LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FOLLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE
Released: December 19, 2001
Watching this movie comes with all the baggage a heavily-hyped holiday blockbuster usually gets. New Zealand based Director Peter Jackson - who has created such low-budget horror masterpieces "Bad Taste" and "Dead Alive" along with bigger budget Hollywood films like "The Frighteners" and "Heavenly Creatures" - gives us part one of this mammoth trilogy as a Christmas 2001 gift. Well, not a gift per se, you have to pay upwards of $11 to see this monstrous 178 minute epic. Now, I love J.R.R. Tolkien and his stories as much as I love Peter Jackson's original cinematic style. However, despite a huge budget allowing brilliant CGI effects, this remains a cult book transferred to a $300 million film trilogy that only die-hard true fans will appreciate or fully understand (or truly care about). While I enjoyed it for what it was, essentially this episode is about a ring and a group that tries to return it to where it was created to ultimately destroy it. There are a few adventures along the way but sadly to say there was nothing approaching memorability. There will be some who proclaim this as the best film ever or some shit like that but these people are likely just brainwashed geeks who still live in their parent's basement. Here's a quote from another review that pretty much sums it up: "The major problem comes with its weak story and one-dimensional characters. The paper thin plot essentially boils down to "Hey, I have to go see someone about getting rid of this ring". His pals respond in kind by saying, "OK, let's go". Everyone walks for a few minutes, then fights, then walks some more, fight some more, walk some more, then when they finally reach their destination they find out that they can’t be helped so we get some more walking and fighting. This goes on for three hours. Once you get past the beautiful eye-candy you realize how tedious and monotonous this all becomes". Well, I am totally open to the fact this is merely part one of three. Perhaps when I view all three movies back to back it'll all form a grand cohesive whole. Until then, color me less than awed overall...
178 Minutes
New Line/Warner Bros.