The General story:
set in the fictional world of Middle-Earth, populated by men, dwarves, wizards
and Hobbits, “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” tells the
story of the one, true ring, forged by the evil Sauron, who would be
resurrected to reclaim it and rule all the lands. But the ring was lost after
battle three thousand years later and ended up in the hands of an inquisitive
hobbit, called Bilbo. Having carried it for so long, he entrusts ownership of
the ring over to his nephew Frodo, a young, adventurous hobbit who’s never left
his home of the Shire. Once it changes hands, Sauron is awakened, and sends his
forces out to retrieve the ring and kill its carrier. The one peaceful Middle
Earth will be plunged deep into battle, where all factions of it’s inhabitants
from every corner of the map, will converge for the war to end all wars.
What influenced the
movie: based on the first novel in the trilogy written by J.R. Tolkien, the
Fellowship of the Ring had been a film about ten years in the making. The books
were first released in year, after
Tolkien spent close to fifteen years writing them. he imagined the world of
Middle Earth in such deep, intrinsic and personal detail, his work was the
inspiration for thousands of writers and filmmakers since. In fact, George
Lucas basically took the foundations of the Lord of the Rings trilogy when he
wrote and directed Star Wars. But instead of him taking the creative reigns on
this property, the film rights were picked up by a relatively unknown but
on-the rise director from New Zealand, called Peter Jackson. Something of a
“Round up your mates and grab a camera” filmmaker, Jackson had directed some
low budget horror films, but showed the world his true talents with the
brilliant “Heavenly Creatures”. Not only did he direct the trilogy, but he gave
it the praise, pride, passion, heart, creativity and vision no one else was willing
to commit to.
How the movie
influenced the 00's: Every so often, a film series comes along that changes
movies, changes the people who made them, and changes the world. The Lord of
the Rings had that impact. Being the first trilogy of movies to film all entries
consecutively over a period of eighteen months, each film in the trilogy was
released yearly between December 2001 and December 2003. Joining Harry Potter
in 2001 as one of the films that relaunched the fantasy/adventure story,
breaking all the rules and conceptions of conventional cinema, and bringing
multiple generations together into a theatre to witness movie history in the
making. Lord of the Rings showed the world – movie goers and movie makers alike
– how to really make a movie, and every
book based on a fantasy world with a young, naive character at it’s centre
forced into adventure, was bought out and rushed into production. But none have
ever, or will ever, come close to the
sheer size, inspiration and magnitude of The Lord of the Rings.
What makes it stand
out as a film of the 00's: Sharing a common thread with many of the most
popular films of the 2000’s, The Lord of the Rings was not set in present time,
or even in the real world. it’s timing was perfect, given about three months earlier
the world had witness 9/11, and as the reality we lived in grew darker, we
retreated to the comforting darkness of the movie theatre to escape that
reality. Quite the contradiction, but the sequential release of the three films
in the trilogy each year, gave us all something to look forward to each
December. Being released on Boxing Day around the world, we all crawled out of
bed after a huge Christmas lunch the day before and headed to the movies;
queening up for an hour to buy tickets to see the greatest show on earth. And I
can honestly admit, I was so impressed and galvanised by the first film in the
trilogy, I wondered how it could be topped. Boy, was I in for a surprise, as
The Return of the King broke all sorts of records and stands firmly as one of
the greatest films every made. J.R. Tolkien would be proud.
Impact of the movie
still felt today: Watching the Lord of the Rings today, still comes across
as a fresh, and riveting experience. The films were so deep and densely layered
with character development, theme and story, that you can re-watch any of them,
and focus on just one of those elements, noticing something new each time.
Given the amount of characters in the story and the length of the films, this
warrants a large time commitment to really delve deep into the world of Middle
Earth. But many people did just that, joining loyal fan groups and attending
parties dressed as their favourite characters, and even showing up to watch the
over-drawn and bloated “The Hobbit” trilogy. It failed in comparison to it’s
predecessor (which was actually based after The Hobbit), but the true fans of
the series, just wanted to return to Middle Earth, as it’s a world we can lose
ourselves in, play out our fantasies and escape into dreams.
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This review was originally part of a special review of films called "Most Influential Movies of the 00's", which you can check out here.
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