First in series is spectacular fantasy film

There's a lot to admire and enjoy in the three-hour movie.
By MILAN PAURICH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
ow good is "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," the first in New Zealander Peter Jackson's $270 million J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy?
Even somebody like myself, whose only previous exposure to Tolkien was Ralph Bakshi's staggeringly awful 1978 animated "Rings" adaptation, sat spellbound for its entire three-hour running time.
Success: Not since the original "Star Wars" nearly a quarter-century ago has a filmmaker so successfully imagined and created such a self-contained, completely organic fantasy universe on celluloid.
Although "Fellowship" may lack the visionary daffiness of David Lynch's unfairly maligned 1984 rendering of Frank Herbert's "Dune," it more than compensates with Jackson's lucid storytelling and a real epic grandiloquence.
The only other recent movie to match the lush romanticism of "Fellowship" was James Cameron's "Titanic" -- and this is as nearly impressive a technical achievement. (Footnote: "Fellowship" opens Wednesday, four years to the day that "Titanic" first set sail into box-office history.)
Voice-over: After some helpful voice-over narration that swiftly establishes the background history of the Great Rings of Power, diminutive Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) is introduced.
Frodo, like his fellow Hobbits, is a peace-loving type who lives a quiet existence in the rustic Shire. When Frodo's 111-year-old cousin Bilbo (Ian Holm) passes on Dark Lord Sauron's ring to him, the young lad's life is forever changed.
As the good wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) explains to Frodo, he must take the cursed ring to Mount Doom, where it was forged thousands of years ago, and destroy it. A mythical road trip, steeped in Christian ethos, soon begins.
Among the Fellowship accompanying Frodo to the Land of Mordor are his big-hearted Hobbit best friend Sam (Sean Astin), and dashing mortal warriors Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Boromir (Sean Bean).
Peril: Of course, their journey is fraught with peril thanks to bad-seed wizard Saruman (former Hammer movie Dracula Christopher Lee). Saruman unleashes the wraithlike Black Riders and all manner of spooky things-that-go-bump-in-the-night on our harried heroes.
Besides Gandalf, the Fellowship's only true assistance comes from elves Lady Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Arwen (Liv Tyler). The much-hyped romance between Aragorn and Arwen is given somewhat short shrift; perhaps it will be better explored later in the series. ("The Two Towers is scheduled for release at Christmas 2002; "The Return of the King" a year later.)
There's so much to admire and enjoy here, I don't know where to begin. The burnished richness of Jackson's fairy-tale imagery; performances that aren't an afterthought the way they are in most special effects-heavy extravaganzas; and Howard Shore's Celtic-accented score (with an assist from New Age deity Enya) all contribute to making this one of the few movies that actually deserves the appellation "spectacular."
If the upcoming "Towers" and "King" (shot simultaneously with "Fellowship" on a marathon 15-month production schedule) are equally impressive, Jackson will surely be hailed as the creator of one of cinema history's most extraordinary franchises.
A minor cavil: For fear of alienating theater owners, studios traditionally avoid tacking on intermissions to their films -- even the lengthiest ones.
Needed break: "Fellowship," however, is one movie that might have benefited from a midpoint break (Jackson himself provides a built-in respite 90 minutes into the action).
The old argument was that intermissions cut into the amount of daily performances a theater can schedule, thereby limiting exhibitor revenue.
But since most of today's multiplexes open films on more than one screen, this rationale simply doesn't cut it anymore. Is it too much to ask for a little respect for the people buying all those tickets and popcorn?