The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

     
          Dropped by Robert Miller
          PG-13, 2 hr. 46 min.
          Action & Adventure, Fantasy
          Directed by: Peter Jackson
          Written by: Philippa Boyens,
          Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh,
          Guillermo del Toro
          Starring: Ian McKellan, Martin
          Freeman, Richard Armitage
          Ken Stott
          Released: December 14, 2012
          Warner Bros.

Before I’m able to write an honest review on Peter Jackson’s prequel return to Middle-Earth with the beloved children’s-book-turned-blockbuster hit, I need to make a few caveats resoundingly clear: First, I am an earnest fan of J.R.R. Tolkien works. Ever since I was seven I’ve been able to pinpoint Tolkien’s dedication to storytelling—via the classic Lord of the Rings trilogy and the surrounding Middle-Earth tales—as my inspiration for wanting to be a writer. It has too much of an impact on my life for me to be truly as unbiased as possible.

The second caveat is more technical than anything, as the film was shot in 48 frames per second—the first film to ever be shot at that speed and the much debated topic of the movie’s merit. Much like how James Cameron filmed 2009′s Avatar with a modified digital 3-D camera he created, it definitely looks different than what most of us are used to in a film—a little crisper, a little faster. To some, this comes off as cheesy or a fake, like a soap opera on the big screen; and while the beginning really did play out like a poor stage play full of lackluster acting (strangely due to Ian Holm’s obligatory cameo as the older Bilbo Baggins) and movements seemed oddly sped up, the film definitely progressed with itself well. Either the filming in 48 fps got better as the movie went along or I just got used to it (probably the latter), but by the end of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, I felt like I was watching one of the most surreal fantasy movies I’d ever seen.

Now that those caveats are out the way, I’d rather get into what I was more interested in with this film anyway: the storytelling. How does Peter Jackson transform a trilogy thousands of pages long into three films, but then stretches a 250-page children’s story into three as well? It’s one of the questions that has been burning in book and film fans’ minds alike, and it’s still sort of lingering above us all. The cynical side of me is saying one thing: money. The less cynical side of me is trying to convince the other half of me that Jackson is only making an effort to fit in every little detail as possible, but also taking advantage of the opportunity to fit in more Middle-Earth lore and lit-fan goodies.

Then again, that side is also admitting a lot of it has to do with money. Really, you’d be foolish to think otherwise.

For those who somehow haven’t hopped on the Middle-Earth bandwagon—or at least skitched the bumper—by way of the original trilogy or The Hobbit book, Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who never went on any adventures or did anything unexpected. That is, until the grey wizard Gandalf shows up at his step one good morning; etches a dwarven rune on the green door to his comfortable, cozy hobbit hole and subsequently throws him into a dangerous journey of dwarves, goblins, dragons, treasures, trolls and more. Bilbo finds himself doing the unimaginable by helping Thorin Oakenshield and his 12 fellow dwarves reclaim Erebor, their former kingdom under the Lonely Mountain that was torn from them by the deadly dragon Smaug. Chosen for his stealth—and mostly just potential for spirit and courage—Bilbo fights side-by-side with some of the most colorful characters to grace this franchise: Balin, Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori and Ori.

Martin Freeman (Sherlock, Hot Fuzz) plays a very playful and adventurous Bilbo Baggins; much different from the rather gloomy and woe-is-me Frodo that Elijah Wood gave us over a decade ago. Ian McKellan (Lord of the Rings trilogy, X-Men) returns as Gandalf in a worldly, yet humanistic, portrayal of a wizard, while the 13 dwarves tend to play archetypes of personalities rather than whole, fleshed-out characters. Bombur (Stephen Hunter) is rather lazy, lethargic and gluttonous; Fili (Dean O’Gorman) is loyal and understanding, nearly to a fault; and Balin (Ken Stott), Dwalin (Graham McTavish) and Thorin (Richard Armitage) are traditional, conservative and stubborn warriors. All in all, they create a wide and varying palette of characteristics that work well as a whole, rather than as individual beings. I can visualize the entire company as just that—a company—but one by one, they rarely stood out to me.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey sticks very close to its source material. With two films still on the horizon, I would be surprised if it didn’t follow the book to a “T,” but sometimes this attention to detail is almost a hindrance rather than a spectacle to behold. Jackson decided to include content from appendices of the trilogy and other so-called “Lost Tales.” Characters were added and outside scenes included that often felt like jamming the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle into a spot that you just know goes riiight there. From an elongated role of the orc “ringleader” Azog (who really doesn’t have much of a reason to be a ringleader than any other snarling orc), to an awkward dinner party with the great Saruman the White (Christopher Lee), some additions didn’t seem all that cohesive to the grand scheme of this one movie. It makes sense to fit within the plans of a brand new trilogy, but I still feel as though the movies should have stayed to the same format as the book: clear, succinct and short. This book, more than any other Tolkien story, was the perfect opportunity for Jackson and Co. to churn out an engaging story, easy to be digested in a single sitting. The book was originally intended to be a bedtime story for Tolkien’s children, and even the movie carries a similar tone. There’s a lot more humor than in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and it utilizes more computer graphics than before to enhance its overall visual appeal. Truly, this film looks stunning. From the aforementioned 48 fps, to the enhanced cgi, it is a fantastical movie worthy of that adjective.

The one complaint some die-hard fans have been throwing out there is still one that stuck with me after the credits rolled, and it’s a very similar complaint to when George Lucas returned to the Star Wars universe with his divisive prequel trilogy. It sort of feels as though Peter Jackson is just toying with Middle-Earth this time around. In the LOTR trilogy, the amount of respect for the imagined world was tangible and utterly forthcoming. The fandom in Jackson poured out into the films with an equal amount of reverence. But with Hobbit, it sometimes seems like Jackson is just playing puppet master and trying to control his own creation a little too much. Jackson originally claimed he didn’t want to make The Hobbit at all, then he passed off the directing duty to Guillermo Del Toro since he felt he was too close to the material (a pretty good decision, if you asked me), but that obviously just lead right back to him in the director’s seat. I’m not saying Jackson didn’t have any reverence for the source material this time around, and I’m not even saying the only driving factor behind this new trilogy was money, but it certainly feels like a tipping point and the admiration for source material seems a little sub-par this time around than the last. At times, this film feels like an excuse for the crew to flex their cinematography muscles than it is a chance to engage in a heartfelt tale. It’s hard for me to latch onto the characters as much in this film, save perhaps for Bilbo himself, and many of them just feel like another splash of color in a very majestic landscape.

It also doesn’t help that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey doesn’t exactly stand up as a singular, full story. Once you get to the end, you realize the deluge of toil that still lies in front of the company of dwarves and hobbit, which was originally the big issue with the Lord of the Rings when Fellowship of the Ring first hit theaters and unread movie goers were left scratching their heads over the lack of finality. But that only means there is more to come, and I still feel as though most who see the Lonely Mountain ominously erect along the misty horizon will want to see the story to its climactic end.

I’ll admit I was—and still am—a skeptical fan. I can be a purist every once in a while when I feel adamant enough (even to my own downfall), and when you try to adapt the most beloved reading experience of my childhood, then that applies even more so at an exponential rate. Still, Jackson, Weta Workshop and the rest of the cast and crew had an obvious overflowing of enjoyment on this film. Even when it comes out as the manufactured happiness of some of the archetypal characters, it’s still joy nonetheless. Money may have played a role in continuing this saga past its prime, and three films may be stretching this relatively short story well beyond its breaking point, but we’re two films too short to say for sure, and if An Unexpected Journey is any indication of what’s to come, then I’m more than prepared to see it through.

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Watch the full trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey below: