Review: ‘Fellowship’s‘ originality rings true

Geoff Carter

Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2001 | 8:35 a.m.

"The Fellowship of the Ring," the first part of Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which opens today, is the first genre film in who knows how long that wasn't sired by other genre films. There's no "Star Wars" reference, no "Matrix" quotes just Tolkien's rich language and a look like no other film released this year. Or last.

The filming locations all in New Zealand are breathtakingly beautiful. The visual effects are as crisply kinetic as the actors standing in front of them. The script, by director Jackson with Frances Walsh and Philppa Boyens, scans as well as its source material; if you had an unlimited budget and a theater as big as Everest, you could adapt it to the stage.

But we've been this close before, only to see the actors slight the material there's something about acting in front of a blue screen that stifles the Muse. Not this time. "Fellowship" boasts legendary veterans (Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee), reliably solid actors (Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen) and exciting young talents (Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom), all performing at the top of their abilities. Everyone respects the blue screen, which means everyone respects the story.

Even those who haven't read Tolkien's books three tomes with the combined weight of a continent are at least vaguely familiar with its story arc. The idyll of Middle Earth is shattered by the dark lord Sauron, who forges a bunch of magic rings and gives them out to the kings of the land, human and otherwise; he also forges a master ring that controls the others, and warps those who hold them. Never trust a promotional premium.

Wars are fought, kings are overthrown, and Sauron gains power; he is only defeated after he steps onto the battlefields of Mount Doom and begins slapping the visiting team across the field, an act of hubris that costs him his hand and puts the ring into circulation. Years and years later, Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm), a hobbit, finds the ring and takes it home.

All of this happens in the film's first five minutes. It takes the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen, nobly paternal) visiting Bilbo on his 111th birthday, obtaining the ring from him and charging Bilbo's nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood) with the task of protecting the ring to really begin the story. Frodo gathers a band of friends, including the fiercely loyal Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin), and sets off into the world, and directly into conflict.

Tolkien's epic, while convoluted, positively whips along on Jackson's watch. Purists may bemoan the omission of details, but they can't deny that every moment of "Fellowship's" three-hour run is as close to the author's vision as Hollywood can get, without running five hours and losing even the faithful in the minutiae.

The sacrifices Jackson makes pale against the attention he lavishes on the big stuff: the otherworldly air he gives the enchanted woods of Lorien, the claustrophobic feel given the cursed mines of Moria, and a surprisingly kinetic battle between Gandalf and the head of his order, Saruman (Lee). The performances, sets, locations and visuals more than answer the needs of a literary epic -- they utterly surpass them.

Jackson filmed all three novels of the trilogy at once, which bodes well for "The Two Towers," to be released next Christmas. But even that short year will seem a millennium. Epic storytelling this compelling has been absent from the screen for too long, and waiting 365 days for a fresh dose of it will create a need that next year's "Star Wars" and "Matrix" sequels will be hard-pressed to fill.