Force Fed Films: "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings"

For this week’s force fed films, Jim had to literally force me to watch “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”. There was nothing that ever has enticed me to watch any of the LOTR films, even though I was surrounded by friends who have loved the series. There is something that has always thrown me off from the trilogy. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I hated it, but I would have rather grinded my head against a cheese grader for three hours than conceive of watching this. But I did, for two reasons. Because it is Thursday so I have to and I guess it is one of those ‘must see’ movies I should see, even if I don’t want to.

I’m rather sure that I might be the last human on Earth to have seen LOTR so I won’t bore you with the details of the story. But I’ll share with you what I thought was going to happen prior to watching this movie. A short statured man found a ring, which was previously owned by a creepy looking dude with obvious genetic defects. What the small man later is told by a tall wizard guy, who rocks a positively awesome beard, that the ring was possessed by an evil force and is trying to get back to its rightful owner. So the little boy gathers up his merry man and walks back to Mordor and destroy the ring the only way it can, in a volcano.

On a quest for good!

I’ll admit I was being slightly ignorant for not wanting to watch this movie before but hear out my case. If I was going to watch a bunch of mystical creatures walk long distances, battling other mystical creatures on their way. I would have watched the entire Pokémon series. But after watching this 3 hour movie, I can easily say that I was totally wrong and this is actually a good movie, obviously. But with that said, I totally don’t think it is up to the hype that all my friends have set for it. But then again, reading the books beforehand would have allowed for a better experience.

Fire whips are badass!

Now as a big fan of mysticism and mythology, I adored LOTR’s realm. Filled with different creatures that all have their own characteristics and backstories, they were all mashed together in this beautiful homogeneous world. This all leads to some of the coolest monsters I’ve seen in film, especially Balrog. That is one of the meanest conceptual idea that side of the hemisphere. A demon made entirely of fire, with a very bull like head? It’s like taking a Minotaur and injecting it with a barrel of fire steroids.

The understatement of the year: Sam and Frodo are the greatest friends in the whole world. I cannot comprehend how amazing their relationship is. Now I know that people joke around about the homosexuality between Sam and Frodo. But why can’t two male hobbits enjoy a completely plutonic relationship? But the amazing character chemistry between from all of the main characters was great. This was the vital point on why the characters felt so entertaining to me. They all interacted all so fluidly so when a few of them did die, I truly felt that the link between the group was broken.

Greatest bromance ever captured on screen.

Again, it really is a shame I haven’t seen this movie before. A great movie in all aspects, there isn’t much too really disliked about the movie except of course for the time investment.  I’ll be looking forward to the next two movies. Though from all the other ‘must see’ movies, this did not impress me as much as the others.