The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The most epic part of the trilogy... A scenic ride to see the beauties of Middle-earth, breakfast with hobbits, lunch with elves, tea at five with a bunch of goblins, and an evening flambé with the venerable Mr. Balrog in the best fellowship ever gathered on screen. Jackson has succeeded in the impossible - it is not an orthodox rewrite of Tolkien, but it is a wonderful film that, unlike the other two films, has no deaf spots and presents a lot of "small" heroic acts instead of great battle pathos. And, of course, in the extended version there is the most beautiful scene of the film – Gimli's courtship of Galadriel. Why didn't Jackson just put it in the cinema version? The master dwarf deserves to keep this part in the film, because it's... otherworldly beautiful. Like the whole of Fellowship of the Ring! (01/25/2004)

Five metalheads lead four hobbits through Middle-earth. Extended version, of course. I was going to slap the first half of the tome with 4 stars because the brevity and abbreviation of the various installments bothered me a bit, I mean when you think about how much work must have gone into it. Jackson surprisingly handles the action scenes very well (both of them) and they work better than the dialogue due to the aforementioned disappointment. The film especially has some memorable parts for me, such as (in the extended version) the introduction to the Shire and the arrival of Gandalf, or the shot of the eponymous character falling into the depths of Moria. The music needs no commentary, it's incredible and one of the best soundtracks ever. Otherwise I highly recommend the heavily extended version, it really makes the film even better and especially clarifies some of the motivations of the characters (especially the relationship between Aragorn and Boromir). Moreover, it adds my favorite part, which is Galadriel's farewell to Gimli, where I really laughed. Finally, it's just a pity that due to the brevity of the scenes, the performances of the actors involved don't stand out too much, but of course it is plenty enough for Sean Bean to give a perfect performance. Just a fantasy movie as it should be. (02/19/2004)

One of the few films where I literally fell in love with the main characters and experienced everything good and bad with them. The relaxed performances of everyone involved make me believe that the shooting must have taken place in a perfect atmosphere and the love for the source material oozes out of the film, that is something that is reflected in the final result. Writing how visually stunning this film is, is like bringing wood to the forest. From an acting point of view, I particularly enjoyed Cate Blanchett, Ian McKellen, and I was very pleasantly surprised by Sean Bean as Boromir. His performance at the end, when he wants the ring from Frodo, is one of my favourites. (06/27/2002)

The spirit of the original didn’t exactly remain intact. But things like the drastic truncation, changes of character characteristics etc. can’t be criticized much… They are completely understandable. Especially when Peter Jackson’s presented his vision on the screen where, even though it isn’t flawless, the positives heavily overweighed the negatives. The Special Edition is even slightly better, but, unlike with the other episodes, it doesn’t change either the overall character or tone of the movie. It just adds some new scenes for fans and so it doesn’t really matter if you don’t get to see it. Which is the complete opposite of The Two Towers. (11/20/2003)

I somehow managed to not have an opinion on this movie yet. I don't know what to say about it. "The Lord of the Rings" overwhelmed me at the time and I was absolutely fascinated by it. Today I have seen it too many times. But it still moves me, it still has that power. I would give the first movie 90%, because the last one simply deserves 100% as it is just breathtaking and so full of action and emotions that no one else has achieved. (06/28/2014)