(04/08/02: I’ve now seen Lord of the Rings four times… this was the first. And I hadn’t read more than The Hobbit and half of the Fellowship of the Ring yet.)
We saw LotR last night. We had really bad seats, but I soon forgot about that - the film was really amazing. Fabulous sets and scenery, wonderful costumes and make-up. It was fun, playing name-that-actor with my father afterwards (lots of the actors have been in Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery!s before). All of the actors chosen were, I thought, absolutely perfect for the role they were cast in.
The screenwriters did an incredible job translating this long, and often ponderous novel to the screen, hinting at just enough of everything that you got the big picture and understood things such as the history of the Ring, and so forth, without having to make the movie ten times longer (and duller, for those audience members who were not fond of the fantasy motif of which I am a great fan).
The music was absolutely beautiful - it's not too often that, whilst watching a movie (especially for the first time and in a cinema), I actually notice the score. But I did, as did my father, and both of us agreed that the Lord of the Rings soundtrack is one CD we'll have to get. (04/08/2002: I bought it… I love it…)
We had a lot of trouble with audience members who talked LOUDLY and left their cell phones and pagers on, then had the audacity to say that it was 'stupid' at the end. But what most of them didn't realise is that Fellowship of the Rings is but the first of three. I think the PR people ought to do something about that situation - call it Lord of the Rings Part 1: The Fellowship of the Ring, or something like that. Maybe call it Fellowship more and Lord of the Rings less. It really does have a cliff-hanger ending (naturally) that would make it seem like a terrible movie if you didn't know that there would be two more coming, as in the Star Wars style.
All in all, I think this is a really tremendous film, and I will definitely be buying it when it comes out on video. I recommend it to everyone, it's simply stunning.