The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

[Impact]

Review, Discuss and Have Fun!

[Impact]

And the greatest trilogy ever starts. Amazing start to the franchise. Great all around film.A+

[Warhorse]

I remember when watching this in the theater for the first time, my friend kept on laughing at me, because my jaw was open the whole time! Now this is why we go to the movies! An A +++++, and probably my third favorite movie of all time behind The Black Stallion and The Man From Snowy River.

[Magic]

The best film of the LOTR trilogy and one of the great films of all time IMO. Absolute classic. A+, 10/10 however you put it...this gets top marks. The first 40 minutes is as close to pure perfection as it gets.

[Heretic]

In the top 5 greatest films of all time. Incredible. A+

[Joel M]

I love the whole trilogy but the first one is my least favorite. It starts amazingly but it gets kind of boring towards the end, and the final battle in the woods was just unmemorable. It's a good movie though, but I think the next two are way better. B+

[Ariadne]

AA brilliant start to the greatest trilogy of all time, I was mesmerised and relieved that the story I'd first read when I was ten and had re-read numerous times was finally being brought to life as it should be. Almost everything about this movie is perfect.

[DAR]

Just an amazing movie, Peter Jackson took a very good book and made a movie that surpassed the source material in every way imaginable. A+Note this will apply to all three films in the series.

[The Toymaker]

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

It's good. Not a patch on what followed, but it's good.

B+

[75Live]

Easily the best of the series to me. I enjoy the whole trilogy but this is the one I go to every time if I want to watch any of the films.

A

[tommycruise]

Best in the series, with the most epic prologue everA+

[Olive]

10/10best fantasy movie

[baumer]

^{written in 2006}

^{Well, it has been three years since the Lord of the Rings graced our screens. And in those three years, our film landscape has literally been dominated by the series. There have been other films of importance, but nothing that can truly compare with the scope and the sheer grandiose manner in which LOTR has inundated us with. Simply put, there has not been more of a domination of films since Star Wars and its original sequels hogged grosses and headlines from 1977-1983..}

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a thing of beauty. This is a film that is nearly perfect in every way. Beginning with the characters, this film takes us on a labyrinthine journey through middle earth and part of the fun is meeting everyone that is going to play a part in the story down the road. I think the EE on DVD is an even better film than the theatrical version and if you have a chance to see it, even though it is 4 hours long, do yourself a favour and do so. There is much more explained than what you see in the theatrical version.

FOTR introduces us to the hobbits, to Gandalf the wizard and his adversary Sauruman and ultimately to the great eye, Sauron. Also along the journey to Mordor are Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn and the three other hobbits, Samwies, Merry and Pippin.

The one element of FOTR that struck me is that it is a film about discovery. The journey begins here and it is that much more fun to see the genesis of the story and the genesis of the characters. In each of the three films, each character grows a bit at a time. In FOTR, we get to see the start of this journey. Frodo is just a scared hobbit thrust into a great deed here. In ROTK he grows into an honourable and stoic character, but in here, he is scared and feels alone, even with his fellowship of nine.

Perhaps one of the main reasons that makes this film so much better than the last two, in my opinion, is that it perfectly blends action and character into a beautiful narrative and it makes you feel for the characters you are watching. Gandalf's fate in this film is a heartwrenching scene and Boromir's is even tougher to get through. I shed a few tears at the end of this film.

FOTR should have won a plethora of Oscars in 2001 and it is a shame that it lost to A Beautiful Mind. I think that in 10 years, no one will remember this as Ron Howard's film that took the Oscar. But FOTR will be remembered as one of the best films of the last 20 years. There is a bit of everything in the film and for those that crave excellence in film, they need look no further than Fellowship of the Ring. I have it at number 9 on my all time list and that is saying something. This is truly a remarkable film. I have always thought that the books were just okay stories but to see what Jackson and his team of writers has managed to do, is truly remarkable. In the book, the best part of the story was the meeting of the Fellowship. This was at the council of Elrond and it is also one of the best scenes in the film. This is where we get to meet Boromir and Legolas and Gimli. In the book, I remember the council scene being close to 100 pages in length. Much of it was just talk and in the film, Jackson has managed to keep much of the intrigue with scenes like this, but condensing them to fit into a 3 hour film. This is just one of the nuances of the film that make it such a fine piece of film making.

While I still believe that Star Wars is the best fantasy series ever filmed, at least Lord of the Rings is a voice for today's generation and they have a film that they can relate to and call their own so that in 30 years from now the next great fantasy epic is unleashed, the debate can rage all over again, which is the best of all time?

FOTR is one of the best films of all time.

10/10

Edited May 7, 2013 by baumer

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

A- from me. Not as good as TTT or ROTK. The traveling parts are a tad boring and it just feels like the battles in the forest are similar enough that they kinda blend together. Film doesn't really grab me until the fellowship. Edited December 6, 2012 by Accursed Arachnid!™

[Hatebox]

Not sure it's better than TTT, but definitely beats RotK.

[Phil in the Blank]

I honestly can't split the movies. It's like asking for a favourite chapter in a book. The whole trilogy is a masterpiece. 10/10

[Lordmandeep]

For some reason this film is the film that feels amazing and great as they go on this great journey with all these characters.It never has a slow spot and it has amazing visuals.All the films are great but seeing the two Kings standing like that was such an epic scene in 2001.

[Punishment]

The best of the Lord of the Rings trilogy!

[baumer]

I watched the 4 hour EE last night and it really brought me back in time. It just felt right. And I can tell you now why this worked and The Hobbit, for me, didn't.It's the Fellowship that did it. Boromir and his weakness to the ring and his angst towards Aragorn. Legolas and his fierce loyalty to Aragorn. Gimli and his anger but his comedic anger. Elrond and his strong convictions, deep and commanding voice and his summoning of all the people of Middle Earth. Sam and his dedication to Frodo and the halflings, Merry and Pippin added some levity to the film. Then of course Gandalf and Saruman angst, Gandalf and his words of wisdom. Then you have Frodo, who is us, thrust into a dangerous situation but agreeing to it anyway. And for me, the best part of FOTR, Aragorn. Brave, tough, wise and flawed. He looked the part, he spoked the part and he acted the part. One of the best battles in any film is when he fights the Ur-quai (or whatever its called that shot the three arrows into Boromir) and after slicing his head off, the exchange between he and Boromir is a moment that lives on. FOTR is everything that movies should be. It's one of the reasons I like movies so much. It's a perfect film and I think it could have been 6 hours and I would have enjoyed it.

[The Movie Man]

Bump. Boy did the Hobbit Part 1 pale in comparison to the great FOTR. ON THE FOTR, I really loved it from the beginning set up, to meeting the Fellowship to the humanity of the movie to the great action - like 6 great action scenes in a row to end Part 1 of the LOTR.