The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Review

The Road Goes Ever On – A review of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring. 

There’s something about The Lord of the Rings that feels a bit like coming home. Hearing the smallest fragment of the music is enough to make me cancel my plans and start yet another film marathon – extended editions of course – and no matter how many times I watch them, I am always left feeling the same. Nostalgic, at peace, grateful for my loved ones and a longing to quit my nine to five and head off on an adventure of my own. In 2001, The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring was released, and began what is, in my opinion, the greatest film trilogy ever made.

Frodo Baggins is a hobbit, living in the idyllic Shire, with his eccentric uncle Bilbo. The Shire is a sleepy, peaceful place, with hobbits favouring a simple life of good food, good friends and good parties. Whilst Bilbo had an adventurous past and was known for sharing tales of his travels and encounters with trolls, Frodo had spent his life in The Shire, enjoying a perfectly ordinary life with his beloved uncle. On Bilbo’s one hundred and eleventh birthday, an exceptional party had been planned, and this led to a visit from his old friend, Gandalf the Grey the wizard.

Bilbo had, in events that predate the story, acquired a ring which was deeply precious to him. Wearing the ring made Bilbo invisible – much to the annoyance of Gandalf and the shock of his fellow hobbits – and Bilbo used this power to disappear from his own party and leave for one last adventure. Suspecting that this wasn’t just any magic ring, Gandalf persuaded Bilbo to leave the ring for Frodo to inherit, a decision which would lead to Frodo having an epic adventure of his own.

This was indeed no ordinary ring but the One Ring, created by the dark lord Sauron, and the ring needed to be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom to save Middle-earth from darkness. To this end, the fellowship was formed; nine unlikely companions pledging to destroy the ring, with Frodo himself becoming the ring bearer. The fellowship was made up of four hobbits, Frodo, his gardener Sam, and cousins Merry and Pippin. They were joined by the wizard Gandalf, the elf Legolas, the dwarf Gimli, and two men, Boromir and Aragorn. This fellowship was tasked with aiding Frodo is his mission to destroy the ring and, after leaving the elven settlement of Rivendell, they set off on their adventure across Middle-earth.

Directed by Peter Jackson and filmed in the majestic beauty of New Zealand, Fellowship of the Ring is a truly special, escapist dream for any fan of fantasy. With a cast full of incredible talent, such as Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Cate Blancett and Orlando Bloom, this film is perfectly cast. Viggo Mortenson’s Aragorn seems lifted straight from the pages of Tolkien’s books, Elijah Woods Frodo perfectly encapsulating the idea that even the smallest of people could change the world, and Sean Bean’s Boromir providing the audience with a fatally flawed pride born from a love of his home and his people.

The plot is excellent, and although it misses a few fan favourites from the books (Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow indeed), it really captures the essence of the books. New Zealand was the perfect filming location; Tolkien had a love of nature and based several locations on old English countryside, and New Zealand had everything, from quiet streams to mountains, meaning that all the beauty you see in the films is real rather than some film set enhanced by CGI.

Not only this, but the sheer number of people involved in the film is outstanding. Over twenty thousand people worked on the film, including the production team and extras, and it shows – no CGI orcs here, just incredibly detailed make up and prosthetics. Indeed, details were important enough that the hobbits would have to stand for over an hour each morning just to have their hobbit feet put on. This wasn’t just a cash grab – this was a film made out of passion and love, and that shines through every scene.

Fellowship is perhaps my favourite of the trilogy, perhaps because it’s the only film in which we see the nine companions together consistently. There’s something for everyone; the love story of Arwen and Aragorn, the epic battle of Gandalf and the balrog, Sam’s unwavering loyalty and the tension of fellowship members becoming tempted by the dark pull of the ring. There’s also humour, which never detracts from the plot but enhances it. The characters have so much depth that you quickly feel like you know and love them.

The writing too is fantastic. Cate Blanchett’s opening lines set the bar high, as the film opens with the ominous lines, “The world is changed. I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it." I still get goosebumps to this day when I hear this.

You may notice that I haven’t given any negatives at all, and I stand by that wholeheartedly. There are few films which I think of as perfect, but this absolutely is one of them. In my darkest moments, there’s nothing like the Lord of the Rings to remind me that life isn’t so bad. As Gandalf said, when you wish bad things hadn’t happened to you, “so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” It’s this message – the message of hope, the message that we can control our own narratives, and that even the smallest person can achieve big things, which firmly cements Fellowship of the Ring as my favourite film of all time.

Written by Tam Page

Posted by Mr. Tomney

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