18. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

The Lord of the Rings is basically the Star Wars of fantasy films. It’s the magnum opus of Peter Jackson and it’s easy to see the love and care he put into the film projects. The story takes place in the fictional realm of Middle-Earth, and it’s a swords and shields fantasy setting with plenty of mythical creatures strewn about. The plot centers around an evil entity named Sauron, and the quest to defeat him by destroying the One Ring. Destroying a little ring sounds easy, but trust me, it’s not. To do it, the Fellowship, a noble but rag-tag motley crew of warriors, must throw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom in the depths of the sinister and orc infested Mordor. This is a tall task, and it’s evidenced by the fact that this is only the first out of three movies telling the deed. The movie starts out a little too slow, honestly, as it centers around some hobbit festivities for too long. However, once it picks up pace you’ll see Frodo (the ring bearer and main hero) running from all sorts of danger while his stronger companions save his hide with the help of their trusty swords, bows, and axes. The Fellowship is a great start to the film trilogy, but I thought it took a little too long to get things going. Still, with Gandalf’s epic confrontation with the fiery Balrog, it was more than worth it.