“Jackson suggested the kind of alchemical powers and visionary technique that will be necessary to make compelling cinema out of Tolkien’s long-winded storytelling.”

It’s material we’ve seen before, but today The Sydney Morning Herald offers a good article (aside from a remark about Tolkien being “long-winded”) for newbies about the challenges, hopes and fears surrounding the upcoming movies.

Below is a brief excerpt. Click the link beneath the quote to read the entire article.

Jackson’s film will find a ready-made audience known for its fanatical devotion and scholarly intensity, one that transcends ordinary demographic boundaries of age, class and nationality. Fans of the Star Wars universe waited 16 years for Lucas to answer their prayers with his disappointingly feeble Phantom Menace. Most Tolkien fans have been waiting their entire lives, and are by and large jazzed about Jackson. Of course, there is a subset of purists who are already castigating the film-makers for their heresies: the half-Elven princess Arwen Undmiel, for example, played by Liv Tyler, has reportedly been elevated from onlooker to a central character.