Review 219: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Based on the novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, Set sixty years before The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), a curious young Hobbit is invited to journey with the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and a group of Dwarves with the goal of reclaiming stolen treasure taken from their kin at the Lonely Mountain by the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch).
The journey leads them from Bilbo's home in the Shire through the Elven stronghold of Rivendell and through the Goblin infested Misty Mountains where Bilbo meets a creature with an object of mysterious qualities that will change his life, and the life of his family, forever. As they continue, they discover that other vile creatures also seek to destroy them.
The plot is great, one of the reasons I think this is because I felt the structure was very well balanced, first there is the begining which tells us the back story of how Smaug took over Erebor and starts the main narrative by flashing back from The Lord of the Rings sixty years prior to the events, The Lord of the Rings, the main narrative of the film and then there's this strange (dark strange) subplot which features Sauron making his first precense on Middle-Earth along with that we get to see Elrond, Galadriel and Saruman (before he turned bad) again-which is nice as we only touch it breafily in the book. And I actually quite liked all this extra/added info, I just find it all really interesting, I mean yes it may all feel like set up for The Lord of the Rings trilogy or filler but it's actually really facineating, for one we learn Thorin's back story which I think gives him a better reason for being who he is than simply just being-well you know and that's something (along with how Smaug took over the Lonely Mountain) thats not really explored in the book and it all sets it beautifully and very cleverly ready for The Lord of the Rings. I can also only garentee Peter Jackson had a strong vision for this film. It also has many themes and lot of ideas, but I really want to discuss them in the review for The Hobbit: There and Back Again (saving the best till last).
Peter Jackson's direction is precise, the cinematography is gorgeous (it's shot at 48 fps (frames per second), the special effects are incredible, the score by Howard Shore is beautiful, the costumes are wonderful, the make up is rich, the props is ingenious, the battles scenes are thrilling and well choreographed (there are two warg fights, theres a battle in a Goblins lair and a fight with three trolls. The opening which features Smaug attacking the Lonely Mountains (which looks as if Godzilla has flown from Japan to Middle-earth) is kind of short but thrilling and really gets your heart racing), the production design is immaculate, the creature design is terrific (they created goblins, orcs and wargs (creatures you've never seen in the original trilogy)), the sound effects are brilliant and the ending was superb.
The acting is mainly why this film works so well for, Martin Freeman is just wonderful, he was born to play Bilbo and is one of my favourite actors, Ian McKellen is fabulous once again as Gandalf, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Christopher Lee do their useuall brilliance as Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman respectively, Richard Armitage, Graham McTavish, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, William Kircher, James Nesbitt and Stephen Hunter are wonderful as (at random order) the dwarves, Fíli, Kíli, Óin, Glóin, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Ori and Thorin Oakenshield (the leader), Andy Serkis is also fabulous again as Gollum, Sylvester McCoy is also wonderful and funny as Radagast the Brown and the rest of the cast is wonderful.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is truly a wonderful movie, full of adventure, humor, thrills, secrets and action-but above all is never quite what you'd expect it to be, 5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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