 minute, behind the scenes preview of the new film, Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers, including, movie clips, short interviews with some of the cast members, special effects work and an on-screen commentary by Peter Jackson. It is amazing to see that all of the LOTR sets are built to exactly resemble the pictures in the J.R.R. Tolkien books.
*The original theatrical trailers and TV spots.
*The Enya music video of the films official theme tune, May it be.
*A preview of the new LOTR – The Two Towers computer game, looks brilliant.
*And an inside look at the special extended DVD edition of LOTR – The Fellowship of the Ring.
All this and the usual subtitles and language select options make this DVD a must for any film fan.
Staring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, with Sean Bean, Andy Serkis and Ian Holm.
Directed by Peter Jackson
Certificate: PG – Running time: 171 minutes: DVD Region 2
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Good review Deano. I missed the film at the cinema, but saw it on DVD. Should I buy this 2 disc set, or wait untill the 4 disc special edition comes out at Christmas?? That is the burning question..
tommartin 16.09.2002 01:55
It's been a long time since I wrote an opinion or commented on others, but after reading this one, I feel compelled to start using Ciao more regularly again. That was a fantastic review of a fantastic film.
kleft 25.08.2002 13:48
Sean Astin? the Goonies? My God! I thought I was the only sad film buff who'd remember the connection there, Deano. Thinking of buying a DVD player just for the sake of this movie, as I'm sure it beats the VHS version. lol. Raf :)
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Aug 11th, 2002
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