The Hobbit
Dec. 16th, 2012 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imwaldeI saw The Hobbit this weekend. I give it a B? It felt like the extended edition, not the theatrical cut. It reminded me of nothing so much as the experience of reading Les trois mousquetaires: too long, unfocused, often without a driving forward momentum, bogged down in details, but mostly enjoyable in its parts, and really coming together only when it introduces a really good villain. That last part is a reference to Gollum, and a little speculative, too as Smaug (pronounced the German way, which made me chuckle) is only introduced at the end, and I don't actually know that the next movie centering around his plot will feel more focused, but I suspect it will, and the ending gave me a good oooooohhh moment.
It's been well over a decade since I read the book, so I can't really remember how it compares except in broad strokes. I sort of hated the dwarves during their introduction. It was like how the 11th Doctor was introduced (which I HATED too). Imposing + eating all the food in the kitchen + making a mess = GRRRRRRRRRRR. Thorin softened me up a little, if only because I love Richard Armitage and the whole refugees without a homeland angle was very sympathy-enducing. (Speaking of actors I love, hi Lee Pace! I was super excited to see you, even if you had no speaking lines.)
But it's like the filmmakers forgot the reason they left out Tom Bombadil from the original LOTR trilogy when it came to a bunch of subplots, like Radagast the Brown. I love bunnies, and I enjoyed seeing them outrun the wargs, but nearly the whole thing could have been cut, and it wouldn't have mattered. Must the necromancer be in the movie? Could there be no other way for Gandalf to learn that the forest is sick?
I also thought the goblin fighting went on too long. And why was Gandalf so ineffective for most of the movie? I know it's set in the past, but was he really so much weaker back then? Gandalf, I've seen you fight a motherfucking Balrog! You killed how many orcs at Helm's Deep? Younger you can't muster up anything better against the goblins or the pack of orcs at the end? Weaksauce.
Unlike the LOTR movies, I don't think I'll see this one again in the theaters. (I saw ROTK twice in one day!) Once was enough for now. This all sounds like criticism, but I did overall enjoy my time at the theater. There just is plenty of truth to this Onion article: 'The Hobbit' To Feature 53-Minute-Long Scene Of Bilbo Baggins Trying To Figure Out What To Pack. Hahahahhaha!
It's been well over a decade since I read the book, so I can't really remember how it compares except in broad strokes. I sort of hated the dwarves during their introduction. It was like how the 11th Doctor was introduced (which I HATED too). Imposing + eating all the food in the kitchen + making a mess = GRRRRRRRRRRR. Thorin softened me up a little, if only because I love Richard Armitage and the whole refugees without a homeland angle was very sympathy-enducing. (Speaking of actors I love, hi Lee Pace! I was super excited to see you, even if you had no speaking lines.)
But it's like the filmmakers forgot the reason they left out Tom Bombadil from the original LOTR trilogy when it came to a bunch of subplots, like Radagast the Brown. I love bunnies, and I enjoyed seeing them outrun the wargs, but nearly the whole thing could have been cut, and it wouldn't have mattered. Must the necromancer be in the movie? Could there be no other way for Gandalf to learn that the forest is sick?
I also thought the goblin fighting went on too long. And why was Gandalf so ineffective for most of the movie? I know it's set in the past, but was he really so much weaker back then? Gandalf, I've seen you fight a motherfucking Balrog! You killed how many orcs at Helm's Deep? Younger you can't muster up anything better against the goblins or the pack of orcs at the end? Weaksauce.
Unlike the LOTR movies, I don't think I'll see this one again in the theaters. (I saw ROTK twice in one day!) Once was enough for now. This all sounds like criticism, but I did overall enjoy my time at the theater. There just is plenty of truth to this Onion article: 'The Hobbit' To Feature 53-Minute-Long Scene Of Bilbo Baggins Trying To Figure Out What To Pack. Hahahahhaha!
