Full review beyond the lj-cut; due to possible spoilers.

Three hours of the most worthless over-hyped tripe!

Are words that do not apply to one of the finest films in a year of excellent fantasy films.
(Yeah….like I’d dare 😉

As many LoR addicts around me know. It’s one of the books that I have read the first chapter of countless times and never really gotten much further than that.

I felt that they captured the tone of the parts of the book I’ve read (limited as it was) very well. I now really want to read this series. Unlike Harry Potter, I think I will enjoy the book more after the film than before it. With HP I found myself dwelling on the parts that were cut. This way it can be more icing to a good story.

I will have to admit that I walked out of it thinking, “Gosh, Babylon-5 really wasn’t that original after all.”

I enjoyed it highly, and really like the language of the Elves and can see how the book creates young linguiphiles.

However, I do have some flaws in the film. The camera work in the fight sequences were just a little too erratic. This gave me the impression that they were trying to make the fighting more frenetic than it either was or I think meant to seem. Also, the camera work on the obscenely wide, look at our countless hordes, shots seemed very over the top and more unreal than the very prevelent realism that the rest of the film gave.

Acting in the film was absolutely stunning with few exceptions. It took me less than five minutes to not see Magneto. IM did a wonderous job as the old Wizard. I loved all _five_ primary Hobbit actors. (Kudos to the effect team for messing with sizes of people)

Unfortunately, from everything I heard I felt that Blanchett could have gone further with the mystical, serenety, and bittersweetness of Galadriel . Granted this may very well be book naivety. To me she came off as flat. Well, not when she was invoking Stargate’s Apophis and scaring the holy bejesus out of the audience.

My other acting flaw was a disappointment. I like Hugo Weaving. But even with pointed ears and pointed eyebrows…..I couldn’t shake Agent Smith from the matrix. As a friend relayed to me…all I could hear was:
Elrond: “Do you hear that Mr. Underhill? That is the sound of inevitability”
F: “My name is…Frodo.”
Galadriel : “It’s true. He is the one (ring bearer)”

I will probably thing about this one again after attempting yet again to read and then watching again…

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