|
The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring Main Cast
Rating: 5 Stars - Must be seen. Plot Summary: Many thousands of years ago in an ancient time in Middle-earth a gold ring with special powers was made. The ring gives the wearer magical powers of indestructible strength, long life, invisibility and the ability to rule all. But the ring has an evil will of its own and commands a hold and control on those who come into contact with it. After having been lost for hundreds of years the ring is found by a hobbit, a four foot, pointy-eared creature with furry feet. The hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) develops an obsession with the ring and when his old friend Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) comes to visit him on his 111th birthday he tells him about the ring. Gandalf persuades Bilbo that the ring is dangerous and gets him to leave it with his young cousin Frodo (Elijah Wood). After a little research Gandalf learns the true power and danger of the ring and tells Frodo that he must take it to Mordor and throw it into the Crack of Doom. This is the only way to save Middle-earth from the evil forces that are looking for the ring so that they can enslave the world. Frodo entrusted with this enormous responsibility sets off on the dangerous journey. Along the way eight volunteers who form the Fellowship of the Ring join him… Review: The Lord of The Rings is a hugely popular epic novel by JRR Tolkien. Made up of three books, The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of The King, it is a fantastic imaginative fantasy adventure story. Tolkien created a whole world of imaginative places and creatures so huge that it seemed impossible to make a film that would do the trilogy justice. Three films have been produced back-to-back to bring the long and complicated novel to the screen but you will have to wait until Christmas 2002 and then Christmas 2003 to see the sequels. But does the film do this best-selling book justice? Without a doubt it does. Fantastic sets, costumes, makeup, special effects, stunts and acting make this film a visually stunning classic. After a narrative introduction the film starts in the Shire, the land of the Hobbits. It is obvious from the recreation of the Shire that great effort went into every detail and as the film moves along, the enormity of the production is apparent. Almost every scene has something magical or wonderful in it and the scenes flow smoothly together as the story unfolds. If “visually stunning” isn’t enough, the film also has a good script that is well delivered and between the excitement and action there are plenty of lighter humorous moments. There are loads of peculiar and interesting characters including Hobbits, Elves, Dwarfs, Wizards, ugly Orcs, scary Black Riders and even a few mortal men! At almost three hours the film might be a little long but to capture all the imagination of the book it would have been difficult to trim this down. Younger children will find it a bit too long and perhaps will not understand all that is going on. Some parts are also quite scary and there are a few gory battle scenes. It will probably appeal most to the over 12's. There might be some disappointment with the ending but you have to remember that it is only the ending of The Fellowship of the Rings and that there are two sequels to follow. The story isn’t finished until the end of the 3rd part – The Return Of The King. You will have to wait another two years to see it! The casting is excellent and there are strong performances all round. Elijah Wood plays the hero of the story, Frodo Baggins. He plays the wide-eyed, innocent Hobbit perfectly. He has been given the responsibility of saving Middle-earth by destroying the ring but he has taken up the unwanted task out of duty. Is it his honesty that protects him from the dark powers of the ring? Three other Hobbits join Frodo on his journey – loyal Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) and mischievous Merry Brandybuck (Dominic Monaghan) and Peregrin ‘Pippin’ Took (Billy Boyd). All three likeable characters put in strong performances. Ian McKellen makes an
excellent Wizard and plays, old and wise, Gandalf the Grey.
The other four members of the “Fellowship” are: Strider
(Viggo Mortensen), Boromir (Sean Bean), the elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and
dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies). All were well cast and put in excellent performances. Female interest comes from two beautiful Elves – Arwen (Liv Tyler) and Galadriel (Cate Blanchett). The Bottom Line: A fantastic fantasy epic. Must be seen! Lasting thoughts: "Many that live, deserve death, some that die deserve life." " ...all you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." The ring represents man’s obsession and greed. It is destructive and brings misery to the world. Man is weak and will fall, and darkness will return! "The world of men will fall and all will come to darkness." Reviewed by Niall Quinn, Premier Movie Reviews 2002. |