It was quite a treat seeing the first Hobbit film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, with its rapid frame technology and 3D whiz bangery, at the Embassy cinema, because, of course, the Embassy is the best place to see any spectacular movie, the place being packed out adding to the atmosphere rather than detracting from it.
At any rate, happy in my non-platinum seat, I settled in to watch the nigh on three hour long film. I was a little nervous from the outset, loving as I do the Lord of the Rings trilogy and a bit uncertain how a much smaller book would be stretched out to fill three movies of about the same duration.
The answer to that was that things would take their time. The film starts off with a long, slow nod to the Lord of the Rings, with welcome cameos by Ian Holm and Elijah Wood reprising their roles, before shifting to the time of the Hobbit, and opening the current tale.
Again, the opening takes a while, with light comedy and an appalling “dishes” scene (I am not sure if it was the CGI being bad, the picture being too good, or me being too cynical, but I really thought it was terribly done) as the Hobbit (Martin Freeman) meets up with the dwarven companions with whom he undertakes his unexpected adventure. It’s a big group, with characterisation reduced to very straightforward stereotypes (the fat one, the stupid one, the hero, the good looking one, the young one etc; none of them terribly engaging), but I was surprised how little I felt Bilbo Baggins’ character was also explored. Perhaps I was just spoiled by the awesome characterisations in The Lord of the Rings.
But once the troupe leave the Hobbit hole and start exploring the world, things pick up – mainly in the action stakes. Orcs, Trolls, Barry Humphries, and more encounters with characters from the Lord of the Rings (Bret McKenzie gets to speak as not-Figwit; Hugo Weaving is all frowny face as the condescending Elrond; Cate Blanchett is as eerily luminous as ever as Galadriel; and it was wonderful to see Christopher Lee being all respectable in a “not that evil yet” kind of way as Saruman the White).
Of course, the person everyone wants to see is Gollum, and when he and his precious show up, I could feel the whole audience smile and enjoy Andy Serkis’ performance. As well as being beautifully rendered digitally, Serkis manages to add a depth and character that none of the live performances are able, or perhaps encouraged, to do. It’s a shame really, as while the turn is scene stealingly awesome, it really highlights the dullness of the other characters.
The special effects are as incredible as one expects from WETA, though some of the scenes themselves tend to drag a little. The video game arcade race through the halls of the goblin kingdom are great in a platform game, but a little dull when you are not actually directing the action with the help of your joystick. Likewise, the battle of the mountain giants is visually impressive, but the involvement of the troupe seems a little silly and probably the whole scene could have been excised without too much trouble.
However, the only character that really outstays its welcome is the Albino Orc (or should it be White Orc?) who is determined to kill our heroes, asking everyone to save the leaders for himself, but then deciding at the last minute that someone else should strike the final blow. Fuelled by a rage that has obviously stood the test of time, he and his minions show up to be threatening every so often (though they never really achieve anything), which is probably faithful to the book, but not exactly menacing nor all that interesting.
I did wonder about younger Bilbo’s eyes though, as Freeman seemed to have brown eyes whilst the older him had blue – I was not sure if this was a One Ring effect or what, but I noted early on how big and blue Frodo’s eyes are, and that older Bilbo had the same eyes, and Gollums eyes are scarily blue, and then younger Bilbo… ah.
Anyway, the most important question is: was the film entertaining? And unreservedly, I have to say yes. It was not always fast paced, and the main company really relies on Gandalf to provide a character of real interest, but its all wonderfully put together and, with the 3D high frame rate technology, it looks spectacular, if occasionally a little fake.
Verdict: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey returns to Middle Earth and serves up another dose of awesome fun. While it might not live up to the fantasticness of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it will be interesting to see how the material is stretched to cover three films, I will definitely be joining the journey myself. 10.5 members out of a party of 14.
No comments:
Post a Comment