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I have to admit that when the trailers for Lord of the Rings first came out I was a sceptic. I haven't read the books, they just weren't the sort of thing that appealed to me so why would I want to see the film? Surely it would be a waste of three hours of my precious life and if nothing a chance for a quick nap?

I was wrong. The second the movie started I knew I was in for a treat. The eerie darkness captures our attention immediately and Peter Jackson makes sure he has it all the way through.

Elijah Wood puts in a fine performance as a young hobbit turned ringbearer and is well 'accentuated' by fellow hobbits, Merry, Pippin and Sam.

Sean Bean does a great job as a tortured soul trying to fight his growing hunger for the ring. We are conflicted about whether we should love him or hate him.

Viggo Mortensen was OUTSTANDING. The moment he appears on the screen we know that he is going to have a major impact. He portrays Aragorn perfectly, immaculately capturing his inner struggle and belief in the weakness of his race. Before this movie, few people had heard of Viggo but now he's the name on everyone's lips. Definately my favourite character in the trilogy, he has a certain presence that we feel when he appears (see Aragorn throwing open the doors in The Two Towers - so sexy!)and we want to make him believe in himself because we just KNOW that he can do it.

Lots of new faces appear in this movie for example, Orlando Bloom, Dominic Monaghan etc. and they do a good job. Sometimes I felt that Orlando's line were perhaps delivered a bit woodenly and you couldn't always read his feelings through his facial expressions (like Sean and Viggo). However, in the battle scenes he was great.

The Fellowship of the Ring is one of those must see movies. Even if it doesn't appeal to you, you'll be hooked by the end of it. Or at least you can say "I've seen it!".

I would also recommend the extended version DVD as there are tons of extra or extended scenes that develop the characters more and help us to understand them. Not to mention the hours worth of documentaries that are surprisingly ALL interesting!

The only reason I wanted to see The Indian Runner was because of the stunning multi-talented Viggo Mortensen. But I have to admit that this movie touched me. When it finished I sat for about half an hour just thinking 'why?'

The movie moves along quite slowly but I think it was meant to. Penn wanted us to see, feel and identify with the characters. To witness the bond between the two brothers and Frank's struggle to tame himself.

And we do. Viggo shows amazing range as an actor here and is easily one of the best films he has ever done. We see Frank go from relaxed to angry to livid to sorrowful and are drawn in to his tortured soul. Mortensen makes us want to feel for the character and we desperately want him to be happy. His emotions evoke a wide range of emotions in ourselves. His performance is nothing short of astounding. We never know if we are meant to hate Frank or feel sorry for him but we gradually begin to love him and want to understand why he is so angry with the world due to Mortensen's performance. Where was the Oscar this year???

The rest of the cast shine as well. David Morse is utterly convincing as a man trying to salvage the last remains of his disintergrating family and the actress who plays his wife is equally good.

All I can say is WATCH IT!

Before purchasing this film, I read a lot of reviews, most of which gave it pretty good reviews. After finally watching it I have to say that I was disappointed. I expected it to be more....interesting maybe. The cast was full of talented actors but it seemed to drag a bit. I fully admit that the reason why i didn't switch it off was because of the ever so sexy Viggo Mortensen who put in a great performance. However, i felt his character was undeveloped and he should have had more screen time. Maybe the director didn't do this because he takes the attention away from Diane Lane! Another disappointment was the love scenes. From what I had heard they were very steamy and passionate but once I saw them I was...well disappointed! All in all, a talented cast (especially Viggo and Anna Paquin who was fantastic) that just couldn't save a rather drab film.