Cimmerian
The Sentinel
Posts: 271
(3/31/04 6:41 pm)
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LOTR: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
LOTR: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
General view – Though I had vaguely herd of JRRTolkien before, and have had access to a large amount of fantasy and sci-fi resources at home since my childhood, Lord of the Rings was one fantasy epic that I didn’t really know about…
…Until the first movie released, in 2001.
I was blown away, literally. The story and concept was new to me, so naturally I was filled with wonder and a yearning to know more about the story and thus began my perusal of the books, online forums and news articles.
Anyhow the movie was rather well made and livelier than the book, which, let me tell you, is tedious reading. Most of the choreography and action sequences in the movie have been extra-ordinarily executed. Thoroughly enjoyable!
Highlights – The imagery that impressed me –
1. The opening war sequence, between the allied forces of elves and men and the evil hordes of Sauron. Awesome! Way better that the book could describe.
2. The awesome trek over the snow-covered mountains. Where Boromir gets his first taste of the ring. Great stuff.
3. The Wizards battle at Isengard(I think). Hilarious and entertaining.
4. The sequence underground in the mines of Moira. The swarming hordes of orcs. And then, the Balrog. Good fight, good night, Gandalf!
5. The birth of Lurtz and then the awesome battle between the uruk and Aragorn.
6. Boromir’s sacrifice and death.
Characters and cast –
Frodo Baggins – Elijah wood did a good job, though I’d prefer Tobey MaGuire or Topher Grace as Frodo.
Samwise Gamgee – Sean Astin, almost perfect.
Pippin/ Peregrin Took – Billy Boyd, perfect.
Merry / Meriadoc Brandybuck – Dominic Monaghan, dunno about this guy. Okay, I guess.
Gandalf – Ian McKellan . Nahhh, didn’t like his magneto. Christopher Lambert would be my choice as old Gandalf.
Aragorn – Viggo Mortensen. Yeah, he did a good job. Maybe Liam Neeson would go one up on him. By a whole foot, heh heh!
Boromir – Sean Bean. I like this guy’s acting. He did a good job, but I’d like to have seen. Should have had a few more lines.
Legolas – Orlando Bloom. Never heard of this guy before, but he looked okay as an elf. Though Legolas has dark hair in many of the LOTR artwork. Subdued role.
Gimli – John Rhys-Davies. I always liked dwarves in fantasy tales. Could have had more roles than that of comic relief.
Arwen – Liv Tyler. Perfect cast. She’s such a foxy elf. I don’t care if they bumped some blond elf to give her some part in this first film. The more of her the better.
Elrond – Hugo Weaving. Okay, fine. Who else could bring out that arrogant Elrond look. Should have had more dialogue though.
Galadriel – Cate Blanchett. In a word, Boooring. And so not beautiful. Now, Nicole Kidman as the golden lady… mmm yeah!
Celeborn - Martin Csokas, didn’t we see this guy in some Xena episode.
Saruman – Christopher Lee, anyone else would not have done the character justice. Great actor, great voice, great part.
Bilbo Baggins – Ian Holm, ha, didn’t know they could make him look even smaller than he is. Good job!
Lurtz – Awesome Uruk-Hai. Too bad he had to lose his head.
In conclusion, I would say that the movie has done a great service to the book, by making this awesome concept reach out to a lot more people than it already did; the rather confusing ending, notwithstanding.
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