From a cinematic perspective, it would be hard to overstate the historic significance of the filmmakers’ achievement. As Fritz Lang’s Metropolis was the first great science fiction film and Ford’s Stagecoach was perhaps the first great Western, The Lord of the Rings is the first great cinematic achievement of its kind — a genre that might be described as epic Western mythopoeia, but is often popularly (if imprecisely) called “fantasy” or “swords and sorcery.”

Read the full essay by Steven D. Greydanus of Decent Films

Join the conversation about The Lord of the Rings trilogy at Arts & Faith.