Tonight I finally saw The Hobbit (in 2D, at 24 fps, thank you very much).
NOTE: There will be a spoiler section at the bottom of this review. Please do not comment on any of the spoilers in such a way as to reveal the spoilers. Feel free to message me if you want to talk spoilers. Scroll past it to see the current ordered list. There is plenty of warning space.
NOTE: There will be a spoiler section at the bottom of this review. Please do not comment on any of the spoilers in such a way as to reveal the spoilers. Feel free to message me if you want to talk spoilers. Scroll past it to see the current ordered list. There is plenty of warning space.
I am pleased. I tried to keep my expectations low, but I was positively giddy when the opening music started. This is not a movie without flaws, but it is an excellent movie. It stayed true enough to the book not to offend me, and I believe I understand why certain things were done the way they were, which helps. More on that below, in the spoiler section.
Things I like: the music: brilliant. The dialogue: some of it was taken verbatim from the book. The dragon, or more properly the lack of dragon: I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that there is no good shot of Smaug, which adds to the mystery and menace. Gollum: Andy Serkis is a bloody genius; I can’t say enough good things about the man and his work; he dominates the screen. The props and effects: as always, Weta brings detail, nuance, and physicality that makes the movie seem real.
Things I don’t like: much of this will be in the spoiler section below. Without spoiling anything: Jackson’s obsession with tall objects falling into each other while people are standing on them. If you thought the staircase sequence in Moria (in Fellowship) was ludicrous (and it was), be prepared for more of the same. Not once, but twice.
Deciding where to place this movie was difficult. I loved the Avengers, and there was very little wrong with it. I had some problems with the Hobbit. Not many, and not substantial ones, but still some. So while the Hobbit is a brilliant movie, and I’m going to see it again, and I highly recommend it, I’m ranking it #2.
Things I like: the music: brilliant. The dialogue: some of it was taken verbatim from the book. The dragon, or more properly the lack of dragon: I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that there is no good shot of Smaug, which adds to the mystery and menace. Gollum: Andy Serkis is a bloody genius; I can’t say enough good things about the man and his work; he dominates the screen. The props and effects: as always, Weta brings detail, nuance, and physicality that makes the movie seem real.
Things I don’t like: much of this will be in the spoiler section below. Without spoiling anything: Jackson’s obsession with tall objects falling into each other while people are standing on them. If you thought the staircase sequence in Moria (in Fellowship) was ludicrous (and it was), be prepared for more of the same. Not once, but twice.
Deciding where to place this movie was difficult. I loved the Avengers, and there was very little wrong with it. I had some problems with the Hobbit. Not many, and not substantial ones, but still some. So while the Hobbit is a brilliant movie, and I’m going to see it again, and I highly recommend it, I’m ranking it #2.
Now it’s time for the spoiler section.
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Ready? Stop reading if you don’t want spoilers. Go watch the movie, then come back and read this part. It will still be here.
Things I like, spoiler edition:
Gandalf can’t remember the names of the two blue wizards. Brilliant. I love it.
Things I don’t like, spoiler edition:
Radagast. He’s pretty much unnecessary. While I don’t object to the movie being silly in places – it’s based on a kids book, after all – Radagast was out-of-place-silly, tonally offset from the surrounding scenes. Much of his piece of the plot involves actions that were, in canon, taken by Gandalf. Gandalf is the one who probed Dol Guldur. Where, by the way, he obtained the map from Thrain. So they messed with the timeline and causality for no reason other than to include Radagast, who isn’t important anyway. Speaking of which,
Silly chase to Rivendell. The equivalent chase scene in Fellowship wasn’t great, with respect to logic and distance; this was worse. Ugh. Speaking of which,
Azog. I understand what Jackson is doing here. Smaug is a distant villain, and cannot be relied upon for tension. The events of the book are largely episodic, which again does not create tension between scenes. So Jackson dropped Azog in to create a unifying foe, and a face for the antagonists. He did the same thing with Lurtz in Fellowship. It’s not how the book goes, though, and that bothers me some. Not a lot, really, but some. Also, by the time of the Hobbit, Azog is dead. Dain killed him in a great battle outside Moria.
My last gripe is with Bilbo. I understand wanting to make him more proactive – in the book, he’s pretty passive most of the time, and that doesn’t make for a great leading man. I’m even prepared to accept handing him Gandalf’s role in outwitting the trolls. I thought that was quite well done. But having him rescue Thorin from Azog – by tackling an orc and then beating some in combat – is going a bit too far.
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Ready? Stop reading if you don’t want spoilers. Go watch the movie, then come back and read this part. It will still be here.
Things I like, spoiler edition:
Gandalf can’t remember the names of the two blue wizards. Brilliant. I love it.
Things I don’t like, spoiler edition:
Radagast. He’s pretty much unnecessary. While I don’t object to the movie being silly in places – it’s based on a kids book, after all – Radagast was out-of-place-silly, tonally offset from the surrounding scenes. Much of his piece of the plot involves actions that were, in canon, taken by Gandalf. Gandalf is the one who probed Dol Guldur. Where, by the way, he obtained the map from Thrain. So they messed with the timeline and causality for no reason other than to include Radagast, who isn’t important anyway. Speaking of which,
Silly chase to Rivendell. The equivalent chase scene in Fellowship wasn’t great, with respect to logic and distance; this was worse. Ugh. Speaking of which,
Azog. I understand what Jackson is doing here. Smaug is a distant villain, and cannot be relied upon for tension. The events of the book are largely episodic, which again does not create tension between scenes. So Jackson dropped Azog in to create a unifying foe, and a face for the antagonists. He did the same thing with Lurtz in Fellowship. It’s not how the book goes, though, and that bothers me some. Not a lot, really, but some. Also, by the time of the Hobbit, Azog is dead. Dain killed him in a great battle outside Moria.
My last gripe is with Bilbo. I understand wanting to make him more proactive – in the book, he’s pretty passive most of the time, and that doesn’t make for a great leading man. I’m even prepared to accept handing him Gandalf’s role in outwitting the trolls. I thought that was quite well done. But having him rescue Thorin from Azog – by tackling an orc and then beating some in combat – is going a bit too far.
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I saw the Hobbit again, this time in 48fps (high frame rate) 3D.
The 3D is excellent. The best I’ve seen. It’s as un-gimmicky as 3D gets – it enhances the picture rather than distracting from it.
The HFR was a non-issue for me. I forgot that that’s the version I was seeing before it started, and didn’t remember until the end, which is to say that I didn’t particularly notice a difference between it and the 24fps 2D showing I saw the first time.
The 3D is excellent. The best I’ve seen. It’s as un-gimmicky as 3D gets – it enhances the picture rather than distracting from it.
The HFR was a non-issue for me. I forgot that that’s the version I was seeing before it started, and didn’t remember until the end, which is to say that I didn’t particularly notice a difference between it and the 24fps 2D showing I saw the first time.
My opinion of the movie itself is unchanged. It’s a solid adventure film with wonderful scenery, music, cinematography, and costuming. It has some bloat, but I didn’t find it overlong or slow. It has a great chase-action sequence, and one truly fabulous, brilliant scene for which I can dream that Andy Serkis will get a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
1. The Avengers
2. The Hobbit
3. Wreck it Ralph
4. The Amazing Spiderman
5. Brave
6. The Cabin in the Woods
7. Looper
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
9. The Secret World of Arrietty
10. Argo
11. Skyfall
12. Cloud Atlas
13. The Dark Knight Rises
14. Men in Black 3
15. The Man With the Iron Fists
16. Prometheus
17. Hunger Games
18. The Lorax
19. Snow White and the Huntsman
20. Total Recall
21. Bourne Legacy
22. Mirror, Mirror
23. John Carter
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