I saw that some reviews seem to be coming out online, so I figure it's safe to send this to you now. I apologize for not being in touch with you the past few months, but things got pretty crazy for a while, as I'm sure you can understand. However, this weekend I saw that it was totally worth it. All the time and money that went into this project was worth it.
My initial, viceral reaction is this: My mind is still reeling, my heart is still aching, and my thoughts are still some place far, far away... in a dreamland I thought could never exist outside my imagination. But it does. It's here, and it is real. Leo, I'm telling you that Peter has done it. Everything you could have hoped for has happened. Now I know you like details, so I guess I'll go into that. I've only seen it once, though, so pardon me if I get some things wrong.
In regards to characters, Elijah Wood is excellent in his role. I truly can't imagine another actor taking command of this quite like he does. At times it is quite painful watching this innocent hobbit going through all this overwhelming darkness. Even though I read the books there are times I believed he wasn't going to make it, when the Shadow was going to swallow him up. This occured at Weathertop specifically, as the Nazgul bore down on his frail form... it was chilling. Another moment that stands out for Wood was at Amon Hen. There the look in his eyes really got to me. There's a moment, just before Boromir truly "turns" that you can see in his gaze that he knows what's coming, and he's frightened but also sad -- he looks at Boromir in pity.
Viggo Mortensen -- well, what can be said except that everything you heard has been true. Aragorn was on the set for filming. He's got some killer lines... full of drama and power, but I think the best thing about his performance was how we get a sense that we're not seeing his true power just yet. This is a man of mystery, that leaves himself guarded to everyone but a few (Gandalf, Elrond, Arwen). He watches more then he speaks, much like Legolas in that respect. In fact, in many ways he acts like one of the elves -- reserved, quiet, deadly, regality surrounding him. I suppose this goes along with hsi backstory of being raised in the house of Elrond. I loved the scene between Elrond and Aragorn as Aragorn knelt by his Mother's grave in Rivendell. I have to say that it was one of Viggo's finest moments in Fellowship... full of emotion and power.
Gandalf, of course, was played to perfection. Ian McKellen is simply perfect -- there is no question. The rest of the Fellowship fall in line perfectly. The trio of Hobbits are portrayed exactly as I imagined (Sam the stout loyal one, and Merry & Pippin being... well... being Merry & Pippin). Legolas reminded me of some sort of assasin... he moved like a ninja. Truly a dangerous fellow who definetly seemed a bit detached from the "normal" world. John Rhys-Davies played a great Gimli... I only wish his facial make-up had been a bit less extensive around the eyes. Most of his acting came from the way he delivered his lines, which was fine, but it would have been nice to see some more of his face.
The dialog was almost entirely from the book (as I told you before, about 85\%), and it is spoken beautifully. It sounded very naturally (especially Gandalf's lines, which are almost poetic). There was only one line in the who film which I did not like, and it wasn't because of the delivery... it just didn't seem to "fit."
WETA did one hell of a job on the SFX. The great thing about them is that it's difficult to tell where the "natural" camera tricks were and where they used CGI and such. The film, however, didn't come across (to me) as a special effects extravaganza because they didn't showboat it. They made it feel REAL. They didn't say, "Hey! Look what we can do!" they just did it, and made it a part of the story. I don't know if that made sense or not, but I think you'll see what I mean.
I'm sure you've heard the score by now, but let me tell you: it's magnafied 10-fold when you have the accompanying images. The Breaking of the Fellowship was one of the most heart-wrenching minutes of cinema I've had the absolutely pleasure of viewing.