Category: Lord Of The Rings

Peter Jackson’s version of The Lord Of The Rings wasn’t the first time somebody had attempted to bring Tolkien’s vision to the big screen. Back in 1978, a filmmaker named Ralph Bakshi had delved into Tolkien’s world to present an animated version of Frodo and Sam, Gandalf and Strider, all with the use of a rather unique form of storytelling: rotoscoping. We thought, in the interests of a more complete review of Tolkiens’ massive tale, we’d quickly touch on the original film version, as released by United Artists, back in…

With the second film of the monstrously complex Tolkien trilogy, Peter Jackson had to try and achieve what very few directors before him had been capable of: maintaining the level of interest in the story after the blistering success of the first installment.

When embarking upon a review such as this one, encompassing all three blockbuster films in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, you tend to feel, I think, a lot like a dwarf or a hobbit taking on the Orc armies: a little overwhelmed. Not only has the film trilogy version of JRR Tolkien’s massive work of fiction become almost unassailable critically, it has entered the popular lexicon of cinematic legendarium to become almost one with the public’s imagination. Never before has there been a film success like the three Lord…