The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 epic high fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson based on the first volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955). It is the first instalment in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and was followed by The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003), based on the second and third volumes of The Lord of the Rings.

Set in Middle-earth, the story tells of the Dark Lord Sauron (Sala Baker), who is seeking the One Ring. The Ring has found its way to the young hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). The fate of Middle-earth hangs in the balance as Frodo and eight companions who form the Fellowship of the Ring begin their journey to Mount Doom in the land of Mordor, the only place where the Ring can be destroyed.

Released on 10 December 2001, the film was highly acclaimed by critics and fans alike who considered it to be a landmark in film-making and an achievement in the fantasy film genre. It has continued to be featured on critic lists of the greatest fantasy films ever made, as of 2015. The film was a massive box office success, earning over $871 million worldwide, and becoming the second highest-grossing film of 2001 in the US and worldwide (behind Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone). As of June 2015, it is the 40th highest-grossing film of all time worldwide unadjusted for inflation.

It was nominated for thirteen Oscars at the 74th Academy Awards ceremony, winning four for Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, Best Original Score, and Best Visual Effects. It won also four British Academy Film Awards, including Best Film and Best Director BAFTA awards. The Special Extended Edition was released to DVD on 12 November 2002 and to Blu-ray Disc on 28 June 2011. In 2007, The Fellowship of the Ring was voted No. 50 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest American films. The AFI also voted it the second greatest fantasy film of all time during their 10 Top 10 special.

Storyline

An ancient Ring thought lost for centuries has been found, and through a strange twist in fate has been given to a small Hobbit named Frodo. When Gandalf discovers the Ring is in fact the One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron, Frodo must make an epic quest to the Cracks of Doom in order to destroy it! However he does not go alone. He is joined by Gandalf, Legolas the elf, Gimli the Dwarf, Aragorn, Boromir and his three Hobbit friends Merry, Pippin and Samwise. Through mountains, snow, darkness, forests, rivers and plains, facing evil and danger at every corner the Fellowship of the Ring must go. Their quest to destroy the One Ring is the only hope for the end of the Dark Lords reign!

Plot

In the Second Age of Middle Earth, the Dark Lord Sauron forges the One Ring in Mount Doom to conquer all. An alliance of men and elves battle Sauron's forces in Mordor, where Isildur kills Sauron by chopping off the hand wearing the One Ring. Sauron's spirit survives within the ring and corrupts Isildur so that he keeps it instead of destroying it. This decision leads to Isildur's being killed by Orcs, and the ring is lost in the river Anduin for 2500 years. It comes into the possession of Sméagol who is consumed by its power and becomes Gollum. After 500 years the ring abandons him, to be discovered by a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins.

Sixty years later, Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday and is visited by his friend Gandalf the Grey. Bilbo reveals he intends to leave the Shire to stay with the elves of Rivendell, and leave his inheritance to his nephew Frodo. Gandalf convinces Bilbo to leave the One Ring for Frodo. Concerned about Bilbo's ring, Gandalf investigates and discovers it is the One Ring. He warns Frodo and says it retains the evil of Sauron's spirit. Unfortunately Gollum, who has been captured by Sauron's orcs, reveals Bilbo might have the ring. Gandalf catches Samwise Gamgee, Frodo's friend, overhearing the details of true nature of the ring. He forces Sam to accompany Frodo to the village of Bree in a plan to keep the ring safe. Gandalf goes to Isengard to get advice from Saruman the White, where he learns Sauron has unleashed the Ringwraiths to retrieve the Ring. Saruman reveals his allegiance to Sauron, and imprisons Gandalf on the roof of his tower Orthanc.

On their way to Bree, Frodo and Sam meet fellow Hobbits, Merry and Pippin, and evade the pursuing Ringwraiths. Arriving in Bree, they learn that Gandalf is missing, but a ranger named Strider escorts them to Rivendell. On their way the Hobbits are ambushed by the Ringwraiths at Amon Sul, and Frodo is stabbed with a morgul blade. The Elvin princess Arwen, encounters the group and takes Frodo to Rivendell while being pursued by the Ringwraiths. Frodo is healed by Arwen's father Elrond and wakes to find Gandalf present after he escaped Isengard on a giant eagle. Elrond holds a council to decide the fate of the Ring and Frodo learns that the ring can only be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. Frodo also learns that Strider is Aragorn, the descendant of Isildur and the rightful King of Gondor. Frodo volunteers to take the ring to Mordor and Gandalf, Aragorn, the dwarf Gimli, the elf Legolas, the man Boromir of Gondor, Samwise, Pippin and Merry all volunteer to accompany him and are named as 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. Before Frodo leaves, Bilbo gives him his elven sword Sting.

The Fellowship journey over the Misty Mountains but when Saruman magically blocks their path, they venture into the Dwarven Mines of Moria. However, all of the Dwarves who previously resided there have been slain by Orcs, who now occupy the mines, and the Fellowship hopes their presence will go unnoticed. Gollum stalks them and they are eventually attacked by orcs and a cave troll. They escape but are confronted by an ancient demon, a Balrog. Gandalf prevents the Balrog from pursuing them, but in so doing is dragged into a chasm. Aragorn leads the Fellowship to Lothlórien, home of Galadriel and Celeborn, where Gandalf's passing is mourned. Galadriel informs Frodo that only he can complete the quest, and one of the company will try to take the Ring. Meanwhile, Saruman forms an army of Uruk-hai to hunt and kill the Fellowship but bring the holder of the Ring, a hobbit, back to him unharmed.

The Fellowship leave Lothlorien by river to Parth Galen. Boromir attempts to take the Ring from Frodo but Frodo escapes and afraid of the corrupting power of the ring decides to journey to Mordor alone. The pursuing Uruk-hai catch up to the Fellowship, and a fight begins, in which Boromir is fatally wounded by the Uruk-hai commander Lurtz; Merry and Pippin are kidnapped in the belief that they have the ring; and Aragorn beheads Lurtz and helps the dying Boromir find peace. Sam follows Frodo and persuades him that he must accompany Frodo to Mordor. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli pursue the Uruk-hai to rescue Merry and Pippin.

Cast

• Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: a young hobbit who inherits the One Ring from his uncle Bilbo
• Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey: an Istari wizard and mentor to Frodo
• Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn "Strider" II Elessar: a Dúnedain ranger, the descendant of Isildur, and heir to Gondor's throne
• Sean Astin as Samwise "Sam" Gamgee: a hobbit gardener and Frodo's best friend
• Liv Tyler as Arwen Undomiel: an elven princess of Rivendell and Aragorn's lover
• Sala Baker as Sauron: the Dark Lord of Mordor and the Ring's true master who manifests as an Eye after the destruction of his physical form
• Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: the elven co-ruler of Lothlórien alongside her husband Celeborn
• John Rhys-Davies as Gimli: a dwarf warrior who accompanies the Fellowship to Mordor after they set out from Rivendell. Billy Connolly, who was considered for the part of Gimli, later portrayed Dáin II Ironfoot in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy
• Billy Boyd as Peregrin "Pippin" Took: a hobbit who travels with the Fellowship on their journey to Mordor
• Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck: a distant cousin of Frod
• Orlando Bloom as Legolas Greenleaf: a prince of the elves' Woodland Realm and a skilled archer
• Christopher Lee as Saruman the White: the fallen head of the Istari Order who succumbs to Sauron's will through his use of the palantír
• Hugo Weaving as Elrond: the elven Lord of Rivendell who leads the Council of Elrond, which ultimately decides to destroy the Ring.
• Sean Bean as Boromir: a prince of the Stewards of Gondor who journeys with the Fellowship towards Mordor
• Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins: Frodo's uncle who gives him the Ring after he decides to retire to Rivendell
• Andy Serkis as Gollum voice and motion capture: a wretched hobbit-like creature whose mind was poisoned over centuries by the Ring
• Marton Csokas as Celeborn the Wise: the elven Lord of Lothlórien and Galadriel's husband
• Lawrence Makoare as Lurtz: the commander of Saruman's Orc forces
• Craig Parker as Haldir: the leader of the Galadhrim warriors guarding the border of Lothlórien
• Mark Ferguson as Ereinion Gil-galad, the last Elven-King of Noldor
• Peter McKenzie as Elendil the Tall: the last High King of Arnor and Gondor
• Harry Sinclair as Isildur: Elendil's son and Aragorn's ancestor who originally defeated Sauron

User Review

I think it is important to remember that Peter Jackson took up this film not in order just to make a film of `The Lord of the Rings' but because he wanted to make a 'fantasy just like the `The Lord of the Rings'" as he himself put it. After repeating that phrase on a number of occasions the question popped into his mind: "Well, why not the `The Lord of the Rings' itself?". In doing this he, of course, set himself an enormous challenge: he had to make a really good `fantasy' film, one which would stand on its own and be true to what he had originally wanted to do but he would also, and here the task he had set himself was enormous, be true to the original book and to make a film which the legions of people who have loved this book would feel happy with. In the latter task he was certainly not helped by the author or the book: Tolkein, it would seem, hated cinema. The book itself is `HUGE': this was not going to be the kind of task that the James Ivory team set themselves, or Scorsese nor the kind of task facing Branagh with Hamlet; nor was it going to be like the puny task that faced Columbus with `Harry Potter' who had the bigger budget ($130 million for one film as compared with Peter Jackson with $300m for three).

I have just seen the first `volume' and can say without hesitation that he has succeeded in both his goals. It is not the book but a reading of the book which is inventive and fascinating. It is the kind of experience that makes you want to go back and reread the whole thing in the light of the emphases that Jackson has brought to the story. He focuses on the corrupting influence of the ring and, through this focus, the character of the chief protagonists of the story are revealed. Clearly those most tempted by it are mortal men (Boromir and even, in one moment, Aragorn), those who already have power (Elrond - `The ring cannot stay here'; Galadriel; Gandalf and Saruman), and, of course, those who would not normally desire it but who by accident become ring bearers - Gollum, Bilbo, Frodo. I can see why, in this reading, Jackson decided to leave out the Bombadil episode. Bombadil, like the Balrog, is beyond the ring but the latter is important to the unfolding of the story of the fates of all the characters, Bombadil isn't.

It is a miracle of this reading of the first volume of the book that one can see where Jackson is going and one can get a feel of how the reading is going to unfold. In a sense, Jackson's real trial - as far as those who know the books are concerned - will come with the second film in the series. He has lived up to our expectation by creating even bigger ones: how can he handle the story of the chase andrescue of Merry and Pippin, the storming of Isengard etc - stories which don't really add much to the core theme that is emerging. Or is he now going to add the theme of the great contest of good versus evil to the unfolding reading?

All of this points to the fact that the film, even though it is a feast of special effects, focuses on character. And this also explains why Jackson chose the actors he did for their roles: they are not `big' names - no `Sean Connery', no `Alan Rickman', no `Brad Pitt', no `Sam Neill'etc. He didn't want them getting in the way of the story of character. Ian McKellan's talents, in particular, are used to tell a large proportion of the story: an enormous amount is conveyed simply through his facial expressions and even by the language of his body. The other miracle in all of this is Elijah Wood. Like many others, when I first heard of Jackson's choice, I groaned: but Wood has been extraordinary. He brings, as one friend said, a strange kind of androgyny to the role and this is just perfect. McKellan has already been knighted: give Wood the Oscar.

And then there is Middle Earth: this is, as someone put it, another character in the story and the New Zealand landscape, digitally enhanced on occasion, lives up to its role too.

Enough. See this film! Greatest film ever made? How can one make a claim like that! Silly really; as silly as claiming that `The Lord of the Rings' is the greatest book ever written. Can't one simply love a story, enjoy reading it a number of times amd lose oneself in it. One CAN claim that it is the greatest work in its genre as is the film.