"One Ring to rule them all ..."
Hello everyone!
Genuinely, this is my all-time favourite movie, bar none, and this goes for the trilogy as a whole rather than one separate movie, because there's no way to pick among them. It'd be like trying to pick your favourite child, and that's definitely not happening!
Of course then I take a look at the blog and realize ... I've never reviewed these.
Ever.
Which is a shame and a colossal one at that, dishonour on me, my family, and my cow combined follows after this announcement.
So without further ado, let's jump right into the epic adventure that New Line Cinema took a huge risk on back in the day, which was literal years in the making, and burst onto the silver screens with almost literal fireworks: The Lord of the Rings, part one, The Fellowship of the Ring!
By this point, we know the story of The Hobbit: how one of the Little People tags along on an adventure and accidentally uncovers an ancient evil along the way, then takes it right back to his homeland afterwards.
Fellowship begins with a cinematic prologue, explaining that a long time ago, the Elves had this bright idea to forge Rings of Power (yes, we're watching the television show of the same name but, honestly, it can't BEGIN to compare to this), and then things went horribly wrong when this dude named Sauron made one for himself, trying to be their overlord. They marched in a Last Alliance of Men and Elves to overthrow him, succeeded at separating his finger from said Ring, and then it disappeared into history, first into a river, then into a cave with Gollum, then to the Shire with Bilbo Baggins.
Sixty years after his own adventure, on his 111th birthday, his old sins come home to roost as he disappears during his birthday party speech, has words with Gandalf regarding the Ring, and finally leaves it behind for his nephew, Frodo Baggins.
Nothing all that newsworthy happens until Gandalf returns from taking a quick hike afterwards, having learned that evil is once again stirring, and at this point he convinces Frodo that, his ring being the One Ring, he's no longer safe in the Shire and has to flee into the night. Since he's a good guy who doesn't turn Hobbits into anything unnatural, he also packs Sam Gamgee along with him, and promises that he'll be waiting for them at the Prancing Pony.
Our Hobbits run into a misadventure right from the get-go when they join up with Merry and Pippin, and get chased and hunted by none other than a few Black Riders.
Then, to top it off, Gandalf is NOT at Bree to meet them!
Wizards, I tell you.
Fortunately, since our Hobbits are kind of disaster-prone, they combine forces with Aragorn, son of Arathorn, who just so happens to know the Wild better than anyone, so that's where he takes them after a raid on the inn during which the Black Riders go stabby-stabby over some mattresses moonlighting as sleeping Hobbits.
Even Aragorn can't keep evil at bay forever, however, and the little group is attacked at the old watchtower of Amon Sul, during which time Frodo gets stabbed by a Morgul Blade. This is a huge problem, because the nature of this particular dagger is that it slowly transforms its victim into a wraith, like the thing that wields it.
So, in other words, gotta put the pedal to the metal to get to Rivendell, where Elvish medicine might save him - and would you look at that, but Aragorn's sweetheart (read: actually fiancée, but the movies cut this bit) finds them in the middle of nowhere, wins an argument with her man about who's the faster rider, and hightails it out of there with Frodo on her Elvish horse.
One epic chase scene later that lives rent-free in my head, Frodo is finally in Rivendell, and Gandalf's sitting there by his bedside, smoking a pipe, calm as can be.
Excuse me, my good sir, but WHY THE HELL DID YOU NOT MEET THE HOBBITS?!?
Pardon me, says the wizard, puffing, I was delayed.
See, when he parted ways with Frodo and Sam, Gandalf rode hard to Isengard, the home of Saruman, head of the White Council and the wizards who reside in Middle-Earth (this is after ALREADY completing a there-and-back-again journey to Minas Tirith to figure out how to tell whether or not the little gold ring is the One). He was looking for advice and council, and ended up imprisoned.
Unfortunately for our heroes, Saruman's been using a Palantír (you know, one of the glowing bowling balls that's causing so much trouble for Númenor in the show), and he's been communicating with Sauron. Since Gandalf is categorically against the Dark Lord of Mordor, up the tower of Orthanc it is for him, until such a time as he calls for a ride and gets carried away by a giant eagle.
Now, with everyone coming together in Rivendell, Elrond calls a council that'll discuss their next steps. This includes, but isn't limited to, people insulting one another (looking at you, Gimli and Legolas), turning their noses up at someone else (ahem, Boromir), unsuccessfully splintering a metal axe over the Ring, and Frodo volunteering to take the thing to Mordor.
This humbles everyone right fast, and a Fellowship forms around him which will help him with his task.
That said, it isn't easy, not even from the get-go. They have to pass over the Misty Mountains to try and avoid Saruman, and already Boromir's being swayed by the Ring, before they even try to get snowed-in on Caradhras (by the way, Saruman singing to the mountain like he's performing an opera is *chef's kiss*).
Since that road fails, Frodo decides they'll go through the ancient Mines of Moria, another choice that almost ends in disaster when a multi-tentacled thing grabs at Frodo and attacks the Fellowship while Gandalf's trying to figure out how to open the ancient doors that only respond when you figure out the riddle carved into their front.
Wet, bedraggled, and terrified, our company then trudges through Moria, where Frodo realizes they're being followed.
Surprise, says Gandalf, it's Gollum, who's trying to get the Ring back. But they've got bigger problems.
When they discover that the Dwarven attempt to reclaim Moria failed - and Balin, whom we all know and love from The Hobbit movies, is dead - they land themselves in the same pickle as the Dwarves: hemmed in by Orcs. A fight ensues, during which Frodo gets the nail treatment while a troll's spear is the hammer, but he's got a mithril shirt on so he's totally fine.
The race is now on, however, and the bridge of Khazad-Dum is their next destination, but you know it's not going to be THAT easy.
When a Balrog leaps out onto said bridge to try and follow them, it's Gandalf who stands in its way, the only one capable of doing so (since alas, the Elves like Legolas aren't as mighty as his older kindred who fought these things aplenty back in the day). And he tumbles into the abyss right after the fiery demon, leaving the company leaderless and bereft.
Luckily, however, Aragorn knows the way to the woods of Lothlórien, where the Lady Galadriel offers them shelter.
She also happily tests the courage of their hearts, and especially tests Frodo, to whom she shows a vision in her "magic" mirror, after which he decides hey, this lady's kinda strong and powerful, she should have a go with the Ring.
This is a test millennia in the making, and while we get an AWESOME shot of a potential Dark Queen Galadriel, she rejects his offer, and understands her days in Middle-Earth are numbered.
Frightened, but determined, the Fellowship paddles their boats down the river Anduin (now that they've got them, thank you, Elves), and come to their final hurdle: Boromir succumbs to the seductive whispers of the One Ring and tries to take it from Frodo by force, which prompts Frodo to flee like a scared rabbit.
Aragorn lets him go, despite the fact that Ring's over there whispering sweet nothings in his ear, but he's got bigger fish to fry: Saruman's Orcs.
See, Saruman's been breeding an army of his own, and he sent them after the Fellowship to get the Hobbits and bring them to him. This now results in an epic show-down as our heroes desperately struggle against a foe that's much too strong for them, and leads to brilliant and heart-wrenching scenes in the process:
Merry and Pippin, realizing that Frodo's leaving them, offer themselves up as bait to lure the Orcs away and enable him to do so, but unfortunately get captured, despite the fact Boromir puts in valiant effort to prevent it from happening.
Alas, being used as a pin-cushion has never really proved beneficial to anyone, but before he can actually get killed, Aragorn - having disengaged from a previous fight after being joined by Legolas and Gimli and hearing the Horn of Gondor being blown frantically - goes full-ninja and kills the Orc leader himself.
Boromir is beyond saving, however, and at this point, they all know the Fellowship has failed its bigger purpose, of getting the Ring to Mordor. But, even as Frodo and Sam (of course Sam's going to go with his master, did you think otherwise?!?) make their way further to the East, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli decide to track the Orcs who took Merry and Pippin captive, determined to rescue them from torment and death.
Which is where the movie ends!
Powerful, cinematic, and incredibly emotional, The Fellowship of the Ring manages to cinch everything together tightly and concisely, even with large portions of the actual book missing from the cinematic adaptation. However, it works from start to finish, which is more than can be said about a VAST majority of movies nowadays.
Peter Jackson took on a monumental task when he decided to make these movies, all three of them back-to-back, and my goodness, did he do it well. Fellowship kicks the doors wide open for a much broader and darker narrative that's to follow in its two sequels, while it remains a charming, whimsical and only occasionally brooding mastery.
If you want to have a proper entry into Middle-Earth, I suggest you pick this movie, because it has it all: action, adventure, friendship, romance, and just on the edges a darker, more sinister spell that's being woven throughout.
It might not be a word-for-word adaptation of Tolkien, but it follows the spirit of his writing to the letter; and that's worth more than all the mithril in Middle-Earth combined!
1000000000/10 recommend.
xx
*images and video not mine
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