 | Tuesday, December 18th, 9:45pm, Irvine, California, Planet Ear...aw Hell, you get the point. | Waiting in line for the most geek of things seems to be a hobbit, er, habit with Lights Out. Take our PS2 or Star Wars reports as an example. We like being geeks. No question about it. So with the Lord of the Rings film getting ready to premier for us good ol' Californians, we were not in a position to deny that geekdom which lurks in all of us. We WERE going to see the first showing. Our own fellowship was created. Brian, Droid, Bad Candy Ben, myself, and a few select others, set on the daunting task of waiting in line for a whole two hours (okay, sure, bastards in Russia wait that long just to take a breath, but we're Americans, and our coosh life allows us to whine...) in the freezing cold of a Southern California winter's night. Showing up a little later then planned, we found quite a line formed outside of the Spectrum 21, which is one of our local mega-theaters. And what a line it was! Hobbits, and wizards and elfish broads, smoking pipes, brandishing swords, and cloaked in hooded cowls, all there to greet us with smiles aplenty, and we in turn greeted them, with an over abundance of the idiot shivers®...  So, after the waiting, the laughing, and the staring (esp. at this one nerd in particular, who was kinda hot in her elf ears and dress...), the doors opened, and we entered the theater, and then began the mad dash for enough sets for our sorry asses. Once settled, we awaited the start of the epic adventure fantasy film, known as Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
And what an epic! If you've read the books, you know that J.R.R. Tolkien paints a literary tapestry that combines detailed cultures and languages, along with richly described landscapes, all surrounding huge epic battles, and the most intimate of characters and relationships. Most would find it difficult to take all this and adapt it to a cinema screen, in front of the mostly A.D.D. audience of today's fast cut, shakey cam, bullet time, movie world. But apparently not Peter Jackson. This Kiwi brings all of the above to the screen, not only complementing the source material, but adding surprises, as well as expanding on story elements only touched upon in the novels.
Upon exiting the theater (at 3:00 am, mind you), it seemed everybody, within our group and not, was abuzz with a positive energy that I haven't experienced for a long time in my movie going career. I hate to resort to the comparison that EVERYBODY seems hung up on, but after witnessing this, well, masterpiece, I can only wonder why I, and many others, didn't feel anywhere near this satisfied after walking out of Episode I...  Out with the old, and in with the new?
~Brock
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