The Fellowship of the Ring

After I wrote my review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, it occurred to me that the main reason I wasn't entirely enthusiastic about the film was that it was too faithful an adaptation of the book. It didn't really have any surprises in it. I felt like I'd already seen the film, having read the book.

So why don't I feel the same reservations about The Fellowship of the Ring?

This is a marvelous film, and it's hard to imagine anyone doing a better job adapting the first third of J.R.R. Tolkein's classic novel. Almost everything is here, from the lush, green Shire and rustic Hobbits to the foul Orcs to the corrupt Saruman the White to the regal (and sometimes haughty) elves, to the humans of all stripes. Only a few notable pieces seem to be missing, notably the ridiculous Tom Bombadil and the perfunctory encounter with the Barrow-wights. And, disappointingly, we actually get to see Sauron early in the film (one of the terrific ironies of the novel is that it's named for a figure who never appears in it).

Considering that it condenses 500 or so pages of novel into three hours, it's an extremely faithful realization of the story. So why does it succeed as a film better than Harry Potter did?

One possibility is that it's a deeper, more powerful story, about a threat to all the world and the hopeless odds that our heroes have to overcome. It's more arresting, so the story is just as exciting in its new form.

Another is that J.K. Rowling is a more visual writer than Tolkein, so her story feels cinematic already, while Tolkein isn't so much telling a story as writing a chronicle, and director Peter Jackson's film is giving it solid form.

Or maybe it's just that I read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone just a couple of years ago, and it's been seven years since I read Tolkein, so Fellowship feels fresh to me.

I dunno.

Fellowship gets a lot right hat it could have gotten wrong. First, it doesn't feel rushed. On the one hand, you'd expect this from a three-hour film, but on the other, consider all the ground it covers! It manages to hit all the high points of the book without feeling like it's straining to get through it all. It feels naturally paced and told as if it were written for this medium. It's all-too-easy for an adaptation of a novel to feel stiff and mechanical, and this film doesn't.

Second, the actors are all fine and feel in place in this film. (Contrast with, say, Sandahl Bergman in the otherwise fine Conan the Barbarian; her American accent screams "anachronism" through the film.) Elijah Wood as Frodo and an McKellen as Gandalf in particular both live up to their roles, though Wood perhaps looks a bit too overwrought from time to time.

Lastly, although the film is in a way a special effects extravaganza, it's not driven by the special effects. I quickly found myself no longer looking for signs that Wood and his fellow Hobbit-actors had been computer-altered in size for their roles. The "take your breath away" CGI are for the amazing scenes of Saruman's Orc army and camp at Isengard, of the Mines of Moria, and of the giant statues flanking a river. Breathtaking scenes only partly due to the technical wizardry behind them, but also because there's amazing sights to behold, which is in part what Lord of the Rings is about: These great wonders of a past age.

What really makes the film work is that Peter Jackson "gets it". He seems to see what made the novel such a great work to read, and captures the essence of the story, and the emotional underpinnings of the key scenes, even if he doesn't portray every detail of the story. And he does throw in some unexpected bits, such as the phrasing of Gandalf's famous line, "Fly, you fools!" He bends the story a bit in places, and provides a somewhat pedantic introduction to the story, but overall it works. It's wondrous and tense and suspenseful and awe-inspiring and moving, which is what one really wants to see in a movie, especially this sort of movie.

Whether he can make it work for the full three films, and make the ending of the trilogy have the same impact that the ending of the novel did, well, we'll have to wait and see. But it's very much to his credit that I eagerly look forward to The Two Towers when it's released a year from now.

All of us at work got to see The Fellowship of the Ring on opening day thanks to the generosity of our department's management. Thanks, guys! It was well worth it.

We were even treated to New York-style pizza in Sunnyvale after the movie, and that was well worth the trip, as well, as I think it's the first really good New York-style pizza I've had in California. Good thin crust, excellent sauce, and (thank the gods!) not overwhelmed by cheese. I'm definitely going to have to go back. Unless, that is, the other New York-style pizza place which turns out to be even closer to my home is just as good.

I really do prefer New York pizza to Chicago pizza. Pan pizza - or even that heretical creation, stuffed pizza - just doesn't compare.

But, hmm. Maybe having found an excellent pizza place isn't such a great thing after all. Pizza has a lot of calories, and I'm trying to lose weight again... hmm...