D&D will raise again from the ashes...
Man, that was a well done flick.
Saw it Wed nite w/wife as planned and finally got back to the keyboard.
Here's my review:
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D&D will raise again from the ashes...
Without a doubt one of the movies most anticipated by myself this year.
The fellowship of the Ring or better known as "Lord of the Rings", is from beginning to end an adventure that takes the audience into the realms of JJR Tolkien's Middle Earth and the heart of his intrepid little halfling, Frodo Baggins.
Picking up where "The Hobbit" left off with seemily a happy ending, we find out that Gollum's "Precious" ain't too precious afterall and older only in years Bilbo not a very happy camper. Nephew Frodo is left this baggage and in the end with his friend Sam (who would rather dance with a Cave Troll than ask a girl)
Turns out the ring is bad joo-joo and makes the dark side of the force look like grown men inflicting menstral cramps on eachother.
Problem is the only place to flush the ring permanently is in the dead evil doods outhouse, which just turns out to be this erupting volcano surronded by tens of thousands nasty things including hostile locals keen on general carnage.
The fellowship of the Ring joins us with Frodo's companions on the first leg of his journey to do the deed and the many trials and tribulations along the way.
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The technical scoop:
Fun Factor: Goto the bathroom before it starts, you won't want to miss any part of this movie, and if you do, will prolly gladly shell out the bucks to watch it again, and again...
(re)Playability: The amount of detail is simply amazing. Make sure you get this movie on DVD when it comes out 'cause you'll wear out a VHS.
Bots: Where would we be without some bad guys to off? LOTR delivers a wide variety of foes to dispatch, from the lowly mud sucking Orcs with bad dental hygiene, to the Mr Badass of them all, Sauron, Evil undead Wizard to the umpteenth degree.
Flow: The story line effectivily moves us from one location to the next with probable impetus, ever nearing the final goal.
Items: Ya baby, this is what Fantasy Role Playing Games are all about. mFireworks, mRings, mSwords, mArmor (m is for magic) there's plenty to go around only this Frodo guy ends up with most of it. Monty Hall's will prefer "The Hobbit" over LOTR.
Theme: Superb casting and acting ('cept a few too teary eyes) give a real presence in a very unreal world, suspending belief and delivering it on the 72,000 inch big screen.
Architecture: DM-Moria anyone? Terrain mapping and flyby sequeces were outstanding. Interiors get heavy eye-candy and the round corridors of Hobbiton inspirational.
Lighting Okay, the light boxes at Dorin's crypt shone in from both directios, other than that even Gandalf's firework display was well done. The only red lights under the stairs was from lava and the large amounts of dynamic lighting didn't slow the frame rate at all.
Textures: Rivendell was very Shane, if you know what I mean. Skinning was extremely detailed and the variation of texture sets gave each location it's own feel right down to the race that provoked it.
Sound: A wee bit Irish umx. The ambients and effects had me fully rigged. Not since Jurrasic Park did the scream of the big bad dood make me grin so wide, The Balrog's flaming roar will undoubtly make even Godzilla lovers glee with envy.
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The wrap up:
Okay, so I went out and bought all the books (my first set disappeared decades ago) Call me nostalgic or just a sucker for a fantasy, this series has long been entitled to a "good" movie. I'm glad in some ways that the producers only covered part of the trilogy rather than hash it all into one incoherant mess. Some editing was done, live action and computer generation fills in for what was left out.
With Frodo looking out over Mordor, one realizes that hope is all that one has to go on at times, and friendship, even absent friends, can be a powerful ally. /gushing
Leaving us asking one thing:
"When is the next movie coming out!?"
