Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

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This movie is SO good. First of all, Cate Blancett, in all her British accented glory, does a mean voiceover for the set up. Fantastic editing and montage sequence lures you in for the first ten minutes.

Then, you get to Ian McKellen, who is Gandalf, come on, I mean, how much cooler can you get? Plus he goes around in that pointy hat and is, like, three feet taller than everyone else. He’s f——king Gandalf the Grey. Come on.

Then, Elijah Wood. This movie made me like Elijah Wood again. Despite some super corny sequences, the guy is a good actor and passes with all the emotions Frodo goes through.

So…the birthday party…set up, blah, blah, kind of boring. Setting off on the quest, much more exciting. Sean Astin as Sam, the best friend/loyal servant, is fun (definitely least annoying of the other three hobbits). (The thing about the hobbits are that they’re just really, really dumb. So, in between some funny lines from the other two, they’re basically useless and irritating when they talk.)

Action picks up with Aragorn, SMF. Who isn’t attracted to the dark and broody? Alix and I are. Also some great editing at the Prancing Pony Inn and the fight scene soon after. Chuck pointed out, quite rightly, the dark riders have a great theme song.

Introduction of Arwen: breathtaking. (I saw Liv Tyler in NYC shortly after I saw this movie and fell absolutely in love with her as she walked toward me. She’s perfect.) And then she and Aragorn break out into the Elvish and I’m done for—it’s so romantic. Plus, she’s so badass, “No. I’m the faster rider,” she tells him (then proves it in this spectacular horseback chase scene). I’d like to add here Alix’s personal opinion that although she would give up most anything to be with Aragorn…Elvin powers and immortality are just too cool, and Liv Tyler is dumb.

Everything is fantastic until they introduce Orlando Bloom—Legolas. Then all I can think about is that I crave Legolas. I can’t go into it anymore.

Cate Blancett is the elf queen Galadriel, and a little scary if not emotionless. GOLLUM ROCKS; he is SOO AWESOME. The hiss is fantastic!! The orcs are scary and gross (eew, as are the orc-goblin hybrids, those are gross too). Saruman the White is the most powerful of wizards, recently turned onto the dark side, who tries to corrupt Gandalf. The old folk are not bad in this flick! With all the white hair and powerful staffs and stuff, this dude is pretty scary. Plus, Christopher Lee (who plays Saruman) knows tons and tons about the trilogy (he reads them once a year) and served as a consultant for lots of the accuracy questions.

Sweeping shots of New Zealand are incredible. Fight scenes are totally exciting. Even the cheap-ass special effects look soo nice! This movie kicks so much ass that my review should have no bearing upon whether or not you watch it. Cause either you already have, or you will. You know you agree.