Review: An Unexpected Journey · 8:11am Mar 23rd, 2015
Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? It's been a month since my last post, and over two since my last review. Don't worry, I haven't given them up. But in between classes, finally posting things on deviantART (insert shameless plug here), laziness, poor planning, and that one time I accidentally deleted over a page of material, it's been difficult to produce new content.
So! I'm posting something to maintain some bare semblance of interest among you guys, and to keep up my own motivation. I've got the girls working on a review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. But why, you may ask, are they working on the second film of the trilogy? Because I already reviewed the first one! This was the first review I ever wrote. Period. And the first review I've posted in a while that wasn't done by the girls. Enjoy!
After his Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King) caused a cinematic sensation almost a decade ago, director Peter Jackson is working with Paramount and MGM Studios, as well as with his co-producers Carolynne Cunningham, Zane Weiner, and Fran Walsh, to reignite the fandom by creating a new trilogy based off of J.R.R. Tolkien’s original fantasy novel, The Hobbit. The release of the first installment, An Unexpected Journey, had a renewing effect on the franchise that is not to be underestimated. My personal copies of the original films have languished in my basement ever since Gollum scared me away from them when I was seven, but this new film inspired me to finally catch up on a fandom I should have joined years ago. However, the ingenuity of the books and the first three films seem to have been too great of an act to follow, and the first Hobbit movie is a bit of a disappointment.
The novel was written years before The Fellowship of the Ring ever saw print, and told the story of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who goes on a quest alongside thirteen dwarves and a wizard named Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to save a long-abandoned Dwarvish kingdom from the clutches of the dragon Smaug. Along the way, Tolkien planted seeds that would grow into the larger epic and universe that is now known as The Lord of the Rings. What made the format work was that readers fell in love with the original novel, and only after The Hobbit had its own following was the public exposed to the more interesting and dramatic follow-up. However, Jackson tells the story in the opposite direction, and after audiences have come to adore his original trilogy, he now must convince them that The Hobbit is as important and exciting of a story. To do this, he stretches out the events of this one novel to cover as many films as the three other books did in tandem, and unfortunately, the content of this comparatively mild adventure is not quite up to the challenge.
Furthermore, in order to emphasize the impact of this quest, Jackson interjects multiple elements that did not appear in the novel in order to tie the movie even closer to the events of the larger storyline. In particular, I personally enjoyed the presence of the nature wizard Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), who was missing in Jackson’s rendition of The Fellowship. However, while these additional scenes are interesting for a Tolkien scholar, for a viewer, they only manage to further disrupt the film’s pacing, which was already a bit strained by Jackson’s attempts to prolong the screen time. Overall, while I was never bored, I never felt the suspense or thrill that Jackson’s first trilogy inspired in me.
Regardless, that does not mean I did not enjoy seeing Bilbo again. Freeman does a remarkable job of intercepting the role from Ian Holm, who played Bilbo during his less significant appearances in the Rings trilogy. Freeman is covering familiar ground, as both Bilbo and Freeman’s Dr. Watson on the BBC’s Sherlock face issues of complacency and purpose, but the performance never comes across as repetitive; I even came to understand Bilbo better than I did before the movie came out. McKellen is, as usual, fantastic as Gandalf, but I almost enjoyed his performance better than I did in the earlier films, because the character is less unstoppable, and more grounded and interesting, this time around. Jackson also does a great job with the band of Dwarves, who tend to blend together in the novel with little individual character. Jackson’s addition of costumes, vibrant acting, and new lines gives you a stronger feel for these individual characters, even though you still won’t remember all of their names.
The first trilogy set new standards for production values in fantasy films, and Jackson’s ability to add detail and nuance to fictional cultures still shines through. His creation of a Dwarvish kingdom in the first minutes of the movie is particularly impressive, though the castle’s tendency toward a particular shade of green left me with the urge to sing “We’re Off to See the Wizard.” However, the original films demonstrated balance between practical elements and CGI, while the new film has a tendency to overindulge in digital elements; in particular, an orc is just more frightening when played by an actual actor. Jackson’s prequel trilogy seems to be falling into the same overreliance on CG that plagued the Star Wars prequels; if so, heaven help him.
So personally, I would recommend this film to fans of Tolkien’s books and Jackson’s films, because it is worth watching, but only on one condition: don’t watch it thinking it will be as exciting as the other movies, because it isn’t.
: Wait, I'm not reviewing the movies in order?! But Doctor....!!
That is actually exactly how I feel about the Hobbit trilogy. I like them, and can watch them more then once, but they don't have the same sense of scope and epicness that LORTR had
Ah... Our last chance for big screen Tolkien..... Some were mad they stretched it out into 3 movies.... I was just happy to have something Tolkien related to look forward too.... Still though, I can't help but think of this song in regards to the Hobbit movies.
2902230 Yeah, exactly.
2902257 Two films could've worked. But three was definitely stretching it.
2902230 agreed. Been thinking of doing a retrospective on it like when Linkara did his Rom Spaceknight Retrospective.
Haven't seen the third one. I did like the first two better than the original LotR. It felt more...adventurous for lack of a better word.
2904109 I have; I'll have the girls review both the second and third ones. They'll give you a good idea of what my opinion of them are.