the hobbit :: a review

          First a couple of disclaimers:  I’m not a movie critic in any official capacity whatsoever.  I’m not up on the latest art house indie darlings, nor am I a huge contributor towards giant, explosive, karate-alien-super-soldier-villain-turned-hero summer blockbuster films (in 3D!).  I’m just a guy who likes movies and likes the movies he likes because he likes them.  Period.  I also was late to the party that was thrown (and apparently boycotted by some) when Peter Jackson announced that The Hobbit would be filmed at 48 fps therefore ushering in an entire new movie industry while the rest of us 24 framers just sit at home and watch our Hi-8 home movies until we cry.  A co-worker actually informed me of this newest controversy which I ignored since I live in a city that apparently isn’t capable of even showing the film at such speeds.

            Even though I hold no degree in film, film making, or film history one thing is true: I, like most people, love movies.  As I stated before, I like what I like because I like it, but before I say whether or not I like The Hobbit allow me to explain what I was thinking before I paid a visit to the box office.

            A trilogy Mr. Jackson, are you for real?  I’ll give it to you.  I’ll give it to you that the first three movies, which I was at the midnight showings for (that’s the night before regular people woke up) were pretty amazing.  Yes, I was a card carrying member of the Lord of the Rings fan club.  I read the books, I watched the movies, I bought the DVDs, then I turned around and bought the extended director’s cut special edition DVD boxed set with another hour and a half’s worth of movie…and then I watched the special features.  I was that guy though I drew the line at dressing up in costume.  That never happened.  Even so, I was pretty happy watching the academy awards after the final LOTR had been released and the Academy pretty much gave LOTR every award there was unless it had to do with acting.  Sorry, but that’s the truth.  I remember thinking as the credits rolled at Return of the King that yes, The Hobbit should be next.

            My apprehensions came when I learned that it was going to be two films.  Having read the book I thought that two films was a bit of a stretch.  I mean, it has been a while, but I remember the book being a fairly easy read with simple language and a fun undertone; obviously meant for kiddoes.  So, how exactly will he stretch this into two feature films?  I equate it with adapting Goodnight Moon into a full fledged television series.  After realizing that Mr. Jackson never asked me and that when it came down to it the two-part-er has no bearing on my life, I moved on, got over it, and forgot about it.

            Until I learned he was going to make it into three movies.  Okay, hold up.  A trilogy?  You mean, like three big long movies-epic ones-like LOTR only a prelogy to LOTR?  After learning about the planned trilogy the whole idea became a giant money-grab for me.  Just another way for Jackson, Hollywood, Warner Bros., etc. to pad their pockets and fill the theaters with fluff and feather and leave the pillow fighting up to the viewers and critics to figure out if it was all worth it, knowing all the while that for us to find out if it is worth it we’d have to pony up the money first.  In fact I wouldn’t have seen the film at all had it not been for my oldest son who was really excited about it.  Soon enough I found the two of us paying for tickets and walking into the theater.

            Since I had pre-conceived thoughts of the entire franchise being a money-grab I opted out of the 48 frame per second edition and the 3D.  Good ol’ fashioned 2D and 24 slow frames per second for my old eyes.  Therefore I can’t give a report about the picture.  Even if I had seen it at the faster rate I don’t know enough about the subject matter to give any voice to it anyway.  What I do know is that it was nice to start at the film’s ending and at the beginning of the first.  Meaning it was nice to see the old Bilbo Baggins and Frodo again, if nothing else for nostalgia’s sake.  Seeing familiar faces at Bag End before Frodo began his own adventure coupled with a soundtrack that I did fall in love with stirred up that old excitement of the first films within me and truly made me want to go home and watch the old films again.  It’s like coming across a photograph of yourself with your arm around the neck of an old friend, and being reminded of all the great fun you had with them, then missing them.  Once the film starts you have to suffer a little back story beforehand that helps you put into perspective the reason why these dwarfs need to take back their mountain, but as soon as that big round door comes into view it seems that all the mayhem of before and all the darkness that is yet to come years down the road doesn’t even matter; if Frodo and Bilbo are content with their simple lives, then so too am I. 

            In hindsight, I realized that 45 minutes of the movie passes before Bilbo even begins his journey to the Lonely Mountain, but I really wasn’t bothered by it because spending time in Bag End is like when I take a trip home to South Louisiana.  There time sort of slows down and I’m forced to sit back and just listen to the wind.  One can never spend too much time in Bag End, like the good ol’ South I’m sure the food alone is reason enough to never leave.  Of course if two more movies are soon to come after this one then yes, eventually Bilbo must be off on an adventure of his own, and so the movie’s momentum finally begins. 

            Like the other films that came before it, The Hobbit doesn’t really slow down once the adventure starts.  Of course the parts that are my favorite are the parts I remember from reading the book, namely the goblins that turn to stone and of course Gollum deep inside the cavern.  That isn’t to say I haven’t got new favorite parts, such as the meeting between Gandalf, Elrond, Saruman, and Galadriel; and the moment in which Bilbo saves a life.  For me the entire film is a journey back to the places I loved before.  Seeing them again on the big screen while new characters-along with a couple of older ones-travel them is just as fun.  Each scene is beautifully photographed as before and Martin Freeman’s portrayal of Bilbo is spot on.  As an audience member you are never quite sure if Bilbo is in or out.  At one moment he is the hero he is told to be, another moment he is the coward he knows he is.  Which direction he takes seems to change by the second and even Bilbo himself seems surprised to have made it as far as he has once the last shot goes dark.

            In preparing to write this review, I read some reviews of my own, just to get a feel for what was being said, and to educate myself a little more about the hype surrounding the film and its touted 48 fps.  One critic noted that by the end of the movie he was all in.  I have to admit that the filmmakers’ hinting at the dragon that is just waking up inside the mountain underneath its own mountain of gold and treasure was a perfect way to end the film.  I found myself siding with the critic as I debated what I really thought about the movie.  Is it a money-grab?  Yes, it most certainly is, but it can be argued what isn’t a money-grab in Hollywood these days?  Is it overkill?  Yes, and so were the extended director’s cut special edition DVD boxed set that I bought of LOTR, and loved every minute of it.  Do I like the film?  The answer may not be as obvious as The Hobbit’s predecessors, but if the next film serves up a halfling facing down a fire breathing dragon then the answer is a definite, “Two tickets, please.”