The Fellowship of the Ring:
In the realm of Middle-Earth, the dark lord Sauron forges The One Ring, an all-powerful ring which possesses and controls it's wearer with Sauron's dark power. Sauron was defeated temporarily, and the rings Sauron had created go to the different races: Dwarves, Elves, etc. But the One Ring went to the King of Man, and the King became corrupt, and the Ring betrayed him, later being found by a former Hobbit named Smeagel, now a heinous creature known as Gollum. Through various misadventures, it came into the ownership of a happy Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. his nephew Frodo and his powerful wizard friend Gandalf the Grey discover the Ring, and then dsicover that Sauron has risen again, and Gandalf's fellow wizard Saruman the White is on Sauron's side. They discover Saruman is using dark magic to birth any army of disgusting Orcs and Goblins, beings of pure evil. Frodo and his friends Sam, Merry and Pippin begin a journey across Middle-Earth, bringing Gandalf, and running into various friends and foes, including: Aragorn the Ranger, Legolas (an Elven archer), Gimli (a warrior dwarf), the Elven leaders, the warrior Boromir, and the evil and devious Ring-Wraiths (fallen Kings of Man that have succumbed to the Ring's power and now hunt it). Peter Jackson (of cult films such as Braindead, Meet the Feebles, and Bad Taste) directs an all-star cast in his first major blockbuster, including: Sir Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, John-Rhys Davies, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Martin Csokas, Ian Holm, and Christopher Lee. The plot may thicken, and the film is a good 2 hours overlong (in fact, this should have been two parts), but it stays mostly true to Tolkien's writings, and the characters are fun to watch and can be relatable. The special effects are just incredible. The make-up effects are fantastic, and the Orcs and Goblins are terrifying. This is also an example of CGI done right, with the computer needed to do effects on giant landscapes, castles, demons, dragons, etc. Also, the New Zealand location shoots are astounding. The music score is epic, nad has become a classic and recognizable film score. The trend of cult directors making big blockbusters has carried on, as Sam Raimi of Evil Dead fame would make Spider-Man a year later, and is now a major Hollywood player. Jackson also originally intended to remake the classic King Kong, but he couldn;t do it, so he went to Plan B, and then, after getting his name out there, he remade Kong as another 3-hour epic with an all-star cast in 2005. The action sequences aren;t as prominent as in the 3rd film, but when action does happen, it's on a large scale, with epic music, big-budget effects, and sword-fighting galore. The Fellowship of the Ring may not be the best of the series, but it's a great film, worth multiple viewings, but maybe in segments. (recommend extended version) 5/5 stars.
The Two Towers:
The Fellowhsip (Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Boromir, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas) are split up all over Middle-Earth. Gandalf and Boromir are dead. Frodo and Sam have decided to jounrey to Mordor (center of Sauron's army) themselves to destroy the Ring, Merry and Pippin have been kidnapped by Orcs, and the three warriors are off to rescue the Hobbits from certain death at the hands of Sauron's armies. Meanwhile, in Rohan, Kingdom of Man, King Theoden, a noble man, is being controlled by the now evil Saruman, who is being told by Sauron his amries must whipe out all man, because Sauron has caught wind of the fact that the descendant of the king who defeated him (Aragorn) is coming back, and that's not good for him. Plan: Whipe out all men, you'll eventually kill Aragorn. Grima (a treacherous servant) is is helping by letting Saruman possess Theoden. During a battle, Merry and Pippin get lost in the woods, and come across the ancient being Treebeard, who befriends them. They then come across Gandalf the White, the new white wizard, and Gandalf helps Theoden overcome Saruman's power and take control of Rohan once more. While Frodo and Sam continue their trek towards Mordor, they come across the enigmatic and bipolar Gollum (finally seen on film), who steals the show. He guides them towards Mordor, with his true intenions being to kill them and steal back his "precious" Ring. They also come across Bormir's younger brother, Faramir, prince of Gondor, who insists upon bringing it to Gondor because his dad, the King, his a douchebag (not so in the book). The warriors, minus Sam and Frodo, go to the battle of Helm's Deep to destroy Saruman's forces at the "two towers". The all-star cast of the original returns, better than ever, with a few new faces as well, like: Andy Serkis (a motion-capture performer, who under heavy CG makeup, gives some heartfelt proframcnes, and steals every show), Bernard Hill, Karl Urban, Miranda Otto, Craig Parker, David Wenham, and John Noble (extended version only, which I recommend). All act marvelously and really make the characters come alive. Andy Serkis gives a great, somewhat pitiful, performance as Gollum, one the Academy should've nominated. The action scene at the climax is incredible, and the special effects are even more amazing in this. The makeup on the Orcs is even more disgusting than ever, and the CGI on Gollum and on the landscapes is awesome. The landscape shot and location shoots are unbelievable. I love this movie, and I feel it's equal to Fellowship. The Two Towers is a great addition to the LOTR trilogy, but my favorite is coming up next time. 5/5 stars.
Next time: I conclude with Return of the King and The Hobbit.
(Photos: Wikipedia)
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