A new lord of the 'Rings'

[Photos: New Line Cinema] Recovering from near-mortal wounds delivered by the hand of the enemy, the hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood) regroups at the house of Elrond in Rivendell.

By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic

© St. Petersburg Times
published December 18, 2001

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One man's vision gives way to another's eye, as director Peter Jackson fashions architecture and special effects to tell the first part of Tolkien's classic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. But it's not entirely by the book.

The words of novelist J.R.R. Tolkien described a fantasy world readers have cherished for decades. Now that director Peter Jackson has adapted the author's vision to film reality, the words and feelings behind them don't ring quite as clear.

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three movies produced simultaneously based on Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Make no mistake, this is a grandly mounted production with sets and sequences unlike anything you've seen on screen. It's a masterful display of an exclusive imagination; the manner in which Jackson perceived Middle-earth, Hobbits and Orcs to be is how they're played in the film and, by extension, how they will be visualized from now on.

Director Peter Jackson has given the definitive look to The Lord of the Rings, a vision of Middle-earth on which we will now rely.

But the overall effect feels stunted, like watching an expert re-enactment of a culture-changing event when original footage is available. Jackson magically evokes Tolkien's descriptions of rolling countrysides, dark caverns and odd species, sapping the power of our imaginations. The work is being done for us. Three hours spent reading a great novel fly by. Three hours spent listening to someone else read can get boring.

Books enable readers to engage their brains, making dialogue sound wiser to the mind's ear. Without that cognitive jump-start, any flatness of conversation is betrayed. The morals to this story are spoken but not convincingly -- not out of context but almost in defiance of it -- turning Tolkien's be-all-you-can-be subtext into bumper sticker wisdom. The allegory of the past is the fireworks display of the present.

The author's devotees will be thrilled because they've already pored over Tolkien's themes and can fill in the blanks for themselves. Moviegoers unfamiliar with the novels but seeking breathtaking cinema will be satisfied. Yet viewers expecting The Fellowship of the Ring to be the sort of life-altering experience Tolkien's books were for many readers are likely to be disappointed. This movie is designed for established fanatics, not to inspire new ones.

Alone with Frodo at Bag End, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) reads the fiery writing on the ring to determine if it is indeed "the one ring," in The Lord of the Rings.

On screen, the repetitive nature of Frodo Baggins' quest becomes more obvious. Frodo is a Hobbit, a race of short, sweet, medieval hippies. Frodo (Elijah Wood) is the nephew of Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm), an adventurous sort with a gold ring that wields power over Middle-earth. The ring is sought by dark forces to use for evil purposes. Bilbo bequeathes the ring to Frodo with instructions from Gandalf the wizard (Ian McKellen) to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom.

The movie finds a pattern and sticks to it: hiking to forbidden locales followed by close calls with creatures and the occasional supernatural intervention. Maybe it's an Elf princess (Liv Tyler) or queen (Cate Blanchett) providing timely flooding or advice. Most of the cycles end with flesh-mangling battles of swords, clubs and arrows. The Fellowship of the Rings is very violent for its PG-13 rating with as many decapitations and impalings as a Wes Craven flick.

Lady Galadriel of Lorien (Cate Blanchett) wishes Frodo (Elijah Wood) well on his quest to destroy the ring.

Jackson stages these fights with tremendous flair, combining computer-generated hordes, razor-sharp editing and acrobatic cameras. The diverse assortment of monsters provides state-of-the-art targets. Actors suit the limited needs of their roles. Wood's wide-eyed innocence and McKellen's shaggy sagacity get the most material and make the most of it. Holm's twinkly elder seduced by the ring's power is the most well-rounded portrayal.

Some sequences are worth a thousand Tolkien words. An eight-minute prologue describing the ring's blood-soaked history offers rousing exposition. Hobbit architecture designed by Grant Major is winsomely practical. Jackson devised nifty digital effects to contrast the shortness of Hobbits with human-sized characters such as Gandalf. Those qualities matter less as Frodo's quest continues, dwarfed by escalating attempts to wow the audience.

Movie review The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Grade: B+ Director: Peter Jackson Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Ian Holm, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, John Rhys-Davies Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson Rating: PG-13; harsh violence

Yet, Jackson's film rarely moves us beyond enthusiastic technical admiration and into emotional or spiritual surrender. When the sagging anti-climax arrives -- this is only part one, after all -- a feeling lingers that parts two and three could be canceled and wouldn't be missed. Not if they'll also be costume parties interrupted by brawls and redundant portents of Shakespearean doom. Some will consider it heresy, but The Fellowship of the Ring simply isn't my Baggins, baby.

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