After peter Jackson completed his perfect Lord of the Rings trilogy, it was no surprise that he wanted to take a crack at The Hobbit. Rumors swirled about how he would tackle it. Would it one movie, or two movies? Would he create a whole movie from scratch to bridge the gap between LOTR and The Hobbit? Honestly, I did not care what he did, as long as he did something. Peter Jackson showed a comprehensive understanding of how Tolkien's world worked. Then he was just going to produce, but he brought in Guillermo Del Toro to direct, which was also fine with me. After years of hold ups, Del Toro left the project to pursue Pacific Rim, an amazing looking Science Fiction movie, and Jackson was back on as a director. Then it came out it would be three movies which just threw the world off its nerd axis. But, The Hobbit is a short book and how could he possibly find a way to make it three movies. Yes, the Hobbit is a short book, but Middle Earth is rich with characters and stories. I have trusted Peter Jackson. The extended versions of the LOTR movies are actually better than the theatrical cuts. However, after the disappointment of Lincoln, I wanted to lower my expectations, but that was hard when I was getting to go back to Middle Earth!
Bilbo was once a hobbit who had a great adventure. Now an elder hobbit, Bilbo Baggins(Ian Holm) starts writing his story so Frodo will be able to read it. As a young hobbit Bilbo (Martin Freeman) was approached Gandalf (Ian McKellen)but not really given a reason. A few hours later Bilbo starts getting visitors and soon his house is overrun by 12 dwarves and Gandalf the Grey. These Dwarves are setting off on an adventure to get their underground kingdom back from the dragon Smaug. Smaug took it decades ago after the Dwarf king got greedy and started stock piling his riches. Dragons love treasure and the Dwarves were no match for the fire breather. However, signs have started to appear that make the Dwarves believe the time is now. They have to take back their home. Led by the great Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), the dwarves appear fearless. Gandalf believes Bilbo is the right person to fill out their group because Hobbits can go along being unseen. It gives them a surprise. Bilbo has no intention of laving his home, and this puzzles Gandalf because as a young hobbit Bilbo was quite adventurous. Bilbo gives in and they head off to find the Dwarves old kingdom.
Much like the LOTR trilogy, H:AUJ is, at its core, a road trip movie. We have a big group of people trying to get from point A to point B and encountering the most insane predicaments. In the Hobbit, our group of heroes are being chased by a Pale Orc with a grudge against Thorin, they get mixed up with rock creatures, and an underground army of Goblins. There is also a big bad unknown Necromancer looming, probably giant spiders and the mostly unseen Smaug. However, the Hobbit has to stand on its own and not just lean against the LOTR trilogy. As a first picture in a new trilogy set in the same world as LOTR, H:AUJ is quite successful. I am not as blindingly positive about this as I was about the original trilogy, but I am still full of wonderful raves. H:AUJ gives me precisely what I wanted it to give me. There is this great sense of epic adventure and wonder, which had to be difficult to cultivate because, in a sense, we have seen all of this before. The sweeping helicopter shots of the great New Zealand landscapes are still as stunning now as they were 10 years ago, Howard Shore's sweeping score still sends shivers down my spine as a signal of a magical journey to a magical time. Peter Jackson uses motion capture and CG graphics in a stellar fashion, even if the Pale Orc's movements were not as fluid as they would have been if it was a human in make up. I loved the sense of danger and revenge and honor and duty that these movies are supposed to fill me with.
That is not to say there are not some issues to be found. Luckily for me, the entirety of the issues come within the first hour and they were long out of my head as the film picked up steam. As we are introduced to these characters and reintroduced to this world there is some serious clumsiness in terms of tone and pacing. The Hobbit is not as serious a story as LOTR, and Peter Jackson has always had a twisted sense of slapstick humor. Here the slapstick is more traditional. The introduction to the Dwarves is incredibly wonky. They are characters we are supposed to believe in battle later, but they are all goofy characters. They are vaguely gross, they eat everything, show no care for Bilbo's stuff and it just was a wonky way to get going. The pacing in the first hour is also a bit jerky. The Prologue soars, then the movie slows down, then the dwarves come in and the pacing gets exploded. It felt like Jackson was still trying to figure out where he wanted the movie to go and what he wanted it to be. The first hour feels like the first hour of a two hour innocuous adventure film. I would not say I was bored by it, just uneasy about what it spelled for the rest of the film.
However, once the group set off on their adventure, the movie sidesteps the wonky pacing, save for an unfortunate turn to the Brown Wizard Radagast and his sled of bunnies. And even the Radagast thing did not bother me too much especially when he turned out to be helpful in a scene that was both amusing, and thrilling. The second hour of constantly changing scenery was a great trip through middle Earth. We get to see Sarumon, Elrond, and Galadriel again. We get an extended look at the gorgeous Elf kingdom of Rivendell and of course all of the gorgeous shots of the New Zealand landscape. In all honesty, there is not a ton of battle sequences until the final hour, save for a flashback as to how Thorin Oakenshield got his last name and why he understands better than anyone why the Orcs are so problematic. The second hour is, though, where we get the incredible action sequence set on these giant rocky cliffs that are actually rock creatures hurling rocks at each other causing these insane avalanches. It is a stunning work of CGI, and editing and cinematography. Hour two is also where we get a kind of ridiculous scene with three idiot Orcs that I have heard many people complain about. I actually liked this scene because it was funny, and it also showed why Gandalf wanted Bilbo on the journey. He is smart and thinks on his feet. However, it does start a trend of Gandalf being absent, then coming in at the last second and saving the day.
The final hour is a spectacle of frenzied action, and one quiet intimate scene that will live inside for a long time. That scene, the most important scene in the film and the scene that launched the LOTR trilogy is between Bilbo and an unnamed creature. We, of course, know his name to be Gollum (Andy Serkis). After being separated from the group during a Goblin invasion, Bilbo falls down a dark hole and winds up near a creature who he witnesses kill and Orc. This creature finds Bilbo and they begin a back and forth that is funny, quietly intense, subtle and brilliant. During the course of the scene, Gollum loses a ring and Bilbo, without Gollum knowing, picks it up. Bilbo is looking for a way out and Gollum offers him a deal. They will engage in a game of riddles and if Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him the way out, but if Gollum wins, he gets to eat Bilbo whole. It is the most stunning work in the film. The writing is crisp, Serkis' work s Gollum is as good as it was 10 years ago, the direction and blocking are excellent and Freeman is perfect. It slows the movie down in the best way possible and when it ends, you are left breathless and even sad. It is a monumental moment for the entire world of Middle Earth and I loved how patient Peter Jackson was with it.
The final hour features two just outstanding action sequences. And they transition into each other so incredibly well. We get the heart of the film in the end here and it sets up the next film perfectly. I loved how Jackson takes the action seriously, but also has fun with it. The entire battle sequence between our heroic group and the underground Goblins is quite a feat of fight choreography and then to follow that up with a more brutal and rough action sequence is brilliant because the heroes go from looking like superheroes, unstoppable in any situation, to destroyed and beaten to mere inches from death. That contrast makes it even more thrilling for me. I found Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins to be funny, risky, and full of great character tics. I love his facial expressions. They fit within this world very well. I admit, I was hoping for Thorin to be just a bit more mysterious like Aragorn, but that might have been my inability to disconnect from the LOTR trilogy. I also liked that Jackson is not afraid to put in some Hobbit songs. One of them was too goofy for me. but they are a huge part of Tolkien's world and it was nice to hear some of them.
H:AUJ is not the perfect film I hoped it would be, but when it was over I was ready for the next one to start. I was ready to stay in the world of Middle Earth and to still crave that after a three hour movie is quite a feat. I am disappointed I did not get any real great shots of Smaug, but I am willing to wait, if that is what I have to do. The movie really soars once the group of heroes sets off, but I would not be surprised if people out there do not take to it. I do believe it is a movie that is more for fans of Middle Earth. It does not necessarily leave the impact the original trilogy made, but I think it sets the story up for a great next chapter. I am not at all sure where a third chapter fits in, but Tolkien's writings about Middle Earth are rich with material. There are definitely things in this movie that do not technically appear in The Hobbit book. He is pulling for all of Tolkien's Middle Earth writings and that is why I know Jackson understands Tolkien's world. I will probably see HAUJ twice more, with on of those being in the High Frame Rate with 3D, just I can see if it really is the future of cinema.
Final Grade: A-
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