With the recently confirmed news that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released on dvd & blu-ray on April 8th, allow me to present to you a collection of reviews penned by the Geekzine alumni of Jim Taylor, Jonathan Taylor and Griff Williams. Andy Jamieson, Editor-in-Chief
I found The Hobbit to be thoroughly enjoyable but also flawed. While it really excelled at the more light-hearted and action-packed sequences, there were scenes which felt far too long and in need of more ruthless editing. Jackson et al seem undecided as to whether they wanted to make another extravagant epic in the style of LOTR, or a smaller scale action-adventure which would be closer in spirit to the book of The Hobbit. In attempting to do both they have managed neither, and Jackson’s reluctance to cut the fat doesn’t bode well for an audience whose patience will be stretched over three films.
Maybe I’m being too negative. Jackson and his team have successfully recreated the atmosphere of Middle-Earth which so permeated the LOTR films, and in this respect The Hobbit feels like a worthy addition to the filmic canon. The performances are largely great, with Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage and of course Martin Freeman being particularly worthy of praise. Indeed, Freeman’s best scene is also the film’s; the sequence where Bilbo confronts Gollum in the dark under the mountain is tense, well-written and beautifully acted by both Freeman and Andy Serkis, but its abundant quality as a piece of film-making and storytelling exposes the shortcomings of several other scenes in the film which could have been so much better. Ultimately, watching the Hobbit made me want to re-watch Fellowship of the Ring. While that’s no bad thing in itself, it does suggest that the next two Hobbit movies have a lot of work to do if the new trilogy is to be considered a cinematic triumph on par with the original Rings films.
Jim Taylor, the geekzine’s chief literary correspondent
And it is a very good film. It’s by no means perfect but the sheer amount of entertainment it delivers more than makes up for its flaws. I’m not sure how the story is going to be stretched to three films but I retain my faith that Jackson will do a damn good job of it.
Jonathan Taylor, the geekzine’s assistant editor
I went into the first instalment of The Hobbit expecting another Lord of the Rings. Perhaps to some that seems an obvious mistake to make, but I assure you I was not the only one that made it. The Hobbit did as well. Its opening half hour or so is an awkward attempt to recapture the feel of the original trilogy: a narrated rush through the film’s backstory to get the viewers up to speed. There are some truly excellent visual treats (the city of Erebor is presented in possibly the best shots in any speculative film since Blade Runner), but on the whole it feels as if The Hobbit has stumbled out of its front door, lacking any of the original trilogy’s gravitas.
The film, I am pleased to say, picks up from there. The cast are all perfectly chosen. Martin Freeman’s Bilbo manages to strike a perfect balance between out of his depth and awe-struck. Ian McKellen gets an opportunity to add a shrewd, slightly Machiavellian side to Gandalf. And Richard Armitage’s Thorin manages to supplant Aragorn as bearded, broody action lead with the one thing Aragorn never had: actual character development. The rest of the Dwarves are barely given enough screen-time for you to properly pin a name to a face, but each gives off at least one defining character trait for viewers to distinguish them (think Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy and the rest, but with battleaxes).
Although, as a side note, I fear that Radagast will be a divisive issue amongst viewers. Personally, he errs too close to Narnia-esque whimsy for my taste.
It goes without saying that the film looks and sounds spectacular. New Zealand is still an absurdly beautiful country, the special effects are still seamlessly integrated into the film (fun game to play with your friends: try to spot as many scenes obviously influenced by del Toro as you can – I counted three) and the new additions to the soundtrack are bang-on.
Where the film really triumphs, ironically, is in the segments fans were most worried about. In a pleasant twist, the additions to the source material actually go a long way towards enhancing the film beyond the simple get from X to Y while unfortunate incidents beset you. By bringing in the book’s hinted-at side story of Mirkwood’s enigmatic Necromancer and drawing on pieces of Tolkien’s hidden history of Middle Earth, the entire story gains a tighter, more meaningful and purposive structure. It would have been so easy just to cobble together a handful of set pieces for the audience’s enjoyment, but the liberties taken actually give the opening of the new trilogy its own atmospheres, mysteries, conflicts, climaxes and arcs – all of which promises great things for the next two films.
Griff Williams, the geekzine’s freshest recruit
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