The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
★★★★★ — The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
There's a moment, very early in The Fellowship of the Ring, where the camera drifts over rolling green hills and that melody kicks in. "Concerning Hobbits." Simple, unhurried, full of warmth. And just like that, you're in. You're not watching a story being set up, you're not being fed exposition. You're there. In the Shire. Among friends. That opening might be one of the most purely charming introductions in the history of film, and I genuinely mean that without a single reservation.
What Peter Jackson pulled off here is astonishing when you stop and think about it. Tolkien's world had existed for decades in the imagination of millions of devoted readers, and the pressure to get it right must have been immense. To not only meet those expectations but to create something that feels genuinely alive, fully realised, and endlessly rewatchable. That takes a level of care and love that you can feel in every single frame.
The world-building is extraordinary, but it never feels like a lecture. You absorb Middle-earth the way you absorb a place you've actually visited. The scale shifts from the cosiness of Bag End to the dread of Moria with such confidence, and the film handles those tonal changes beautifully. It knows when to be playful, when to be frightening, and when to let a quiet moment breathe. That balance is incredibly hard to get right, and this film gets it right constantly.
And then there's Ian McKellen as Gandalf. Look, I'll be careful not to overstate it, but I don't think I need to. Watch "You shall not pass." Watch the way McKellen commands that sequence, the stillness before the storm, the sheer authority of it. Gandalf is one of the great fictional characters, full stop, and McKellen makes him entirely his own. It's a performance that will outlast all of us.
I've said elsewhere that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the emotional peak of the trilogy for me, and I stand by that. But Fellowship runs it desperately close. There's a sense of wonder here that even the later films can't quite recapture, because you only get one first journey into this world. That first time you see Rivendell. That first glimpse of the Fellowship assembled, ready to leave everything behind. You don't get those firsts back, and this film earns every single one of them.
It's also worth saying that Peter Jackson's relationship with Tolkien's world is something I find fascinating across his work. The Hobbit films showed what happens when ambition and studio pressure start pulling in different directions, and that makes me appreciate what was achieved here even more. Fellowship feels free. It feels like a film made by people who genuinely couldn't believe they were getting to make it.
I've watched this film more times than I can count and it has never once felt long, never once felt slow, never once felt like anything other than exactly what it should be. That's so rare. Most films, no matter how much you love them, reveal their weaknesses over time. A line that lands wrong, a scene that drags, a choice that nags at you. Fellowship just doesn't do that. Every rewatch feels like the first, and every watch ends with me wanting to go straight into The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
Timeless is an overused word. Here, it fits. Five stars, no argument, no asterisks.
Rating: ★★★★★ | Year: 2001 | Watched: 2025-04-27
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: HBO Max Amazon Channel · Now TV Cinema · HBO Max
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: HBO Max Amazon Channel · YouTube TV · HBO Max
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Peter Jackson: King Kong (2005) · The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) · The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) · The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
More with Elijah Wood: Green Street Hooligans (2005) · The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) · The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
More from New Zealand: What We Do in the Shadows (2014) · Mortal Engines (2018) · King Kong (2005) · 'Aho'eitu (2015)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More fantasy: Viy (1967) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
