Frodo lives!

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie

In the beginning, there were the words; then, the words became flesh and dwelt among Middle-earthlings. The Wizard, Gandalf, arrives in the Shire to set off fireworks for a long-expected party. As the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, passes on the One Ring to his heir, Frodo, the Shadow of the past takes another shape, and the Eye of the Dark Lord, Sauron, seeks his Precious. Three is company as Gandalf the Grey, Frodo Baggins, and Samwise Gamgee flee from the Shire — a flight from danger into danger.

A chance meeting occurs when Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took take a short cut to mushrooms and are chased off the Farmer Maggot’s crop with Frodo and Sam. With Ringwraiths disguised as Black Riders at their heels, the Hobbits perceive a conspiracy unmasked. Avoiding the Old Forest, they neither tell tales in the House of Tom Bombadil nor brave fog on the Barrow-Downs. Post haste, they reach the village of Bree where Gandalf fails to meet them at the Sign of the Prancing Pony.

Knowing what hunts the Hobbits, the Ranger, Strider, takes them into the wild and heads for the House of Elrond in Rivendell.

Within the ruined circle of the watch-tower of Amon Sul, the Witch King of the Ringwraiths deals Frodo an evil wound with a knife in the dark. With the Nine Black Riders in pursuit, in place of the Elf-lord, Glorfindel, Arwen, the Evenstar of her people, bears Frodo upon the elf-horse, Asfaloth, in the flight to the Ford.

In Rivendell, Frodo lives to witness many chance meetings between absent friends. Strider is revealed to be Isildur’s heir, Aragorn, the rightful King of Gondor, and the Fellowship of the Ring is formed in the Council of Elrond. With Gandalf the Wizard, Boromir of Gondor, Aragorn the Ranger, Legolas the Elf, Gimli the Dwarf, and the Hobbits Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, the Ring goes south to be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom where it was forged in the land of Mordor.

Pursued by the Nine Riders and trailed by the creature Gollum, the Nine Walkers make a journey in the dark and fight their way through the Mines of Moria. In the colossal battle of Gandalf against the demonic Balrog, the Grey Wizard plants his staff at the Bridge of Kazad-dum and falls into shadow and flame.

Aragorn leads the Company to Lothlorien where the Lady of the Wood, Galadriel, tests the hearts of the Fellowship. By the Mirror of Galadriel, Frodo sees a vision of a Queen — not dark but beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful — set up in the place of the Dark Lord. As the Company bids farewell to Lorien, the Lady Galadriel gives Frodo a phial which contains the light of Earendil, the Evening Star, most beloved of the Elves

Streaming down the Great River Anduin, the Fellowship paddles past the Gates of the Argonath, the Pillars of the Kings of Gondor. The breaking of the Fellowship comes to pass with the departure of Boromir as Frodo and Sam bear the Ring into Mordor.

Recognizing the power of the literature, Director Peter Jackson impresses with the clarity of his vision. With forced perspective and scaled sets, Jackson makes the unfilmable filmable.

Despite its inherent drawbacks—the lack of a tangible villain, unwieldy dialogue, multiple characters, silly names, and the sheer density of back-story the film may yet convert unbelievers. Its altered travelogue is both more satisfying and economical. In fact, the screenplay is an impressive adaptation because the film races through the book’s wandering bulk in a little over two hours.

Jackson trims the fat off exposition down to the meat-and-bones of the action. Taking the actors through their paces, he choreographs the battle scenes into a stunning pandemonium. Grounding the nasty realism tangible in Tolkien’s work, Jackson keeps the violence level intact. Since Orc blood is black and tar-like — therefore, unrealistic — he happily throws it around. He keeps things flowing in a continuous stream of events and imagery without getting enthralled by the spectacle for the spectacle’s sake.

Jackson’s camera swoops and plunges like an eagle into staggering scenes of blood and destruction. Mixing up live-action on sets with computer graphics on miniatures, Jackson’s fledgling effects company, Weta, opens a gateway into a breathtaking world. This is Middle-earth — a world of monsters, trees that walk, Elves, and Hobbits — built from scratch with the help of Tolkien book illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe. One finds oneself lost in the magnificence of the place with its different light, the proliferation of blues and greens.

This cinematic event of the decade will no doubt please the book’s legions of impassioned followers. Portraying the favorite bits of avid readers, it thrives on audience recognition. The film is a masterpiece made by fans for fans with the hope of rounding up more fanatics.

With verbal flourishes and transcendent quality, the actors speak a language and play beings which have never truly existed. With his preternaturally large, wide-set eyes and elfin features, Elijah Wood brings the furry-footed halfling Frodo Baggins to life. With slivers of Merlin and hints of Falstaff and King Lear, Sir Ian McKellen brings a marvelous, rumbling tone to the mysterious, mercurial Gandalf. As Strider/ Aragorn, Viggo Mortensen is perfectly cast as the sinewy Ranger. Christopher Lee mainlines menace as the power-lusting Saruman the White. As Lady Galadriel, Cate Blanchett is, at once, both ethereal and adamant. With the body count to back it up, Orlando Bloom is the break-out star as Legolas, the Elf whose bow is an extension of his arm.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is, of course, a fairy tale, but its truths are stranger than its fictions. It has true emotion, true passion, true terror, and a palpable sense of evil. Although set in a fantastic world of magic, it is simply a tale of heroism, of inner fortitude and bravery. With its central theme of good versus evil, the film is not so much timely as it is timeless. That the great stories will endure translation into new forms is a belief borne up by the movie playing on the screen.

Against conventional wisdom, director Peter Jackson has brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s tale of sword and sorcery to the screen. Like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone director Chris Columbus, Jackson has produced a faithful adaptation but, unlike Columbus, has opted for judicious cuts. Jackson’s fierce, brash film wears its fervor and its heart on its muddy, blood-stained sleeve. Sometimes, the best plan is not to do things by the book.

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