The Hobbit – an Unexpected Journey
Warning! There will
be spoilers. If you do not wish to have some plot points revealed you may want
to read after you have seen the movie. Continue at your own risk!
When Peter Jackson completed his Lord of the Rings trilogy
in 2003 I knew it would only be a matter of time before he, or someone else,
would come back and do the Hobbit. After many years and rumors production of
the Hobbit truly began. Probably the
biggest controversy would be Jackson filming the movie at 48 frames a second
instead of the standard 24. Despite the fact I knew there would be changes I
was going to see this movie.
Peter Jackson is taking the original novel The Hobbit and
breaking it into three movies. An
Unexpected Journey begins just before Bilbo Baggins going away party as he
decides to tell Frodo the truth about his adventures with the dwarves some 60
years before. More importantly he will reveal how he got the One Ring.
Many years before the
events of the Lord of the Rings we are introduced to the Dwarven kingdom of
Erebor. Here the dwarves mine gold and jewels and make Scrooge McDuck’s vault
look like a kiddie pool filled with pesos.
Dragons, too, love hoard of gold and Smaug is no different. The dragon
captures the Lonely Mountain and displaces the entire people of the
Dwarves. These lonely souls wander from
city to city selling their services as artisans waiting for the day when they
will reclaim their home.
Now just sixty years
before the events of LoTR, Bilbo Baggins was a respectable hobbit. He was
predictable and lived in a nice hole. He had no desire to leave the shelter of
the shire. After all it would make one late for tea. Gandalf the Grey has other intentions. After a brief, and uncomfortable visit with
the wizard, Bilbo disappears into his home content to continue.
That night however, Master Baggins is paid a visit by not
one, not two, but thirteen dwarves and a wizard show up for dinner and promptly
clean out his larder. They reveal the
reason they are at his not so humble hole – to find a burglar and help them
take their kingdom back. Bilbo declines,
despite a guarantee of 1/14 of the treasure but after hearing the dwarves sing
of their homeland he has a change of heart. And thus the fortunes of Middle
Earth are forever changed.
An Unexpected Journey is not an exact translation of the
novel but it remains faithful in most aspects. Things were added and modified.
But the impetus is the same – the quest to the Lonely Mountain.
The Good
I have read many complaints that the 48 FPS made it look
like a cheap BBC documentary. I did not see it in IMAX or 3D but I did not have
this experience. I found the film beautiful to look at. The sets were exquisite
and the exterior shots felt like I was truly seeing Middle Earth.
Martin Freeman does a very good job of giving the younger
Bilbo life and purpose. Sir Ian McKellan
continues to bring wonder and power to Gandalf. Richard Armitage made me believe he was
Thorin Oakenshield . Andy Serkis returns as the sinister Gollum, playing the
ever famous game of Riddles with Bilbo.
The Dwarves – Each of the Thirteen dwarves is distinctly
different. Some are young, others old and fat. While all are bearded they do
not have the stereotypical beards you are accustomed to seeing. they are
dressed differently and all carry different weapons.
The action sequences are top rate, exciting, and fast paced.
Many of the battles described by Tolkein maybe lasted a few paragraphs at best.
Jackson and crew have expanded upon these quite nicely.
Despite the changes to the story I enjoyed how characters
who did not appear in the Hobbit were brought in. Rhadagast the Brown, the only other wizard
mentioned in Middle Earth is introduced and played by the Seventh Doctor –
Sylvester McCoy. Galadriel (Cate
Blanchet) and Saruman( Christopher Lee)
both journey to Rivendell to discuss Thorin’s Expedition.
The expansion of the Story.
In the original novel we discover that there is a dark force that dwells
in Mirkwood named only the Necromancer.
We learn through the Lord of the Rings that the Necromancer was none
other than Morgoth’s Lieutenant Sauron. An Unexpected Journey takes this and
runs with it.
The Bad
The Dwarves. The
quest is to reclaim the Dwarven Kingdom and here we have thirteen dwarves up to
the task. Each is introduced but only Thorin seems to stand out. This was an issue with the novel as well –
while there are thirteen dwarves they are for the most part
interchangeable. While we see each
dwarf, and some of them even have lines, Thorin was the only one I truly cared
about.
The movie is long. At almost 3 hours you might want to make
sure you have used the facilities well before the movie starts.
The beginning is slow going.
While it has some exposition and some humorous scenes the movie takes a
while to get moving.
A series of very unlikely falls. There are a few points in
the story where it was hard for me to suspend my disbelief. Most of them involved falling. The company of
dwarves, plus Gandalf, riding down a crevasse on the remains of a wooden bridge
while escaping Goblin Town? I think I
found Indiana Jones leaping from an airplane and landing safely on an
inflatable raft more plausible.
The Great Goblin. I
thought with all the different goblins and orcs that had been used in the
previous three movies that the production crew could have come up with
something better than this. His voice
was also off for me. Goblins and orcs always seemed to speak with a growl and
with an air of menace. I thought the Great Goblin came across as a greasy used
car salesman.
The fact that this is part one – and I have to wait a bloody
YEAR to see part two. And then I will
have to wait for part three. Damn your black heart Peter Jackson!
Conclusion
I enjoyed the movie. Visually
it is stunning. I enjoyed the story,
despite the changes and additions. It made me yearn to see the next leg of
their journey – Mirkwood, the Elves, and finally the Lonely Mountain. If you have the time to commit and loved the
original Lord of the Rings you should go see this.
4 out of 5 stars
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