The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring

25 August 2015

The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring 2001

• Director: Peter Jackson
• Based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holme, Viggo Mortenson, Sean Bean, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Liv Tyler
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in (they were all in the second Hobbit movie too):
• Elijah Wood  – The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Everything is Illuminated, Paris je t’aime, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Black and White, The Ice Storm
• Ian McKellen – Vicious, King Lear, Extras, Lord of the Rings, X-Men, David Copperfield, Richard III, Cold Comfort Farm, Six Degrees of Separation, The Ballad of Little Jo, Macbeth, Othello
• Cate Blanchett – Robin Hood, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I’m Not There, Notes on a Scandal, Babel, Little Fish, The Aviator, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Heaven, The Shipping News, The Gift, The Man Who Cried, Elizabeth, Elizabeth the Golden Age
• Orlando Bloom – the  Pirates of the Caribbean films,Extras, Troy, The Lord of the Rings triolgy, Ned Kelly, Wilde
• Ian Holm – The Hobbit, Aviator, Day after Tomorrow, From Hell, eXistenZ, The Fifth Element, A Life Less Ordinary, The Madness of King George, Frankenstein, Kafka, Hamlet, Henry V, Dance with a Stranger, Brazil, Alien, Holocaust, O What a Lovely War
• Sean Bean – The Lord of the Rings trilogy, North Country, The Island, Troy, Golden Eye, Equilibrium, Stormy Monday
• Viggo Mortenson - The Road, A History of Violence, Hidalgo, Lord of the Rings, Twenty-Eight Days, A Perfect Murder, Carlito’s Way, The Indian Runner, Witness, Ruby Cairo
• Billy Boyd – on stage at the Globe in Macbeth, Stone of Destiny, The Lord of the Rings trilogy
• Liv Tyler – Lonesome Jim, The Lord of the Rings trilogy
•  Why? Continuing the 6-part marathon
• Seen: Once before. Now 21 August 2015 

       Having seen the Hobbit trilogy helps, I think. A generous gin and tonic doesn’t hurt. In any case I quite like the beginning. Well, not the prologue with all the ‘evil’ stuff and racial conflict and battle of ‘free’ vs ‘evil’ and all that simplisticated stuff, but otherwise.

       It’s exciting at times but as in the Hobbit trilogy it’s pretentious and far too long. I seriously miss Martin Freeman and there are a few too many battles, a few too many yucky monsters, a few too many narrow escapes. Some of them are pretty dramatic though, with a funny line or two. For example: ‘Nobodytosses a dwarf!’

       All in all, it’s better than I’d remembered.

2 ½* of 5