I rewatched Fellowship of the Ring (Extended) after 15 years and it is SO good.

Alright I know that I’m talking about a massively popular film, but it’d been so long since I’d seen it that I just took it for granted. The lackluster Hobbit films dimmed the whole series of movies in a way, and we just tend to forget about the greats. I also think Fellowship is the best of the series, but the whole trilogy is fantastic.

The acting and the writing give you such an emotional investment and depth into these characters that is uncommonly good for the genre. The themes of friendship, home, and loss are powerful. What I love about Fellowship unlike TT and ROTK (though they’re all excellent) is (1) it’s the most adventure/quest film of the three, and (2) it scales up the most both emotionally and dramatically. Fellowship starts small, with the first half hour happy and warm in The Shire so that you grow to love it as much as the hobbits do. That’s what makes Frodo and Sam’s loss of it as they set out so palpable. You know why they want to go home so badly. TT and ROTK continue all this, but as I recall they’re essentially war movies, and you don’t have quite the same emotional change and loss of innocence as Fellowship.

Lastly is the music. Man do I miss epic movie scores. They add so much to a film in terms of emotionality. Howard Shore has at least five different themes in these films, all so memorable they could be their own movie. I’m big on movie scores, and I lament how much the last 20 years have been dominated by superhero films with forgettable themes, if they have one at all. I don’t think I’m just being nostalgic when I think they were more common in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, though correct me if I’m wrong. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Bettlejuice, Jurassic Park, the list goes on and on. Am I wrong in thinking there are far fewer movie scores as memorable these days? Game of Thrones has fantastic music, but that’s all I can think of.

Go give it another watch if it’s been a long time for you. And for gods sake, watch the Extended Edition! One could debate whether it’s the better film and how much the scenes matter, but I love it for the incredible world-building alone. And there actually is more plot depth in Extended—I think it’s better explained why Frodo left the Fellowship than in the theatrical release—you see more of the ring’s temptations of the party members.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

Submitted August 22, 2021 at 08:17PM by tiggapleez https://ift.tt/3DimSTo