The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) (1 Viewer)

[Paul W]

You guys are nuts.

6 hours!

:p)

 

[Peter Kim]

From cnn.com....about as wide reaching as an internet site as you can get:

By Paul Clinton

(CNN) -- "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" is a flawless adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's literary masterpiece. Director Peter Jackson and his brilliant ensemble cast have created a spectacular holiday gift for the whole world.

.

.

.

In short, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" is cinematic history. Not since "Gone With The Wind" more than 60 years ago has a movie held up as well to the original book."

This review goes beyond superlative. How the hell, with a review like this almost a consensus, does LOTR not get more recognition in these pre-Oscar awards and on critics' lists?

Holadem...I feel for you. I thought the same about my 12:01 am Tues 12/18/01 ticket. I had to call the box office and even had the clerk flustered until she finally confirmed that that which was printed on the ticket was technically incorrect. That must have stunk, with your anticipation ramped up high, to only see a barren parking lot.

At this point, I just haven't the faintest clue whether I should go early (how early?) to get a good seat. Anyone got a plan? Will the lines mirror TPM?

 

[Marshall Alsup]

Well, you guys are lucky. I wont be seeing this movie till Sunday. I have to wait for finals to get over so I can go home and see it in a good theater. I'm sure they'll get it around here but I'm not seeing it for the first time in a shitty theater!

I cant freakin wait man

Marshall

 

[Craig S]

Looks like Rotten Tomatoes just dumped a fresh batch of reviews into the ole' database. Score is now 93% fresh - 42 positives & 3 negatives.
15 hours for me!!

 

[Seth Paxton]

So from one of the negative reviews by Sean O'Connell of Eclipse magazine we get this quote

I’d have preferred a little more time with Frodo, or even McKellen’s Gandalf, who comes off looking like a powerless old coot who fails to wield his potential power.

It almost feels like some of these people needed to see the complete story played out at once.
Honestly I think the problem is that some people don't realize this is a TRUE trilogy, not some "let's tack on more story cause the first one was a hit" trilogy (cough**Star Wars**cough). I can't really think of any trilogy where the first film was made with a truly incomplete narrative. Like Samurai 1-3, the films are a bit repetitive because they go through the same establishment of characters and problems each time, and therefore they don't play as well straight through but do play great 1 at a time.
That's what people are used to. It's been so long since we've even had cliffhangers and as I say, I'm not sure we've ever seen a story truly written across 3 seperate films.
Godfather was chopped up to make an essential 1 film version. Only on the success did they go back and grab some parts they left out and put together another cohesive single film (and clearly it plays differently because of this, following a parallelism rather than single character development).
These aren't films that will contain complete character development, nor any absolute resolution regarding any aspect of the major story. The character development MUST be placed evenly across all 3 films and each of the first 2 DOES have a cliffhanger ending.
Why do people expect otherwise, at least those claiming to be familiar with the work?

 

[Kevin Coleman]

Take any review about LOTR you read on CNN with one big grain of salt. They are also owned by Time Warner. If you take a look back at some of their reviews they rarely say anything bad about a Time Warner movie. Just FYI.
Kevin C.

 

[RobertR]

Take any review about LOTR you read on CNN with one big grain of salt.

That's why, as with any film, you look at the CONSENSUS on a film. As I've stated before it's IMPOSSIBLE that EVERYONE will like a film. But the reviews for LOTR are as overwhelmingly positive (and even GUSHING) as anything I've ever seen. How often does that happen?

 

[Michael Dueppen]

i still seeing it making tons of coin , but something is telling me it might not have potter like numbers.

I really, really hope it'll make more. It is by far the better movie and adaption of a book imo. Actually it's one of the handful of movies I like as adaptions (Harry Potter was not one of them although I enjoyed the movie on it's own).

One Ring To Rule Them All...

 

[Jason Whyte]

Jeez, two pages of folks listing the hours and minutes they have to wait before they see the movie.

What would be more cool is to describe the theater you're going to see it at: size, location, sound system, your favorite seat, how early you're getting in line, etc!
Jay

 

[Brian E]

Didn't take this thread lond to grow. Wait til we've actually seen the film and have someting to really discuss.

11:30am can't get here soon enough.

 

[Tom Ryan]

Only 21 hours to go.............this time tomorrow I'll have seen The Fellowship Of The Ring.

-Tom

 

[Danny R]

The movie is fantastic. I loved every bit of it.

I have only two complaints... both minor:

The first is the telling of the history of the ring.In the film, its given as a narration at the beginning. I think this would have done better to have been told at the Council of Elrond as it was in the book. This would eliminate the flashbacks to how Sauron was defeated -- shown 3 times in the film.

The second is the portrayal of Saruman. He's played as the traitorous henchman of Sauron... when he is actually a rival trying to gain the Ring for himself. We see the lust for the ring in everyone else, and the potential of its misuse with Galadriel. Yet this isn't shown with Saruman, just his service to Sauron... even though he had at this point already created his own ring of power at this point and built up his orc army for his own purposes.

For some reason these two choices the film made bother me more than changes such as Arwen being combined with Glorfindil's role. Glorfindil and Arwen are minor characters. Saruman isn't.

All in all though an enjoyable experience. I'm going to see it again tommorrow, and probably a third time this weekend.

 

[Ryan Peter]

I just got back from the 12:01 showing. It's fantastic! I loved it. I agree, however, with the above post about Saruman. But I think it would have complicated the screen more had they explored what was in the back.

Anyway, it was a full house! Got there at 11:00 or so, and there was a huge line. A 500 seat theater was filled to the brim. Big applause afterward. Can't wait to see it again!!

 

[Ryan Peter]

I'd like to add, FINALLY A MOVIE THAT LIVES UP TO ITS HYPE (hint hint Phantom Menace!)!!! GREAT JOB PJ!!!

 

[Jin E]

Just a few words before I head to bed and then get up and goto work in about 4 hours...

All in all it was VERY well done. CGI was spot on. Only a couple of times did it start to get TPM-like. Performances were great. I really liked the way Jackson would let his actor's expressions tell the story. No need for words... or any trick shots. Gandalf does a hell of a job. The Balrog IMHO is the best CGI character I have ever seen. Excuse my french, but that thing was BADASS. I had issues with the pacing at times, and bits and pieces of the movie felt out of place (either a bit of dialogue here and there, but nothing major).

I do agree with the Sauramon comment. I think the only effect I had issues with was the Galandriel (sp?) effect... when she is offered the ring. Anyhoo... off to bed. For those of you who have not seen it yet... neenery neener neener!!! You will not be dissapointed.

(edit)

I might catch flak for this... but I did think Kate Blanchet (a actress who I greatly admire!) and Elrond's character seems overacted. Now Legolis... he kicks ass!

 

[Ryan Peter]

Well, I wasn't crazy about the Galadriel effect also. She did seem a bit too psycho, but in its defense, it is exactly in line with this "other world" portayed when the ring is worn, and its the same effect when Gandalf is tempted with the ring. I personally would have liked to see more "prophesy" when she thinks about the ring, like seeing the world changing behind her to reflect what could or would be. But that would have been pretty expensive special effects wise, while the white is a less expensive special effect. Pretty cool scene overall, though.

 

[Ryan Peter]

Also, call me nuts, but I did like the cartoon Balrog more, but this Balrog rocked as well.

 

[Matt Wooten]

well i just got back from the midnight showing and i am sure as hell tired.. but not bc i watched a three-hour long bore.. i watched a great film. i haven't read any of the books so i don't really know how true to them this movie is.. i do know tho as a movie itself (in my opinion) it leads up to all expectations. i thought the special effects were the best to date. it is stunning. and i thought it had more bass than any move i had ever seen. i can't wait to hear this thing on home system. it was great to finally see a movie that lived up to its hype and acting that wasn't pos performances. i personally loved this movie and will now start reading the books. well im off to bed now.. :frowning:

 

[Ryan Peter]

Where's Ron's review at? Can't seem to find it anymore. Thanks.

 

[Peter Kim]

One reason I was driven away from the theaters for over two years is my contempt for those who have no respect for other theatergoers.

There were absolutely no chatter during this movie.

No one kicked me in the back.

Not a single cell phone or pager ring.

I could not hear the chomping of any popcorn or the slurping of a single soda.

Not only has this film resuscitated my love for movies, but also the act of watching movies among the people.

I cannot imagine this movie not triggering a major spike in the sales of the books. If I hadn't read the books, albeit long ago, I would've rushed out the following day, bought the books, along with The Hobbit, and devoured them. To wait a total of two more years to see the story to the end...who can put on the blinders like that?