Ringers: Lord of the Fans

A fascinating documentary on the history of The Lord of the Rings, its lasting cultural impact, and its enthusiastic fandom... could be made, but this isn't it. Messy, superficial, and unenlightening, this is very clearly a rush job meant to cash in on the movie trilogy. Shame.

Being a Lord of the Rings fan made me watch this, but being a fan of quality documentaries made me want to turn it off. Apart from it being mind-numbingly dull and irrelevant, it tends to want to act like a Bill Nye episode that feels three hours long. The most memorable thing about this is the fake 70s kids they had doing fifty different things in the same room to express the cultural significance of the books. Maybe I've become jaded. Am I so out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong.

It treats the work of Tolkien with total reverence. I like LOTR, but the way this film mockingly dismisses those who would question its literary merits is more than a little embarassing. There's far too many loving testimonials to the books, the films, and the fan culture. Unlike Trekkies, there is no sense that perhaps some of these fans are a bit pathetic in their obsession. Also, while I appreciate the attempts to spice up the proceedings with some wackiness, very little of it is funny.

Atrocious editing, but there are enough "OMG THAT'S SO COOL" factoids/clips that make the doc worthwhile.