Leaving
Dublin for the premiere in London I was already in no mood
to see the so-called greatest film release of the year as
it held one major problem for me. That is, at just under
THREE HOURS in a cinema seat, it was going to be a very
rushed deadline. Put on top of that I didn't know where
my hotel was yet and my dial-up connection was on the blink,
I had the distinct impression I wasn't going to enjoy my
sojourn.
I
had got hold of the book two weeks prior but hadn't had
the chance to even glance at its pages. But to be completely
honest the world of Wizards and Elves doesn't turn me on
cinematically having been totally bemused by Harry Potter
- I thought this was going to be another over-hyped movie.
The
Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring is the
first of three films and cost nearly $100 million dollars.
It had a lot to live up to. Which it did in some parts...
SIMPLE STORYLINE SYNOPSIS:
The
basic storyline for those in the dark (like me) goes as
follows... The Dark Lord Sauron created a Ring in
Mount Doom that is pure evil and renders it's wearer with
immense power.
Sauron
loses the ring and it eventually falls into the tiny hands
of a Hobbit called
Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) and passes it on
reluctantly to his nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood).
The
Dark Lord Sauron then sends his evil minions to retrieve
the Ring at all costs.
So, Bilbo's friend, a Wizard called Gandalf (Ian
McKellen) puts together the Fellowship to make sure
the Ring goes back to where it came from, Mount Doom, and
is destroyed.
GOOD
POINTS:
The
scenes are breath taking, the locations make you want to
jump into screen, the fight scenes are mind blowing, the
CGI is best I've seen, and the score is perfect for the
setting.
BAD
POINTS:
The
biggest issue is that we don't just have to wait for the
end of the first movie or even the second movie. No, we
have to wait until sometime at the end of next year to get
the full story when the third movie is released.
Plus,
Sean Bean is one of those actors that makes me cringe.
I have yet to forgive him for his roles in Patriot Games
and The Field (please stop playing Irish people).
He plays a character called Boromir but portrays
him in a similar manner as Sean Miller in Patriot
Games; I kept wishing Harrison Ford would appear
and kick his arse!!
The
acting on a whole is good but characters like Sam Gamgee
(Sean Aston, the Goonies) are not very well
cast. Short
American actor hired to play the role of the lead character's
best friend. It seemed to me Aston had a dodgy English accent
asking for an "ale" like he was ordering a Budweiser during
the Super Bowl.
Jonathan Rhys Davies (Indiana Jones, Raiders of the
Lost Ark) plays a dwarf, Gimli. Again totally miscast.
CONCLUSION:
To
me it is another Pearl Harbor. The same hype but
thankfully a lot better.
Worth
a trip to cinema just to see what all the hype is about
but like Harry Potter some things are just better
as the author intended, as a book.
Verdict:
*** (3 stars out of 5) Jason O'Callaghan.
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