Peter Jackson fantasy movies, at this point, I liken to Star Wars movies. They have surpassed genre-specific fans and have reached that epic level almost all movies hope to achieve but few do where everyone goes to see them. The Lord of the Rings trilogy grossed hundreds of millions of dollars in the early part of the 21st century and now in 2012 The Hobbit trilogy will most likely do the same.
Depending on your
locale the trailers will vary, but the most interesting one I witnessed was for
the new Star Trek: Into Darkness film coming out next year. I had seen the teaser previously but seeing
the full trailer for the first time on the big screen was outstanding. I’m sure most places will have this trailer,
along with several other of similar type.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first in what Jackson has decided
will be a trilogy of films dedicated to the single book, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
It starts off with the older, more well-known version of Bilbo Baggins
reprised by Iam Holm (Alien, Fifth Element) telling the tale of his greatest
adventure in narration form meaning to write it for Frodo, reprised by Elijah
Wood (Deep Impact, The Faculty). It
should be noted that this is purely theatrical and that Frodo does not appear at
this point in the original book.
The movie progresses
slowly through the introductions of Gandalf and the thirteen dwarves: Balin,
Dwalin, Oin, Gloin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Ori, Nori, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur and
Thorin whom is their leader and heir to the throne of Erebor. Bilbo, the younger version reprised by Martin
Freeman (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), is very flustered by his house and
his life being so interrupted by a gang of misfits that he just gives up and
goes to bed when he learns that he’s been signed up as a burglar for the group;
wizards are a devilishly tricky breed.
How Bilbo eventually
joins the group varies from the book but in the end the band of travelers set
out on their quest moving far to the north towards the Misty Mountains. Gandalf aims to make for Rivendell wherein
the master Elrond may aid them by both filling their stocks and reading their
map which is riddled with ancient dwarvish language long-since forgotten by the
wandering souls of today.
This is where the
movie and book truly diverge. The movie
has Thorin greatly opposed to any aid from the Elves whom he perceives to be an
enemy due to the fact that when Smaug, the dragon, attacked and conquered
Erebor the elves failed to come to the aid of the dwarves. In the movie the story of Erebor is told in
great detail; how the dwarf king Thror and his people lived and worked under
the mountain beyond the town of Dale and how they grew sinister and greedy with
their treasures. Of course Thorin sees
not these deeds, only the failings of the elves to prevent the downfall of his
beloved home.
Other changes, added
clearly for action and to add supposed depth to the story (I saw supposed depth
because the need to add such things implies that the story lacks depth to begin
with which is incredibly untrue), are the fact that there is a great white orc whom
does not appear in the book and there are councils involving Elvish leaders and
Sauruman, reprised by Christopher Lee (Star Wars: Attack of the Clones). These changes do not detract from the quality
of the movie as one expects films to vary from the book, even with Tolkien’s
work…especially with Tolkien’s work; otherwise the movie was liable to be three
hours of Dwarf singing.
The film is a visual
masterpiece. Shot in forty-eight frames
per second (rather than the standard twenty-four) it has an added dimension of
visual explosiveness. The fight and
chase scenes, of which there are numerous, are riddled with overt camera angles
and tracking shots and intense close-ups.
It’s not possible,
even for a purist, to walk away from this movie completely disappointed. Though Jackson takes many liberties to make
this movie more action-packed than the book it’s clear that he did this to
enrich the experience not destroy what was written. In my opinion the book did not warrant a
trilogy (since they managed to fit an actual trilogy of books into a single
trilogy of movies…and not make three trilogies out of them) but the way the
film played out it would have either been incredibly long or at least two
movies and, well…how can you have two?
Three movies are always best!
I can’t wait to get
back in the theater and see it again to hopefully catch all the nuances I
missed the first time around when I was just soaking in the glory of hobbits,
dwarves, wizards and other fine folk of middle-earth once again gracing the
silver screen.
Until next time,
Tim
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