Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
I had much anticipated seeing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at
my local cinema. I will break
my review down into 4 parts. Disregard the parts you dislike and read those you
enjoy.
Acting
Four performance
I found the most memorable for good or for bad.
Martin Freeman
was wonderful as Bilbo Baggins. I first encountered him in the BBC Sherlock
Holms series as Dr. Watson. He is a
solid character actor that delivers real ‘human’ performances. Using him as the
main character helped me and the audience integrate with the material. His performance as the classical fish out of
water was refreshing and reminded me at times like how I would react to those circumstances.
I am curious how he will perform in the next films.
Ian McKellen was
wonderful as always as Gandalf the Grey. He portrayed Gandalf very well and mirrored the book fairly well.
Richard Armitage
portrayal of Thorin Oakenshield was a little flat at times and his real age was
apparent though the makeup. His characterization made Thorin seemed less a
leader and more a follower caught up in the wave adventure. I think he was miscast. The role needed
someone with more gravitas.
Ken Stott acted
wonderfully as Balin and seemed to steal all of Armitage’s scenes. He engaged
me more than any of the dwarf characters. His portrayal made believe he was the
real leader of the dwarfs. He was the more memorable dwarf.
Special Effects
With so much CGI
in the move it was hard to focus on just one element. Here are a few things I
noticed.The Eagles looked beautiful. The feathers seemed to move independent of one another in the breeze. They still need to talk though.
Gollum was
suitably creepy. I wish though they could have made him look a little grimier.
He lives in a cave after all. He looked
freshly showered. Otherwise he was
wonderful looking.
The fire scenes
with the trees seemed a little fake to me. I have seen pine trees ablaze and
they burn fast with the fire racing to the upper branches. A little more realism
would have added more to the sense of peril the dwarfs were in. The scene was
drawn out a little too long for me.
Pacing
Well there are
many thing to be said about the pacing and I will cover the two most bothersome
things to me.Several scenes were padded making them fill overly long. Some like the dwarfs arriving was the perfect time to introduce the dwarves in single or pairs. The director skimmed over a couple of dwarves I think and did not dwell long enough on them to allow us to associate them with their names.
The Troll scene was
wonderfully done aside from not knowing the Trolls names. But one part surprised
me. In the book the Troll cave is hidden behind a stone pivoting door. Bilbo
finds it and opens it but in the film they just walk right into an open cave.
It would have been a great time to demonstrate Bilbo’s natural cunning as a burglar.
Aesthetics
Are the goblins
of the Misty Mountains all nudists and their king showing the greatest in corpulent
flesh? Are we to assume that from their portrayal in the film that because they
are an evil race they also eschew clothing? They have a structured sociality and
there is mention in the later part of the book of nations and alliances and
there great capital in the mountain of Gundbad. Why are the goblins who are
dressed in THONGS?