Fellowship 2: Word Perfect

Yesterday was all about tone-setting, but today has a little more flash. Not since Titanic have I seen a movie announce so confidently that it has all the money in the world and it knows exactly how to spend it. Fellowship is *artisanal* in a way most blockbusters simply aren't, and it shows from the very first (post-credits) frame.

Fortunately this razzle-dazzle is sorely needed, because now we're approaching Fellowship's first true hurdle: how do we explain the history of this universe without putting the audience to sleep? History is important — especially in a work as dense as Rings — but history by itself, presented without character or comment, is rough. In every movie there's a sense of unease where the audience still isn't quite sure if they should be here, so sooner a movie can "lock in" and show the audience they're getting their money's worth, the better.

I'm not allowed to skip forward and double-check the next minute, but I can praise this one for getting everything out of the way so quickly. We've got rings, races, kings, deception and that's it. Part of me wants to see the Avatar cut^[1] where they drop the preamble and start at Bilbo's party, but there's still a refreshing brevity here. The last thing we need is a bunch of proper nouns being thrown at us like shrapnel.