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Rise of the Fellowship revolves around Randall Dooley, the ultimate Lord of the Rings geek. He obsesses over a Rings online game, is constantly bullied by the jocks at school as well as his brother Stan for said game obsession, and even heads up a fellowship of his own with his 3 friends Stacey, Nate and Squirrelly. All of his passions finally find their calling when word of a Lord of the Rings online gaming competition in Orlando surfaces.
Unfortunately, Randall’s chances come under fire when he is framed under devious circumstances. Armed with the proof of his innocence in the guise of a golden flash drive, Randall and his band of merry fellows hit the road to Orlando to claim their seat. Along the way, we run into various modern-day allegories to the Rings films, including a wise ole’ Galdalf-ish hippie commune leader that goes by the name of Melvin.
The story itself is one you have seen many times before, only this time the added spark of connecting it to the Rings films makes it one that die-hard fans especially should seek out. Many of the storytelling devices are directly connected to the Rings films or the games, and therefore this is the audience the film was made for.
Fellowship does have a good deal of love for the source material behind it, and overall, it tends to be a pleasing endeavor. Justin Moe’s Randall and Emma Earnest’s Stacey are the standouts from the main foursome, as each carries their respective roles as actors to watch.
The film’s only drawback would be the acting of the jock characters (a little too over-the-top), Thad (as Gollum’s impromptu metaphor hitting too on-the-nose) and Jayme Bell’s Squirrelly. Bell is not so much a drawback, it is more that often he comes across as trying too hard to be the ‘wacky’ friend.
One actor who seemed to be in a class all of his own is Wolf Sherrill as Melvin. As some kind of elvish mix of Gandalf and Aragorn, Sherrill brightens the film with every scene he is thrown into. His awkward humor, intentionally cheesy advice and natural charm do wonders carrying the film towards its logical conclusion.
Rise of the Fellowship is an independent film, meaning this is a film put together by fans without access to Peter Jackson’s extensive budget. The acting I mentioned above aside, the production itself was handled very well. Budget or not, there are several very clever and innovative shots in the film that I personally found impressive for first-time feature director Ron Newcomb. It was this creativity and the performances of the three leads that ‘Rise’ the film up to a definite recommendation.
Rise of the Fellowship is not a perfect film, yet it is well-intentioned and one that was made specifically for the fans. Every famous film series deserves its own independent fan film and while Star Wars had Fanboys, now Lord of the Rings has Rise of the Fellowship.
If $10 is the full price of admission, Rise of the Fellowship is worth $6.
Listen here to our exclusive interview with ‘Rise’ filmmakers Ron Newcomb and Scott Mathias.
Aaron Peterson
The Hollywood Outsider
www.TheHollywoodOutsider.com