On what might otherwise have been a calm and quiet morning, a stampede of geeks descended from all directions upon the theater, lining up outside for miles, all anxious to take a peek at the much-anticipated production of epic scale.

I write from the perspective of someone who saw Fellowship of the Ring without having read the Lord of the Rings books, although I did read The Hobbit long ago.

Words to describe it: Epic. Grand. Amazing. Breathtaking. Majestic. Um... Unfinished. As in, I want to see the rest NOW. :)

Despite being 3 hours in length, there were times when it "felt" like things were being hurried along; events squeezed together in order to fit it all into the timeslot. Just a bit. I could guess that if I had spent 10 hours reading the book, it might seem even more that way.

As someone on slashdot said, I almost half expected to see Elrond say, "Welcome to Rivendale, Mister Anderson." Oh, the joys of actors being typecast.

Oh man. The beginning of a great story. I want to see the rest. Acting by Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen was excellent. Both great for their roles.

I loved the visuals. So expansive, and so many of them. A beautiful and fantastic world brought to life.

Under the negative column, thanks to some sort of royal screw-up by AMC, we got booted out of our good seats in the theater we had tickets for, and had to join another auditorium which was nearly full. Only the nose bleed section a was left, a few centimeters from the screen. So much for waiting in line. This detracted somewhat from the viewing experience, although I tried not to let it bother me too much.

Of course, this has only added to my desire to see it again. Not only do I want to pick up on elements I might have missed the first time, but also to experience it from a more optimal viewing location.

And now I REALLY want to know what happens to Frodo and Sam. Really. For all the story it told, they may as well have slung a "To Be Continued..." sign up at the end. I've seen the exposition. Now let's get into the real action.