Yar, you be here: The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition Collector's Gift Set) > Customer Reviews

The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition Collector's Gift Set) Customer Reviews (85 - 87 of 102 Reviews)

More Of The Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy The Lord of the Rings is a masterful piece of movie entertainment. Director Peter Jackson has done an amazing job of transferring one of the most beloved pieces of 20th century literature to the silver screen. Although certain sacrifices are made in the transition, the real heart and soul of the book is evident. Utilizing the natural beauty of New Zealand and state of the art special effects, Mr. Jackson brings Middle Earth to full life. The film has tremendous visuals and the feel of a classic Hollywood epic. The cast is first rate led by Sir Ian McKellan who is magnificent as Gandalf. Elijah Wood gives his best performance to date as the central character in the film, Frodo Baggins and Viggo Mortensen is cool and steely as Strider. Sean Bean as the doomed Boromir and Orlando Bloom as the heroic elf Legolas give strong support as does Sean Astin as Frodo's sidekick Samwise Gamgee. Christopher Lee adds yet another evil part to his resume and he is perfect as the corrupt wizard Saruman. Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler and Ian Holm have small but effective roles. There is the appropriate amount of suspense and tension in the film as the Fellowship struggle to destroy the ring. The only drawback to the film is that knowing it is only the first part of a trilogy, it really doesn't end. You don't have the usual resolution of the plot, but the film's excellence will leave you heavily anticipating part two. This version is Mr. Jackson's director's cut and it is a marvelous extension of the film. The extended version helps flesh out the characters and gives more details on the lives of the hobbits, Strider and the forming of the Fellowship of the Ring. The new version is extremely long, so it is obvious why it was trimmed down for its theatrical release, but if you already own that version of the DVD, this version is worth the money. It is superior to the original and that's saying quite a bit as the original is tremendous.

Fellowship of the Ring is an Instant Classic
The Fellowship of the Ring, New Zealander Peter Jackson's first installment of a trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, is an entertaining and awe-inspiring movie. With a multi-national cast, majestic landscapes, jaw-dropping special effects, and a riveting story, Jackson's visual journey to Middle-Earth is one of those rare fantasy films that lives up to the term "instant classic."

Jackson, who not only co-authored the screenplay with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens and was one of the line producers, directed Fellowship and its two sequels (The Two Towers and The Return of the King) in a single shoot (with scheduled re-shoots when necessary) so that there would only be 1-year intervals between each movie's release. The intervening time could then be devoted to post-production and special effects work. While this seems risky -- and moviemaking is a business where risk is involved -- the gamble taken by Miramax and New Line Cinema certainly paid off well.

The Fellowship of the Ring begins with a prologue that explains how Sauron, the Dark Lord, conceived Rings of Power to ensnare the various races of Middle Earth under his rule. To control these Rings of Power, he forged in secret a Master Ring, the One Ring that could find them all "and in the darkness bind them." But Sauron loses the Ring when he is defeated in battle against a final Alliance of Men and Elves, and for centuries the One Ring is lost and forgotten.

The prologue continues with an abridged version of an episode from Tolkien's The Hobbit, when Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) finds it -- providentially -- in Gollum's (Andy Serkis) cave. Then, with a pastoral theme by composer Howard Shore and a corresponding change of scenery, we are introduced to the protagonist of the story, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood).

Like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: A New Hope, Frodo doesn't realize that he is going to be tossed into a large conflict between light and darkness. Yet, when the great wizard Gandalf (magnificently played by Sir Ian McKellen) enlists him on a quest to keep the One Ring from returning to its dark master, Frodo accepts the responsibility and goes off on his own adventure.

The standard 2-disc set released last summer presents this movie in its entirety on disc 1 -- with no extra features whatsoever --no director/cast commentary or foreign language audio track/subtitles. There are two versions presently available of this "regular" edition, Widescreen and full-screen (pan-and-scan). The sound is good on my regular Samsung TV, and the image is sharp and clear...even though I suspect the movie would look far better on a bigger television set.

The extra features on Disc Two are all right but not earthshaking, either. There are short featurettes and trailers, Enya's May It Be music video, plus promotional materials for the Extended Version DVD and Electronic Arts' video game "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."

Brilliant - a masterpiece...
Once upon a time, J. R. R. Tolkien taught the world what fantasy could be. Peter Jackson, many, many decades later, re-defines the genre with a fantastic and almost-flawless masterpiece.

If you've read the books, you'll know what's been cut out - but every cut is made with the utmost reverence. You can see the effort in every single frame - the fantastic art direction, costumes, the languages even. The addition of conversations in (subtitled) Elvish - one of Tolkien's invented languages was a master stroke - it manages to give us an idea of the sheer expanse of Tolkien's creation without overwhelming us with its detail.

The acting is fantastic - from Sir Ian McKellen, who will probably be this century's 'definitive Gandalf the Grey' to Elijah Wood, who is wonderfully apt for the film's main-role, Frodo Baggins, the unlikely hero. The movie's other two wonderfully nuanced performances come from Viggo Mortenson, as brooding king-in-exile Aragorn, and Sean Bean as the flawed-hero Boromir. There are other noteworthy performances - Liv Tyler, as the Elf-princess Arwen (who actually doesn't appear in the first book at all), Hugo Weaving as Elrond and Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, who manages to look beautiful and sinister at the same time (you've got to watch out for her face when she says - All Shall Love Me And Despaaairrr!). Even the criticism that has often been made of the books - that the characters don't have enough 'psychological depth' can't possibly be made of the film. Sir Ian McKellan portrays Gandalf as human - and varies his body language accordingly in every scene; humble in the scenes with Christopher Lee as Saruman, the head of the order of Wizards, and authoritative in others. Watch for his reaction when Frodo offers to carry the ring, or when he delivers Tolkien's famous 'don't be too quick to deal out death in judgement' line - he speaks those lines with the greatest possible sincerity, making them mean so much more. I'm rooting for him to win the Oscar, as I am for Peter Jackson to win Best Director, and for the film to win best Adapted Screenplay.

The special effects are fantastic, and wonderfully subtle - there are no laser-rays coming out of Gandalf'f staff; but more importantly, Peter Jackson's directorial vision comes across in every scene - you can see that this is a lot more than a 'SFX-flick' or a 'swords-and-sorcery' epic. I had thought it impossible for anyone to have brought the Lord of the Rings to the screen, but Peter Jackson has managed the impossible, and done it admirably. Criticisms? Yes - I found Elrond's letting the hobbits join the Fellowship a little improbable (the book makes it much more believable), and would have liked more 'character'-scenes - I suspect these were cut in editing, and expect they'll be included when the DVD version is released. But I cannot find another flaw - the direction, screenplay, acting, all make this the best film I've seen this year. The only problem - we need to wait one whole year for the sequel.

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

Next Page