Well, this is one I was going to wait to tackle until later. . .and then Horror Month came up, which I know you're just as sad as I am that that's over. . .and I realized that keeping Sword and Sorcery 2020 going into 2021 would be just a wee bit silly what with brand dilution.
Isn't working in entertainment just magical, kids?
So, my earliest memory of this movie is seeing it in the theater in the Charleston area some time before my eleventh birthday. I thought it was absolutely fantastic and probably one of the best films I'd seen up until that point, right there where Empire Strikes Back. Little did I know that the films were actually going to get better. . .which is kind of a hilarious parallel to how the later The Hobbit films would go, but never mind that. Let's talk about the man behind the madness - Peter Jackson.
Up until 2001 came around, Peter Jackson was a director from New Zealand who wasn't really known in the United States. However, this short, hairy man had given us films since 1976 including the cult classic The Frighteners. . .which I admittedly haven't seen as of this writing. Yes, I know, cardinal sin of film reviewing, revoke my critic card. However, in 1996, he won the film rights to a little book trilogy that you've probably heard of - The Lord of the Rings.
However, developing the film was a bit of a hard sell. . .mostly because Miramax Films, the original company set to distribute it, gave Jackson a two-film deal and was trying to pressure him into making it just one movie. This, you might think, is very similar to the set up that Ralph Bakshi had a few decades before, and you would be correct. Lucky for Jackson, he found his salvation in New Line Cinema, a film company that was no doubt looking to redeem itself after blighting the world with a certain movie just a year before this one was released.
Needless to say, given how the Lord of the Rings franchise is the fifth highest-grossing movie franchise of all time (as of 2019, anyway), New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson got the last laugh. However, this tells us nothing of the quality of the film we're about to see. So let's get into it.
This is the part where I'd normally invoke the Rule of Adaptation and say that this film basically follows the book. . .and it kind of does. Sort of. In fact, much of the Ralph Bakshi version is very similar to how the Peter Jackson one plays out, at least in the beginning. Both have detailed flashbacks to the history of the One Ring's creation and the events that followed on from it. Basic points to hit: 1) Sauron forged the One Ring, 2) Isildur cut if off his finger and kept it rather than destroying it, 3) He was killed and the Ring was lost, 4) Smeagol found it and became Gollum, 5) Bilbo no scoped him in the riddle game and won the Ring.
Sixty years later, Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) is celebrating his 111th birthday. Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) arrives to join the festivities, which end with Bilbo making a scene using the Ring to disappear before everyone in Hobbiton. Bilbo leaves everything, including the Ring, to his nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood). All is not well in the East, however, as Mordor has come alive again and Gollum (Andy Serkis) has been captured and tortured by the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron. Gollum has given two words: "Shire. . .Baggins".
With Frodo's life in danger, he must take the Ring to Rivendell alongside his gardener Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin), and his friends Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd). He will face terrible dangers along the way, but will find new allies in the ranger Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and later the elven archer Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and the dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) as well as a warrior from the nation of Gondor, Boromir (Sean Bean).
Together, the characters I have mentioned will become - and here's our title drop - the Fellowship of the Ring.
There is so much to talk about in this movie that even a full review covering everything just won't really do it justice. Sure, there are plenty of things I'd like for them to have included that they didn't. Or things they included that I would have rather they skipped. . .although that becomes more of an issue when The Hobbit trilogy comes around.
Along with those I've already mentioned, we have a fantastic cast of Christopher Lee as the white wizard Saruman (who gets a bit of a villain upgrade from the original novels), Hugo Weaving as Elrond, and Cate Blanchett as Galadriel. There is a lot of talent in front of the camera. There's also a lot of talent behind the camera, and I'm not talking just the tubby New Zealander in the director's chair. The Fellowship of the Ring used techniques in both practical effects and cinematography to really push the envelope on presenting the world of Middle-Earth.
The orcs? All make up and practical effects.
The Hobbits with their height difference to the rest of the Fellowship? Camera angles and doubles.
The Balrog? Okay, that was CGI, but you just might think they could pull it off with a practical effect.
It's also not a gigantic bipedal manticore and actually looks like a demon, that sort of helps.
. . .also, having all the life action actors not covered in weird paint helps out a lot, too. What the hell was that, Bakshi?
The best part is that there really is no comedy to it all. The actors onscreen are taking this seriously and really sell it, whereas some productions might dip into parody or satire. There are a lot of memorable performances in this film - everything from Ian Holm playing Bilbo in Ring-induced fits of insanity to Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn being both enigmatic and vulnerable to Cate Blanchett playing up Galadriel during her test against the malice of the One Ring. Sure, there are comedic elements, but they don't distract from the greater narrative and they don't make the hard hitting moments hit any less hard. The action is also pretty good on the whole. Even Viggo Mortensen, who only received a few short lessons in fencing upon arriving in New Zealand, sells his swordwork well.
Then you have the CGI, as I mentioned earlier, which was used only sparingly, mostly to do things like some of the effects on the Ringwraiths or the Balrog and otherwise was only used for the large, sweeping shots of certain locations such as Isengard. Yeah, all the mountain ranges and such? That's pure New Zealand and my god is it breathtaking. It's rather like the Highlander series attempts to do with it's stock footage of Scotland, only if this were a travel advertisement for New Zealand, I'd actually want to go.
Also, speaking of the lack of bagpipes, the score for the film is exquisite. Howard Shore composed the score for both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies and it definitely gives that grand feel that you're looking for in a sword and sorcery flick. Many tracks have become staples of collections, and I can tell you that more than a few come up in Dungeons & Dragons games I've played. . .many that I've DMed, admittedly, but nonetheless. Like John Williams' scores for the Star Wars films, the music is instantly iconic and memorable.
I mean, really, there isn't much of anything that I can say about this film that hasn't already been said at some point in the last nineteen years. It's a masterpiece and it still holds up amazingly well even today.
I can't even really think of anything negative to say. No, not even for the Extended Cuts. I'm normally against that sort of thing, but for this film and the two that follow it, it really only elevates what was already absolutely spectacular!
That's all I can say on it, really. The Fellowship of the Ring would go on to make back it's budget of $93 million almost ten times over and would go on to be nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, of which it would win four. However, that was only the beginning for this franchise.
Next time, come back to see what happens when the good folk of Middle-Earth try to stand against the combined might of Isengard and Mordor. When we return with Reel Thoughts, it will be time for The Two Towers.
See you there!
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is now available from New Line Cinema and Wingnut Films.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
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