The Fellowhip of the Ring is the first of three films versions of J.R.R. Tolkein's world famous Lord of the Rings novels. Director Peter Jackson (The Frighteners) has been given the pleasure and responsibility of helming these history-in-making works of art. The film's main stars are Ian McKellan as Gandalf, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn (Strider for you, Gaug), Elijah Wood as Frodo, Sean Austin as Sam, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, and John-Rhyes Davies as Gimli. The ring of power that the film revolvs around was created by the dark lord Sauron in his land of Mordor. While the other races of Middle-Earth such as Men and Elves used their rings of power to do good and govern their people, Sauron used his to destroy and to dominate all races. The beginning of this film grabs you with an extraordinary montage of the ring's journey through the hands of 4 completely different creatures of Middle-Earth. The last holder, one Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit of The Shire, and the main character of The Hobbit, the prequel of the LOTR books. Bilbo aquires the ring in a game of riddles with the creature Gollum, who is explained in the film's opening sequence. This film is a Star Wars in the making. I say this in a way of, my parents generation were our age when Star Wars was released, and that was film history at it's best. My generation has not had a film that will be remembered as a classic such as this. The casting is perfect, every actor portrays their character just as how a fan of the book would imagine, except Elijah Wood. Don't get me wrong, he was good, but he was the weakest of all. Another bad factor of the film is the presence of Liv Tyler. I understand that they needed a female element for the film, but she is present for about 7 minutes total through the film, and her face is one of the biggest on the poster above. The cinematography is probably the best I've ever seen. The way the camera moves over war sequences and catches all the action at once is like nothing I've ever seen. Being that I read the book, I have an understanding of what the book psychos would want. Peter Jackson followed almost to a T all the important aspects of the book, but there were a few scenes that were cut or not even considered that I believe are very important to the story. Tom Bombadil for one...Greg will know who it is. I overall have no complaints about this wonderful film. It is a joy to watch again and again, and it was robbed when it did not receive best picture at the Oscars last year. We are living history with these films.
