The Lord of the Rings

Starring Actors and Actresses

This is a fantasy/sci-fi movie about the mythical world of Middle Earth. Middle Earth is growing dark under the influence of the evil Sauron. It's up to Frodo, a dwarf-like hobbit to carry the One Ring to Mount Doom and throw it into the fiery furnace where it was first forged. Only then will the world be safe again. A group of men from some of the other civilizations of Middle Earth come to Frodo's aid. They become the Fellowship of the Ring.

These films are truly awe inspiring. They capture your imagination. That's important for any movie, but for a fantasy film, it's doubly important and doubly difficult to achieve.

The detail of the environments, sets, and costumes is really incredible. The acting is top-notch to say the least. All in all, the Lord of the Rings trilogy really owes its success to Peter Jackson's directorial work. I can't attest to what he contributed in specifics, but doing things like insisting upon filming in New Zealand for some of the mountain shots is just one example.

Even if you're not a fan of fantasy stories, you have to see these movies at least once. You'll appreciate the quality of the movies even if you don't appreciate the subject matter.

The one warning I would give is that they're not children's movies. They can be scary at times and include graphic fighting scenes.

I’m reviewing these as one movie, because they are so cohesively a unit that it would be stupid to try to review them separately. Unless, of course, my wonderful husband chooses to review them individually – then it’s not stupid, it’s just different.

I think I fell a little bit in love with Peter Jackson because of these movies. (Yes, my affection dwindled after King Kong.) He put such a passion and fervency into every moment of these films. And even though I think the ending got just a smidge cheesy, the rest of the movie(s) made up for it. Every character was complex, every scene lushly filmed, and every decision seemed so deliberately made that I felt personally vested in the outcome.

I screamed at Aragorn because it seemed like he was leading Eowyn on. Jonathan had to remind me that he wasn’t married to Arwen. But it sure seemed like they were. I also yelled at Gandalf for being so mean to Pippin when he knocked the skeleton into the well in the Mines of Moria. But I think my biggest frustration was the fact that Frodo gets all the glory for getting rid of the One Ring, when SAM carried his butt through the roughest times. It’s okay, I guess. Sam ends up with the hot girl while Frodo has to sail away all alone because he’s so traumatized. Wah.

To my thinking, a great movie is one that sticks with you. It’s two (or three) hours of enjoyment topped off with the wish that it didn’t have to end. When these films ended, I felt a little sadder and emptier than before I saw them.

But in a good way.