Hey folks, Harry here with Quint's review of FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. Quint is someone that wasn't alive to feel EMPIRE STRIKES BACK on he first run.. He's that generation right after mine, 20 years old.... He's excitable, having the first serious relationship of his life and he has just stumbled head and feet first into Jackson's film. He was with me in Minneapolis when I did my (notorious in Minn) 6 hour monologue about how great LORD OF THE RINGS was going to be. As I entertained in my room recounting stories from that gleaming isle on the other end of the world. His imagination was captured. Quint loves film, but holds tight to his blue blanket films... but you'll see...
Ahoy, squirts. You know... Like many of you, I'm a child of the '80s. I grew up when the gods of geekdom were George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Sly Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Harrison Ford. It's been a rather sad few years for me as I've watched what were my childhood gods disappear, either graduating to a more mature form of filmmaking, descending into mere shadows of what they once were or dying altogether.
Spielberg, while still churning out great stuff, has grown up too much and lost his childhood wonder. When it comes to a point when he openly states that if he made Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind today, Richard Dreyfuss wouldn't have left his family behind to fulfill his life's dreams and board that spaceship, you know a wonderful piece of him has been buried. We can only hope that bit of Spielberg will someday once again claw his way to the surface. Lucas I don't really need to go into. I love Star Wars to death. All of them. I liked Episode 1 and believe/hope Attack of the Clones will kick some ass. But you're crazy if you think the artist that gave us Star Wars and American Graffiti can still breath under the businessman that is now wearing the flannel shirts.
Stallone hasn't put out anything decent since Copland, and that isn't a very memorable film... I think I've watched it twice. Once when it came out theatrically, once when it came out on video. Schwarzenegger... Man... I remember the frenzy, the absolute worship for the man when Terminator 2 came out. I loved the man. He was the coolest and would forever be so. When the best movie he's done in the last 5 years has been Eraser... It makes me sad. Harrison Ford: He's even more frustrating. For every Air Force One there have been a Forty Days, Forty Nights and a Random Hearts. Though he's had some good roles and put out some good films, he hasn't been a God to me personally since he rode off into the sunset with Henry Jones Sr., Marcus Brody and Sallah-who, funnily enough, is the bridge between the Old Gods and the New Gods.
It's a steady trend in Hollywood. Gods of the last decade make way for the New Gods. It's happened since the days of Silents making way to Soundies. Keaton and Chaplin giving way to Abbott and Costello. Hitchcock giving way to Spielberg. Now we have the first New Great God who, like the main character in his film, comes from the most unlikely of places. Not New Zealand, I'm talking background. Who would have thought that the man who made such gleefully awesome gorefests like Bad Taste and Braindead would be the first to smack the Old Gods down a rung or two?
I'm not going to go so far as to say that Peter Jackson has killed the Old Gods. That's impossible. Did Spielberg kill Hitchcock? No. We always have Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo, North By Northwest, etc. If Spielberg stopped making movies today, we'd still have Duel, Jaws, Close Encounters, ET, Raiders, Empire of the Sun, etc. What Peter Jackson has done is show the balls that these men once had. Jackson is showing the love of cinema that once ruled out over everything else for the above mentioned. While we now have Schwarzenegger killing projects by insisting on getting his humongous paycheck, while we have Lucas concentrating more on toys than character... It's not about the love anymore. It's about the business. Even Spielberg is being preoccupied with business. The man has his own studio now!
The forest is overgrown, the Old Gods are getting used to their formulas and it's blinding them a bit creatively. Peter Jackson is the forest fire. He's clearing out the old systems, the old formulas and making way for the new. This fire isn't going to destroy the Old Gods. Absolutely not. But it is going to force them to use their noggins again. Jackson is forcing the Old Gods to be more creative. They can't just phone it in anymore or they'll fade away and I don't know about you, but I don't want that to happen to any of the above. Jackson's creativeness, his inventiveness and his groundbreaking direction is essentially taking away the Old Gods's crutch, forcing them to either walk by themselves or fall on their asses.
Enough with all that serious shit. Let's get to the fun part, shall we? I've read Moriarty's review of LOTR and have to concur 100% with his views on the film itself. I would argue the way he's going to judge films from now on, but that's for another time and place. If you haven't checked it out, get on over to his review. It's a great read. I don't know if I can say anything he didn't, but I'll be goddamned if I'm not gonna scream the greatness of this film from the highest mountain top I can find.
Let me just say, you guys think you had it bad waiting for this film... You didn't have to hear Harry going on and on about these films, almost daily mind you, for the last 2 years. You didn't have that lunch at Threadgills the day he got back from New Zealand. You weren't there, in his room, as the news of Elijah Wood getting officially cast came in. My expectations for these films started high the second I finished reading the books just about a year and a half ago. From that day forward I've been hyped in all the ways a person can get hyped for this series. My expectations were ungodly, and I imagine most of you guys out there feel the same.
The movie not only delivered, it delivered in spades. It's one of those magical films where everything just seemed to be perfect. How Peter Jackson got the perfect effects, props, actors, locations, DP, film stock, lighting, score, performances, pacing, shots... I'll never understand. He literally leaves nothing to be desired. There is not one single shot or scene or look or line delivery in the 3 hour long film that I said, "That could have been done better."
After watching the movie my mind was reeling. I was trying to think of other Fantasy films to compare to Fellowship of the Ring. Nothing came up. I thought about my favorites growing up. Neverending Story, Legend, Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, the Harryhausen Sinbad movies. They all fell short. I can hear you say, "How in the hell does Harryhausen fall short to CGI!?!?" He doesn't. The films he worked on did, though. Fellowship has the same creativity and inventiveness in effects and characters that Harryhausen had, but in a perfectly made film with the perfect actors in a much stronger story. It breaks my heart to say such things because I love all the above films dearly, but it's true.
I've heard some people proclaiming FOTR as being better than Empire. I wouldn't go that far, but that's only because Empire has been around for 20 plus years and is still tops. I think FOTR has the potential to overtake Empire, but it has to prove itself over the next few years first. At least it has to do so for me.
The Fellowship:
Frodo: Elijah nailed it. There's no two ways about it. You feel his pain, his temptation, his fear... His huge eyes literally turn into windows to his soul. I knew Elijah for a summer, the summer of '98 when he was in Austin shooting The Faculty. I spent many a night chomping back brisket with him while watching Blaxploitation, Horror and Sci-Fi films on 16mm in Harry's backyard. I've lost contact with him since that summer, unfortunately. I can tell you that I spent enough time with him to recognize the talent the guy had just under the surface, waiting to bust out. Low and behold he found his perfect role that allowed him to flex his acting muscles a bit and will immortalize him forever.
Sam: Sean Astin has been a favorite of mine since my very young days when I wished more than anything else in the world to be a Goonie. I already had Chunk's physique and I had the Truffle Shuffle down pat, but alas it was not meant to be. I'm so very glad he got this amazing part as Samwise Gamgee. He and Elijah have an amazing chemistry together and I can't wait to see what the two show us in the upcoming 2 films.
Merry and Pippin: Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan add a good humor to the group without being ballsout slapsticky. I've had (hell, have to this day) friends like them. They embody innocence and love. Whether or not they do so in real life, I can't tell ya', but if they don't then they can pretend very well.
Gandalf: Sir Ian McKellan is an absolute marvel as Gandalf. Like the other actors of the fellowship, it seems like he was born to play this role. His eyes, his voice, his gestures... all perfectly timed and calculated for the best possible impact. Ian will be forever remembered as Gandalf just as Sir Alec Guinness is forever known as Obi-Wan. In just about any other film, Ian would have stolen the show... Hell... he nearly does here!
Gimli: Ahhh... Sallah, the bridge I mentioned above between the Old Gods and the New Gods. John Rhys-Davies is unrecognizable as the dwarf contingent of the Fellowship. He's everything I could have hoped he could be, gruff, brave and deadly accurate with a battle-ax. He doesn't have much screentime in this first installment, but for those LOTR geeks out there... I can guarantee you'll leave a stain on your seat when you see him hurl little hatchet like axes into the craniums of Uruk-Hai.
Legolas: I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite from this Fellowship, but if you held a gun to my head I'd pick Legolas. The sheer amount of badassness during battle involving this character alone gives me no other choice. I love his grace, his fluidity, his cool-temperament. His part in the take-down of the Cave Troll is unfuckingbelievable. The shot where he takes out 3 Uruk-Hai in about 2 seconds with his bow still makes me smile in disbelief when I think about it. The arrow through the head of the Goblin roughly 400 feet away... His two fisted dagger fighting. Orlando Bloom is a god in this movie. Everything you could want from an elf.
Boromir: His fall to the "dark side" and the subsequent redemption was my favorite part about the first book. Jackson had his work cut out for this film, but the one sequence I was hoping he'd get right over any other was Boromir's temptation and redemption. Much like Galadriel says in the film, that sequence was teetering on the edge of a blade. A little bit too much either way would kill it. If Jackson had tried too hard or hadn't tried hard enough that final sequence wouldn't have worked. God Bless this man. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't misty-eyed during this scene. And fuck you to all you cold hearted bastards who sneer or laugh or don't believe I did so. I also cried when I read it in the book, so go fuck yourself.
Aragorn: Much like Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen is going to have a very hard time living down this part. He's going to hear strangers go, "Hey, Aragorn! Where's the rest of the Fellowship?" for a very long time to come. Again, he's perfectly cast and gives the film his all. Not only that, but every single female that walked out of the press screening this morning wanted to jump his bones like crazy, including my very own girlfriend, Auntie Meat. Good thing for her I look almost exactly like Viggo... in the dark... fifty yards away... in a flash flood.
Non-Fellowship Members, but cool as fuck anyway:
Sarumon: C'mon. It's Chris FUCKING Lee as an evil wizard!!!! The wizard's duel between him and Ian McKellan is astonishing. Christopher Lee's one evil bastard in the movie and he relishes every moment. Between this and Episode 2, we are a very lucky society of movie geeks to get Chris Lee in two of the coolest Fantastical series ever. Let's just hope Count Dooku kicks as much ass as Sarumon.
Elrond: Head Elf dude who fought alongside Isildur when the ring was cut off of evil Lord Sauron's finger, thus temporarily ending his tyranny. Hugo Weaving eats this role up and is utterly cool, especially in the scenes of the first Battle against Sauron. He has little screentime, but he's cool and worth mentioning.
Bilbo: Ian Holm! He rocks as Bilbo. I honestly didn't see him as being the perfect choice for Bilbo until I started seeing pics of him from the movie. Now I cannot imagine anyone more perfect for the role. He's sensitive, innocent and warm... that is until the ring's power over him comes to the surface and he does some scary things. I love the stuff between him and Frodo in the film. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Now how're they going to de-age him when they decide to go forward with The Hobbit in 6 or 7 years?
Gollum: Only seen in shadow, but damn is he fucking creepy. Andy Serkis perfectly captures Gollum's tortured voice. Creepy, sad and pathetic all at the same time. Can't wait to see the further adventures of Gollum in the next films.
Balrog: Sweet jesus lord christ almighty in heaven!
I'm not going to get into Arwen or Galadriel, not because they are bad, just because this is running long and you'll all see it for yourself next week anyway. Suffice it to say they both do great jobs in the limited amount of time they're on the screen.
Fellowship of the Ring has easily blown past Moulin Rouge as my favorite film of the year. This is film history. There's no denying it. If you say any differently... Well, you're just plain wrong. I'm sorry, but dig the movie or not, you have to see the significance of this picture. I usually consider every view point when writing a review and leave lots of gray area, but I'm not going to budge on this film. If you don't love this movie or at least respect what it means to film then you can go fuck yourself. You're just being a dick trying to be different because you think it's "cool, man!"
My biggest thanks and congratulations go to Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Richard Taylor, Howard Shore and the cast and crew of this film. You folks gave me a film that I believe I will cherish forever. Thanks also goes to New Line for having the solid brass cajones to hand this movie over to someone who has a true respect and understanding of Tolkien's novels and is a true visionary to boot, if not a really bankable director. Also thanks to all for doing the unthinkable and filming all three films in one gigantic undertaking. Now that I see how well Fellowship turned out, I don't have to worry about time, fame or money influencing the next two films. I don't have to worry about Elijah suddenly looking 15 years older, like the unexplained change in Luke's appearance from Empire to Jedi. But most importantly, knowing you guys did Fellowship correctly, I'm secure in the belief that the next two will be equally as good.
The first New Uber Film God has been named, the torch is being passed. Heads up Old Gods! ILM, WETA's sneaking up on you! Williams, your scores still rock, but pay attention. Howard Shore turned in a score that I'm not sure you could do today. Lucas, take a few notes from LOTR and see how good effects AND a great story can co-exist in one film. Spielberg, give your buried inner-self a hand out of his shallow grave. I love your dramas, but for god's sake you made some of the best adventure films of all time. Make it easier for me to defend you against the non-believers. Peter Jackson, if in 20 years you make a Fellowship of the Ring: Special Edition where you take out all the dismemberments and beheadings, I'm going to hunt you down and... well, I'll just cry. Seriously, I just have one more thing to say in Peter Jackson's direction: HURRY UP WITH THE TWO TOWERS ALREADY!
-Quint
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