The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition)
Fathom events put on a 3 day event over the weekend of June 8-10, 2024 to watch all 3 extended versions of the original trilogy in theaters. This review will have the slant of it being 23 years since the movie first hit theaters, and I've seen it dozens of times. I will say that I don't recall if I ever saw the extended editions in theaters; only on dvd, bluray or streaming.
First, I have to say that it was amazing to be in a full movie theater again. After nearly a year of seeing tons of movies, this is only the second time that's happened to me, and the other one was a nerdy movie too. Go nerds!
J R R Tolkien wrote the book throughout the 1940s, after the success of the Hobbit, calling on his own war time experiences during the Great War, and then WWII, which are noticed in the battle scenes, and the rise in nationalism.
The first movie concentrates on the set up and exposition explaining the conflict, the characters, and the ring itself. Then it moves on to the quest to destroy the object that is bringing the world to war. In order to separate good from evil, races are created that look like monsters, so as not to draw comparisons to our own earthly chaos.
One theme of the first film is that you can't use evil to defeat evil. It didn't work three thousand years ago, and it wasn't working in the present. The aforementioned fellowship falls apart because of this internal conflict. If a nuclear bomb is invented, but removed from the battlefield, don't run off with it to use it against your enemy, but destroy it. I definitely see pacifism in Tolkien's first book.
Another theme I encountered is conservationism. The strongest, most courageous hobbits live in harmony with the land. The dwarves kept digging for treasure until something was unleashed that killed them all. That's pretty spot on for a metaphor, I would think.
The world becomes so chaotic that even the "good and pure" elves are leaving. It's like they've given up. But having lived for thousands of years and seeing no improvements, I would probably leave too. They were given 3 rings of power that the 1 ring was supposed to subjugate, but they seem to have resisted that fate. Elves also live one with the land, but are still more of a warrior race, though reluctantly.
Finally, the theme of power corrupting ... everyone, is evidenced mostly in the human race. I already spoke about the end not justifying the means, but in the movie, heads of state, and heads of mysticism are suddenly on the bad guy's side because of corruption. They crave power, not just the means to end an evil.
Gandalf and the Balrog, sitting on the bridge. F L Y U F O O (LS). See you for The Two Towers.
