Newsweek

'The movie works. It has real passion, real emotion, real terror and a tactile sense of evil that is missing in other current movies dealing with wizards, wonders and wickedness. Jackson's fierce, headlong movie takes high-flying risks: it wears its earnestness, and its heart, on its muddy, blood-streaked sleeve.'

David Hunter

The Hollywood Reporter

'Fellowship is so well-made and well-cast that one can have no reservations about the rest of Jackson's monumental creation. Skilfully crafting a long work that appeals to young and old, with strong emotions but nary a romantic subplot [so far], Jackson has seemed a natural to take on such a once-in-a-lifetime project . . . Quite masterfully paced and one of those rewarding movies that seems to get better and better as it progresses, Fellowship justifies its long running time.'

Kenneth Turan

The Los Angeles Times

'Made with intelligence, imagination, passion and skill, propulsively paced and shot through with an aged-in-oak sense of wonder, the trilogy's first film so thrillingly catches us up in its sweeping story that nothing matters but the vivid and compelling events unfolding on the screen.'