I don’t go
to the movies. As a general rule, I
avoid their overpriced tickets altogether.
However, this is The Hobbit. This is a piece of my childhood. So I sucked it up, and like a big hypocrite,
I sat in the theater and let Peter Jackson transport me to New Zealand …er…Middle Earth.
First of
all, how many people found themselves referencing each scene to the old
Rankin-Bass Hobbit cartoon from our
youth? I’m not the only one? Good.
Okay, on to the review.
This was
just as beautiful as I remembered it from his Lord of the Rings movies years ago (which I also saw in the theater
with my father, aka the guy that got me to read Tolkien in the first
place). Everything looked familiar, like
I was going to visit an old friend, and at this point if you have read the
books and seen the movies, Bilbo Baggins is an old friend to you too. I must admit, it was great seeing Ian
McKellen returning to the role of Gandalf too.
Considering the large part that he plays in The Hobbit, the fact that he was willing and able to reprise his
role as the grey wizard did a lot to put my mind at ease when it came to
revisiting Middle Earth.
People that
go into any Peter Jackson movie concerning this subject matter need to be ready
for a slow burn. This is not a bang-bang
action Michael Bay-esque cinematic experience (though some of the camera work
in the fight scenes did seem reminiscent of the Transformers director). Jackson will build up
this world, build up these characters, until the payoff seems almost secondary
to the world he has created and this is no different. I have heard both positive and negative
things regarding this film, and one of the most loudly shouted negatives is the
fact that they spend too much time in Bilbo’s house, that they don’t get into
the adventure fast enough. I must
politely disagree as I loved this scene, regardless of the time it took to
complete it. This had all of the comic
relief that remembered from Gimli in the Lord
of the Rings movies and multiplies that by thirteen. Each dwarf has their own personality and
while there are a few that seem a bit more fleshed out than others (with good
reason) they all share screen time and blend well. If you thought the ensemble from The Lord of the Rings was a lot to
manage, Jackson
turned it up a notch here and does a phenomenal job of getting us to at least
be interested in all of these characters, even the ones we are not intimately
familiar with from earlier movies.
Once we
actually get out into Middle Earth, the interactions do not stop between the Dwarves, Gandalf and Bilbo. In fact, by throwing an element of danger
into the mix, we get to see that this group is more than capable of taking care
of itself. All of the highlights from
the book are hit upon here as well. We
get to see the trolls, Rivendell, Gollum and the goblins. Each interaction was well done and stayed
relatively true to the source material from what I remember. Having read the book and knowing the story,
the element of danger is basically non-existent as we know that everyone makes
it through to the Lonely
Mountain Jackson
is then tasked with making the action sequences exciting in spite of the
story. This he does with expert
craftsmanship, especially in the escape from the goblin kingdom and the final
“battle” of the movie. I say this
loosely because those looking for another Helm’s Deep from the earlier movies
will be a bit disappointed. While that
battle as well as the final battles from The
Return of the King feature massive armies on each side, these are thirteen
dwarves, a Hobbit and a wizard against smaller groups of enemies. They are not nearly as epic and awe-inspiring
at first glance, but they are powerful in the little moments that occur within
each battle.
That is what I will remember the
most about The Hobbit. Those little character moments, where we get
to see what each individual is made of.
Where the scope of The Lord of the
Rings was massive (hence the title about a grand ideal) The Hobbit is more centralized, more
intimate (hence its title about a character).
Whether Tolkien did this on purpose all those years ago, I have no idea,
but it fits well here.
The bullet points:
High – The cast is perfect. Each dwarf has their own personality and the
guy they got to play Thorin does a great job of making the role his own and not
just trying to ape the stellar job Viggo Mortensen did with Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings. I was a little worried that that is exactly
what would have happened, but the opening scene at Bag End dispelled all those
fears. Bilbo is wonderfully played as
well and all the trepidation and skittishness that most, if not all, of us
would feel if presented with any of the scenarios in this film is worn right on
his sleeve. I can not stress enough how
good of a job is done to make us feel like this is someone completely out of
their element. Ian McKellen is a master
at his craft, that’s all you need to know.
High – The setting is beautiful and
the camerawork in the larger travel sequences is breathtaking. This is something that those familiar with The Lord of the Rings should be used to,
but it doesn’t get old. Peter Jackson
does a great job of making Middle Earth feel as important as another character
in the film and not just a throwaway set-piece.
Low – The add-ons. There is a lot of stuff to soak up in
Tolkien’s world. He lays it all out for
us in his multiple books on the subject, and I heard that Jackson and his co-writers
were trying to fit other bits and pieces of Middle Earth lore into The Hobbit. However, at times it almost felt like they
were doing it to just make more movie.
The white Orc, or just the orcs in general being included in this movie,
while tying it into the previous films, feels like they are reaching to create
villains so that they can justify three movies.
The same can be said for the Necromancer storyline that is only hinted
at in the first movie. I have no problem
with this movie being stretched into three films (even though it’s only one
book) and I know that Jackson is not going to make three bad movies just
because he knows we will all shell out our money to see them, his reverence to
the source material is pretty evident at this stage of the game. I am also not implying that any of these
characters or their stories were poorly written (in fact the white orc is quite
interesting) but are they necessary is the question that should have been
asked. The stone giants throwing rocks at eachother on the other hand is just graphics
department masturbation and was probably the worst part of the movie for
me.
Low – While I realize that in the
original text, everyone understood everyone else regardless of race, with
English being the common language, it just felt weird to have the trolls and
especially the goblins be so well versed in that common language, especially
since the orcs spoke only in their own tongue (with the aid of subtitles for
our benefit). It just felt…off, and in a
movie that was pretty seamless in terms of incorporating a lot of things
together, that little bit stood out.
High – When the dwarves had to take
to the trees at the end of the movie, did anyone else catch Gandalf and
Thorin’s exchange? “Out of the frying
pan…and into the fire” which just happens to be the name of the chapter that
that takes place in the book. I don’t
think that blatant homage of calling out chapter names happens anywhere else
(and I honestly don’t even remember any other chapter titles to check it) but
that kind of specific nod to the source material adds a little bit more to the
people that have read the book and remember random specifics such as that.
High – I actually liked the fact
that we saw so little of Smaug in this movie.
This was a set-up to that conflict and really was not about the dragon
as much as it was about the quest to get to him. Showing more of Smaug was unnecessary at this
juncture and was one of the only instances in a Peter Jackson movie where I
have seen the “less is more” mantra utilized.
Low – It’s long. Like, uncomfortable to sit in my seat for
that long kind of long. It was chock
full of movie and every bit was visually intriguing, but holy shit I am too old
to sit in theater seats for three hours.
In short, go see this movie. It is well worth the inflated price of
admission and I would imagine that even if you are not a fan of Tolkien’s work
you will find something to like in it.
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