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

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Director:

Peter Jackson

Writers (WGA):

J.R.R. Tolkien (novel)
Fran Walsh (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 December 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline:

The Legend Comes to Life

Plot:

In a small village in the Shire a young Hobbit named Frodo has been entrusted with an ancient Ring. Now he must embark on an Epic quest to the Cracks of Doom in order to destroy it.

Plot Keywords:

Interracial Love | Last Stand | Cornfield | Ancient City | Spear

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 76 wins & 83 nominations

Cast

Alan Howard	...	The Ring (voice)
Noel Appleby	...	Everard Proudfoot
Sean Astin	...	Sam Gamgee
Sala Baker	...	Sauron
Sean Bean	...	Boromir
Cate Blanchett	...	Galadriel
Orlando Bloom	...	Legolas Greenleaf
Billy Boyd	...	Peregrin 'Pippin' Took
Marton Csokas	...	Celeborn
Megan Edwards	...	Mrs. Proudfoot
Michael Elsworth	...	Gondorian Archivist
Mark Ferguson	...	Gil-Galad
Ian Holm	...	Bilbo Baggins
Christopher Lee	...	Saruman
Lawrence Makoare	...	Lurtz

Also Known As:

The Fellowship of the Ring (USA) (short title)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: The Motion Picture (USA) (promotional title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for epic battle sequences and some scary images. (also special extended edition)

Runtime:

178 min | 208 min (special extended edition)

Country:

New Zealand | USA

Language:

English | Sindarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Finland:K-11 (re-rating) | Finland:K-15 (original rating) | Malaysia:U | Ireland:PG | South Korea:12 | Netherlands:16 (extended edition) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Denmark:11 | Denmark:15 (special extended edition) | Finland:K-15 (special extended edition) | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Germany:16 (special extended edition) | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:12 | Israel:PG | Italy:T | Japan:PG-12 | Mexico:B | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M (special extended edition) | New Zealand:PG | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Philippines:G | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38473) | Greece:K-13

Filming Locations:

Arrowtown Recreational Reserve, Arrowtown, Otago, New Zealand

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

When Arwen escapes from the Black Riders through the river by flooding them, the spell she speaks isn't subtitled. According to the Encyclopedy of Arda (see External Links: Miscellaneous # 58), she says: "Nîn o Chithaeglir lasto beth daer; rimmo nín Bruinen dan in Ulaer", which means roughly "Waters of the Hithaeglir, hear the word of power, rush, waters of Bruinen, against the Ringwraiths"

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: It is clear, that in some long shots of the scene in which the fellowship is formed in Rivendell, smaller stand ins (resembling children) are used to contrast height and are clearly not Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan or Billy Boyd.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Galadriel: The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it. It began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Desperation (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

May It Be

An amazing achievement

'The Lord of the Rings' is one of my favorite books, I have read it several times, and remember thinking the last time, about 3 years ago that if I made a film I'd want to make it of this, but wouldn't it be almost impossible. You can then imagine how strong my expectations were when I went to see the eagerly awaited first installment.

This film impressed me hugely, more than anything else because of how true it was to my imagination, both in the characters as well as in the effects and setting- a sentiment I have heard consistently from other fans of the books. Elijah Wood brought across the character of Frodo with the kind of haunted, frail courage that Tolkien captures so well in the books. Nor could I find any fault at all with Ian McKellan's Gandalf, Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn, and Sean Bean's Boromir, all of whom I thought were portrayed excellently. I could pick out instances where I did think, 'no, that's not right', however their seldomness in number would only serve to illustrate the excellence of the overall portrayal. One thing that did stand out for me was Cate Blanchett's performance as Galadriel, the part itself became so perfunctory in the film that to me her alternation between benevolent seer, and figure of potential terror seemed little more than a slightly confusing detour with no real connection into the plot other than as a vehicle for a glimpse into the future. But that was it.

I thought that the points where Jackson did deviate from the text were completely the correct ones to do so. Shortening the opening Shire scenes and cutting out the whole Tom Bombadil bit was great since frankly they bored me slightly in the book anyway. Also, expanding the role of Arwen was a sensible decision.

However this film is by no means above criticism. The dialogue was in my opinion terrible and purely there to drive on the plot. Normally this would ruin a film for me (as in "The Matrix"), making it almost intolerable to view, however fortunately here it proves little more than a minor irritation. Also, the film seemed overall to be excessively plot-driven and at times a mad dash from one action scene to another, the characters, for all their truth to the book did seem flat and sometimes little more than stereotypical fantasy characters. This is perhaps my major quarrel with the film- I would have liked these characters to have come alive as people in a way that was made impossible by the sparseness of the script and the rollercoaster nature of the plot. In general the whole film lacked the depth of context that I think distinguishes Tolkien from other fantasy writers. However to have achieved this would have required a very different movie, and you can't fault an action film for being an action film.

This movie is undoubtedly not for everyone. A lot of people just don't get fantasy- other than Lord of the Rings, I don't particularly either. However in my opinion Jackson really has made an incredible achievement- his and Tolkien's vision carried through suberbly by a breathtaking setting and stunning special effects, as well as by a cast clearly as enthralled as he was. He has taken on a huge task, and is dealing with it with breathtaking success.