![]() Luckily, no one could have handled it like Wood.For all things Tolkien, The Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit, Silmarillion, and more. At only 18 years old upon the beginning of production, the young actor must have felt a burden akin to carrying the Ring itself. Elijah Wood's unwavering purity and goodness give the audience something to care about, and the Fellowship something to protect. Nearly every moment of it has become iconic, from Gandalf's long-awaited return to the Shire underscored by Howard Shore's Celtic Hobbit theme, to Aragorn's standoff with the Ringwraiths on Weathertop, to the much-memed line " You shall not pass." Fellowship has long since claimed status as one of the best films ever made, but none of it would've worked without a perfectly cast Frodo. Perfectly casted, superbly designed, and adapted with love, economy, and supreme emotion by Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens, Fellowship is a master-class in the introduction of a world, characters, and story. An instant classic that has held its ground just as surely as Gandalf did against the dreaded Balrog, Peter Jackson's entry into the world of Middle-earth is as immediately transporting as it was upon first viewing. It's still the gold standard for epic cinematic storytelling. Twenty years on from its release, The Fellowship of the Ring feels as permanent a fixture as the tattoos each of its actors got to commemorate the shooting experience. For as much visual excess as Return of the King possesses, there's still nothing as emotional as Frodo's loving last look at his friends before sailing off into the west. Haters of the film's "multiple" endings need not complain it's there that Elijah Wood does some of the best work of his career. As Frodo stares down into the Crack of Doom, effects, sound, score, and editing coalesce into that rarest of things: a climax that delivers. The Lord of the Rings is not just a grand fantasy blockbuster, but an intelligent film invested in the nuances and tropes of action, melodrama, romance, horror, and, yes, even camp. Frodo and Sam's final climb to the peak of Mount Doom and Aragorn's defiant last stand at the Black Gate represent a culmination of not only this masterful trilogy, but also of the sheer technical virtuosity of the films' elements of craft. However, all that is swept under the rug by a final hour and a half which ranks as one of the most superbly executed climaxes ever filmed. At times, this grand finale can feel like the goofiest of the three films, with its ghost army and Mumakil stunts. Outro: King Tutankhamen & Frodo Baggins I don't want your silly ring FUCK But I do know somebody who will be born in a couple centuries after me Who might take your cringe-ass nae-nae ring. From beginning to end, Peter Jackson's last swing for the fences is gargantuan, with a sweeping scope seldom seen before or since. ![]() There's arguably not been as red-blooded a Hollywood epic since The Return of the King saw the Lord of the Rings trilogy safely home in 2003, and made Oscar history in the process. As second installments of trilogies go, The Two Towers is hard to beat. It's a superbly executed set piece with a Biblical finale that would be the perfect cap to a stellar sequel were it not immediately transcended by an emotional gut-punch of a final speech by Sean Astin's Sam. Wisely, they focused their efforts on converging all paths to Helm's Deep, the site of not only the best battle in The Lord of the Rings, but arguably of all of cinema. With the Fellowship severed, all of our heroes off on their own adventures, and with no proper beginning or ending, Peter Jackson and his co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens had their work cut out for them in order to fashion this middle chapter into its own satisfying film. The Two Towers has the least Frodo and Sam, which might be a relief to some but also dulls the film's emotional spine for much of its running time. Suffice it to say, they all rank as some of the most extraordinary achievements in cinematic history, modern masterpieces that have staked their place alongside classic Hollywood epics like Ben-Hur and Lawrence of Arabia. Choosing between the Lord of the Rings films is an all but impossible task.
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