LotR1-FotR-Seq08

[Lush]

Mmmm.

I adored the Nazgul chase scene. I thought it was very well done, very urgent, very beautiful and scary. Frodo's thunder is stolen, but we see him so much in the later parts of the film, as well as the other two films, that I don't really mind it as much.

Arwen is luscious and ethereal. A friend of mine, a movie critic named Larry Toppman, once pointed out that Peter Jackson has elicited surprisingly good performances from both Liv Tyler and Sean Bean, actors who have largely relied on their looks to get by in other films.

I have quibbles with the cranky Elrond, but I suppose they did that so that he could offset Gandalf.

I like the way Legolas and the rest of the Fellowship are introduced, but I'm obviously biased. I will say this, though, watch Legolas later in the movie; I think they do a fine job with showing, through him, the Elvish attitude toward mortality.

Also, I think that the music on the bridge scene deserves an honourable mention. Enya does a great job getting her mouth around all this lyrical Elvish.