Saltboy has seen LOTR -- finally!
IMHO, this is definitely a 4 star movie. Some things were a little bit different than I expected, but overall, I was very pleased with the direction that was given to the movie. Yes, this is a MOVIE, not a book. And since we could have only three hours instead of nine, every single frame was very necessary.
All of the actors were absolutely phenomenal, even if some of the parts were a little bit thinner than I would have liked. Gimli, Legolas, Merry, and Sam kind of got the shaft. Aragorn, Boromir, Frodo, Gandolf, Bilbo, Arwen, Pippin, and Gollum were treated perfectly. Saruman had a much meatier part than I thought he would, but Christopher Lee did such a great job -- and looked so great, too -- that I didn't mind. Galadriel was a little freakier than I imagined, but I after I went back and read the part where she went crazy, I can understand why she was portrayed the way she was. And I didn't realize how big of a part Isildur and Agent Elrond played. Both were well imagined. And the ring is truly the best character of all. In the book, to me it was just a ring, but here in the movie, it's very much alive and full of power -- something that MUST be destroyed.
Was this an all action movie? Bah. The speech between Elrond and Gandolf about the future of man was just fantastic. The speech between Gandolf and Frodo about Gollum was even better. The reaction of the fellowship outside of Moria after Gandolf's falling into shadow? Perfect. Boromir's temptation and "redemption" was fantastic. Bilbo's pain from the ring was tough to see. And the humor was put into the right times
The FX were the best I've seen, EVER. Sure, ILM could probably do the same thing, but HAVE THEY?! Nyet. The vistas from Saruman's tower (Isengard, I believe...) were amazingly realistic -- REALISTIC, I tell you. I actually got scared watching the view and the formation of the Uruk-Hai. Sauron and his mace were amazing -- hit 50 guys at the same time, and I'll be impressed. The size of the hobbits, Gimli, and the rest of the fellowship were done perfectly. Heck if I didn't KNOW it was FX, I'd just presume they were 3 1/2 feet tall! Stupid behind-the-scene specials on TV! The troll in Harry Potter is the LOTR's Cave Troll's bitch. And the balrog? I was disappointed. He was so awesome, I wanted MORE!! Nobody has yet mentioned Gandolf's fireworks -- they were awesome!
My whole family has read the book, so we were all excited to see it. My Mom was the most enthusiastic about seeing it, and she came away absolutely thrilled. Her only complaint was that the violence was a little too graphic for a pg-13. She's not big on violence anyway. My younger brother saw it for the second time with the rest of us today, and he loved it both times. My Dad was ticked that he had to wait another year to see the next one. I guess I'm ticked, too. I want to see MORE MORE MORE!! Everybody else loved it.
It was such a knock-out experience, that I definitely want to see it again before the weekend is over so that I'll be able to get a more objective opinion. But if my second time viewing it will be much better than the first (like Electric Amish mentioned), then this will be the greatest film I have ever seen. Cinematic history has been made once again.