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| Courtesy of Warner Bros. |
With the remarkable success of The
Lord of the Rings trilogy – including critical acclaim, almost $3 billion in
worldwide box office and a mountain of Oscars – filmmaker Peter Jackson and his
team essentially set the precedent for the modern blockbuster. That kind of
achievement gave Jackson free reign to make any movie he wanted, so naturally
fans started asking about his involvement with The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien’s
previous Middle Earth story, as soon as the end credits rolled on “The Return
of the King.”
Understandably, the writer-director
wanted to branch out a bit, which led to ambitious misfires like King Kong
and The Lovely Bones. With those out of his system, Jackson initiated his
return to the world of hobbits, wizards, dwarves and orcs. His original plan
was to executive produce and write the scripts (along with fellow screenwriters
Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) for two movies that Guillermo del Toro would
direct.
However, after numerous false starts
and bankruptcy proceedings involving the film’s studio, del Toro jumped ship
and Jackson took his rightful place as director. In most people’s minds he was
the natural choice to begin with. Then plans changed yet again after he began
shooting, and two movies became three.
So was The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey worth the wait? Mostly. The 170-minute flick is very good, but those
expecting greatness on the scale of The Lord of the Rings will be let down.
There are some phenomenal action sequences and interesting characters, but the
film is crammed full of subplots and flashbacks that feel unnecessary. It’s
like Jackson is trying to turn The Hobbit into The Lord of the Rings, but
they’re different texts for different audiences.
The adventure centers on Bilbo
Baggins (played as an elderly hobbit by Ian Holm and for most of the film by
Martin Freeman), who is recruited for a dangerous mission by the wizard Gandalf
the Grey (Ian McKellen). A company of dwarves is seeking to reclaim their
homeland and gold, which involves doing battle with the fearsome dragon Smaug.
(But not yet. We still have two movies and six hours to go.)
Gandalf believes that Bilbo will
come in handy on the sneakier parts of their journey since he’s small, clever
and crafty. The dwarves, led by noble Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage),
remain unconvinced but defer to the wizard’s judgment. Bilbo is also against
the idea at first, but he eventually finds himself a long way from home,
wielding a sword and facing down goblins, orcs and another deadly creature
we’ve seen somewhere before.
Jackson’s most recent works have
been bloated and overlong, so I questioned whether he really needed a trio of
three-hour movies to tell the story of Bilbo Baggins. After all, Tolkien’s book
is less than 300 pages. Even now that I’ve seen the film my fears haven’t
exactly been dispelled.
The director’s smartest decisions
involve his casting choices. Bringing back familiar faces like McKellen, Holm,
Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Elijah Wood was a no-brainer. It’s certainly
great to see them again and they act as a welcome bridge between this new film
and the old ones.
But his most inspired move was
casting Freeman as young Bilbo – I can’t imagine anyone else in the role. He
brings copious amounts of humor and heart, while also acting as the audience
surrogate in a strange and beautiful world. Bilbo starts out as a timid,
stubborn homebody, but he’s a lot braver by the end with plenty of room for the
character to evolve over the next two films.
Freeman also has phenomenal
chemistry with Andy Serkis, who once again plays the iconic Gollum in what is –
by far – the film’s most wonderful scene. Taken directly from Tolkien’s novel,
the “Riddles in the Dark” section introduces the dual nature of Gollum and also
gives viewers their first glimpse of a little gold ring that will have enormous
importance later on.
The biggest issue I have with The
Hobbit is that it doesn’t work as a standalone film. The Lord of the Rings
movies – despite being smaller parts of a whole – still had their own
individual story arcs while simultaneously painting a bigger picture. The
Hobbit doesn’t do that; even the smaller subplots are unfinished.
I also have some minor quibbles with
the film’s unnecessary flashbacks, subplots, and sometimes cartoonish CGI
(though certainly not in Gollum’s case), but overall it’s still fun and
exciting entertainment. (But parents should take the PG-13 rating seriously.
There are a few creatures that will be downright nightmare-inducing for young
children.)
For the most part, The Hobbit is a
success. But the idea that we have six hours to go feels exhausting. I’m
guessing that’s not the emotion Jackson was going for.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
is rated PG-13 for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and
frightening images.
Grade: B
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