The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Film Review)

[selenak]

First of all, obvious disclaimer is obvious: these are all personal impressions, your mileage may vary, etc., and this being said: it didn't feel too long to me. The only scenes which came across as totally superfluous were the ones with old Bilbo and Frodo at the beginning, and those were only a few minutes. Nice as it is to see Ian Holm and Elijah Wood again, that was gratituous fanservice. Anything else had an emotional resonance for this particular film (not just as a call back/call forward to the LotR trilogy), notably the prologue about the dwarf kingdom of Erebor and Smaug's attack. One of the big questions at the latest when the trailers were released was how Jackson would unite the lighter tone of The Hobbit with the darker tone of his LotR films, and the answer in this film is by doing justice to both the Tolkien-given comedy of manners (Gandalf's and Bilbo's first conversation and the dwarf party at Bag End is almost verbatim, for example) with the genuinenly tragic backstory (also Tolkien-given). And of course no one is formed by that backstory more than Thorin, who in The Hobbit, the book, is tragic character. So he's basically the first "new" character we meet, in the prologue as a young dwarf, and then later again as the brooding leader in exile. The role plays to Richard Armitage's strengths beautifully, and vice versa. He's intense, stubborn, brooding, smouldering, intensely loyal to his people so you can understand why they're so loyal to him, and the film is his as much as it is Bilbo's.

Ultimately, though, the story stands and falls with the believability of the title character, and Martin Freeman is as great as expected as the original Hobbit. (And ultimately the one Tolkien was kindest to. When Bilbo goes into the West at the end of LotR, it's after a long and happy life, looking for a new adventure, with his age having taken the awareness of what the Ring did to Frodo and himself from him (mostly.) Another question I had going in was how you'd tell a satisfying story, even if it is ultimately only the first part of one, using the first six chapters of The Hobbit; the answer is that our trusty team of scribes plays as an emotional arc Bilbo to commit himself to the dwarves and their quest. When he originally does come with them (or rather, runs to catch up with them *g*) it's partly because there is that half buried Tookish part of him Gandalf tried to appeal to that's curious, and touched by the song of the Misty Mountain the night before, but it's also partly because the whole thing overwhelmed him and Gandalf half manipulated, half bullied him. Over the course of the story, he does the expected growing by using his wits and finding his courage, but as importantly, he starts to relate to the dwarves. (More about them in a moment.) The whole business of getting separated, meeting Gollum, finding the Ring etc. gives him the chance to call it quits, leave and go home, and when he doesn't but rejoins the dwarves, this time it's entirely his choice. Basically, this is where Bilbo finishes growing up. Err, not literally: of course he's an adult at the start of the story, and because Martin Freeman isn't as young as Elijah Wood was, there is no question that the Bilbo of the film is the same age the Bilbo of the book; but emotionally, it's a coming of age thing. Also a coming-together-as-a-company thing, which makes this film an interesting contrast to Fellowship, which ended of course with the company split. In this film, the end is where they all truly have become friends, regard each other with respect and are committed to each other.

Other than Thorin, the dwarves getting fleshed out most are Balin, the oldest of the company and also the quintessential wise old retainer here, and Kili, which will make Aidan Turner fans from Being Human happy. Kili as one of the two youngest gets to be upbeat and cheerful (big contrast to his role as Mitchell in Being Human and also gets to be a fierce archer, which makes me wonder whether he'll be this trilogy's Legolas (i.e. character who suddenly gets paired with everyone because of the combination of attractive actor + archery), and it's noticable Thorin is a bit more worried about him than the rest. (I could hear the slash being written already; that is, the ones from the older character/younger character branch; people who are more into "reluctant allies turning into friends" will go for Bilbo/Thorin, as Thorin seeing Bilbo essentially as a Gandalf-induced security risk and albatros around their neck and Bilbo increasingly wanting to prove him wrong is part of their arc.) All of which works also with the overall dwarves characterisation as a people in exile (Thorin and Balin can remember Erebor; younger dwarves like Kili and Fili cannot); to put it musically, the film presents both their plate throwing song side and their Far Over The Misty Mountain song side.

Oh, and their fondness of metal, which is important thematically for the grand climax in the novel. Most obvious with Thorin's grandfather in the prologue and his golden treasure, but the film later includes little reminders throughout.

Favourite of returning favourites: Andy Serkis and the GCI team do as great a job as ever with Gollum. Especially with the balance of making it clear that Gollum is really a nasty piece of business and Bilbo is in genuine danger on the one hand, and on the other the black comedy, and on the none-existing third the pathos of Gollum's fate. The crucial moment where Bilbo can't bring himself to kill Gollum is wonderful facial acting on both Martin Freeman's side and on Serkis-via-GCI side, as thankfully we don't get a voice over or sudden memory or what not to make it clear why Bilbo spares him; the film trusts its actors and the audience to get it.

Hold on, isn't that...?: Sylvester McCoy, the Seventh Doctor himself, as Radogast the Brown, getting to be both goofy and strong.

Why it pays to read the credits: we only see bits and pieces of Smaug - his shadow over the town of Dale, for example, a bit of his tail, one single eye - with Jackson keeping the entire dragon for the next film, much as we only saw Gollum's head and eyes in Fellowship of the Ring and Gollum in his Serkis played form only arrived in The Two Towers. And we never hear Smaug speak. So I was a bit surprised to find Benedict Cumberbatch, who voices Smaug, in the credits for this film, and waited till the credits came to the part where they say who plays what. At which point I discovered that Peter Jackson, presumably on the principle that if you have Cumberbatch at your disposal anyway, you might as well give him more to do, also cast him as the Necromancer, whom Gandalf in the book does off stage battle with. In this film, the Necromancer is only seen once, as a silhouette, and not heard of, either (otherwise I'd have recognized the voice), but given Gandalf's big excuse for not being around for huge parts of The Hobbit is all this Necromancer business and that the Necromancer is what much of the Gandalf-Galadriel-Elrond-Saruman conference at Rivendell was about, I think it's a fairly safe bet that in The Desolation of Smaug, B.C. will be doing double duty, and double vocal duty, too. I look forward to it, but irrevently can't help but wonder whether this means all the Sherlock fans who paired Smaug with Bilbo in advance because of the casting won't desert the poor dragon now and go for the human looking wizard (who at no point will come anywhere near Bilbo, but this is not a problem for shippers these days). Ah, well. Smaug/Gold is the one true OTP anyway.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

You make me want to see it even more; thank you.

[selenak]

It made me very happy.

[kernezelda]

While there were moments I enjoyed, the addition of multiple battles (and those far too long) and extraneous elements such as Radagast (bird excrement ON HIS FACE AND HAIR, UGH), the Necromancer and Thorin's hostility toward Elves vastly detracted from the film. The story of Bilbo Baggins was never meant to be an epic quest, and trying to make it so to match LOTR disserves the story.

On the other hand, the first fic-related pairing I thought of wasn't Thorin/Bilbo, but Charles Xavier and older Bilbo, having a nice cup of tea and discussing the merits and demerits of youthful adventures. *g*

[weewarrior]

I was vastly entertained, even by the cheesy bits. Maybe especially by the cheesy bits. :) I rarely have anything analytical to say about PJ's Middle Earth fare I'm afraid...

Due to the movie, I've also accidentally developed a crush on Richard Armitage. And I resisted for so long! *g*

[selenak]

Richard Armitage: YANA, my dear, YANA. :)

I loved the cheesy bits as well. And am so looking forward to the next installment. My criticial mind is elsewhere engaged, and once I'm back in Munich and have the undubbed version available in the cinema again, I'll watch a second time!

[weewarrior]

Doesn't surprise me. ;)

I remembered you linking to a fancast of The Sunne In Splendour years ago, which had Armitage as Richard III, and I didn't get it at the time, but now I definitely do.

I've seen it twice, but only dubbed (Misty Mountains dubbed is... interesting? Painful would be a good description, too). We'll finally see it undubbed on Sunday!