Roll Over, George Lucas Fellowship of the Ring Delivers on Epic Promise

Legend has it that while J.R.R. Tolkien was reading from a rough copy of The
Lord of the Rings at a meeting of the Literary Inklings Club, C.S. Lewis
exclaimed, ìOh no! Not another fucking elf!î This bit of apocryphaóLewis was in
fact an enormous fan of Tolkienís, as was W.H. Auden (I guess all initialed Brits
have to stick together)ódoes shed some light on the reception of Tolkienís
masterpiece during the half-century after its publication: there are those who
have read it a dozen times and those who, forever against all things fantastical,
will never read it.

The first installment of the film version of the trilogy should go a long way to
bridging this division of opinion. Released by New Line and directed by Peter
Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is an
ambitious epic that is placed in the unenviable position of having to
match the acclaim of the book as well as the religious zeal of the fans and
manages to do so in a faithful and thrilling way while not excluding the average
viewer, uninitiated in the cult of Middle Earth.

The plot of the movie, which is the first in a three-movie, three-year installment,
verges on being Homerically familiar. Suffice it to say, itís concerned with the
battle between ultimate good versus ultimate evil, and the combatants are
swordsmen and sorcerers, dwarves, and, yes Mr. Lewis, elves, and of course
the pleasantly diminutive hobbits. A journey must be undertaken to destroy the
Ring of Power, a menacing talisman that imbues in its creator, the dark lord
Sauron, the capacity to dominate the world.

The cast is an ensemble of well-respected if not entirely famous actors. Liv Tyler
(Arwen, the elfish princess) and Cate Blanchett (Galadriel, Elfish Queen) are the
biggest names involved, though their characters are minor to the action. The
main elements of the cast are those actors whose characters comprise the
Fellowship itself. Viggo Mortensen does a fine job bristling as the enigmatic
warrior Strider, while Sir Ian McKellen seems as though he was born to play the
archetypal wizard Gandalf. Orlando Bloom, who got the role of elf archer
Legolas a day out of acting school, captures the ethereal flawlessness that
Tolkien bestowed on the mythical race.

The hobbits, especially as played by Dominc Monaghan (Merry) and Billy Boyd
(Pippin), do well at providing brief moments of comic relief without seeming to
have been included in the movie for that sole purpose.

At times, the relationship between the tormented Frodo (Elijah Wood) and the
dutiful Sam (Sean Aston) is syrupy, especially at first, but the pulse of the action
seems to beat it out of them.

Christopher Lee is notable in the role of the quisling wizard Saruman for once
again performing his death-defying onscreen trickóthat is defying death. The
entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for most screen
appearances once more looks like he died and someone forget to bury him.

Perhaps the two most praiseworthy stars of the movie are found in the
background. The splendor of New Zealand, the location that stands in for Middle
Earth, stuns the viewer with its otherworldliness. Additionally, the WETA
Workshop, a digital effects and design firm established in New Zealand for
Jacksonís last film The Frighteners, conjures remarkable effect after
effect, and its digital embellishment of the sets and characters is simply
astounding.

Many of the fantastic creatures populating the movie, notably the simpering
Gollum and the fire demon Balrog, are entirely digitally produced. However,
there is none of the usual rupture that occurs when movies feature digital effects.
There is a delicacy to the effects that, though they are truly astounding, they
donít dominate the action of the movie. As WETA director Richard Tyler said, ìIf
viewers notice the effects as effects done for a film and not as elements of this
[imaginary] world, we failed at our job.î

At just under three hours, Fellowship manages to rather expansively deal
with the exhaustive scope of Tolkienís writings. While certain aspects were
excised in the film to speed the action, many of the missing moments were
Tolkien at his most pedanticóelfish song lyrics, dwarf drinking toasts, etcóand
are hardly missed save by the most rabid of fans.

The production of the movie is worthy of mention as well. Peter Jackson made
all three installments of the trilogy at once, in over a year of shooting, for just
under $300 million dollars. Such a massive undertaking required great faith on
the part of the movieís producers, and it is apparent that their faith has been
rewarded with a superb product that is assured of making back the initial
investment several times over.

Fellowship of the Ring will inevitably draw comparisons to the recently
released Harry Potter and the Sorcererís Stone. Both, of course, are
adapted from a wildly successful series of books that centers around an
alternate reality peopled by wizards and trolls and dragons. However,
Fellowship far outdoes its contemporary in every way; its story completes
a much more extensive emotional arc, the action acts not as a gratuitous
insertion but instead as a propellant for character development, and while the
magic of Potter is stultified by excessive gloss Fellowship loses none of
the elements of the book that has enchanted millions of readers.

A more apt comparison could be drawn between Fellowship and Star
Wars. Star Wars heralded a new style of filmmaking, an
all-encompassing epic that spared no effort in attempting to enthrall its
audience. Fellowship shares this aim, and perhaps moves beyond the
standard established by the Jedi saga. Many movies, including the most recent
episode of Star Wars, have been surrounded by immense and ultimately
ruinous hype; Fellowship of the Ring is, for once, a movie that delivers on,
and surpasses, the promise that preceded it.

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring opens Dec.
19.