“The Hobbit” leaves viewers dazed but not amused
A casual viewer attending “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is well advised to take along some Red Bull to keep you awake for the endless road-trip start and some Dramamine to swallow during the dizzying climactic battle scenes in which heads roll.
New Zealand director Peter Jackson, who did such an inspired job bringing the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy to the screen, caused fans of the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy books to cheer when announcing he would turn “The Hobbit” into a trilogy. Hard-core followers may be pleased with the nearly three-hour-long result, since Jackson stretches the material to get as much mileage out of Tolkien’s text as possible, but others may find the title to be a strain on a viewer’s patience.
Perhaps it’s just a case of too much of a good thing, since many viewers seem destined to leave theaters feeling more dazed than amused.
But good, bad or in between, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” promises to deliver a king’s fortune to Jackson and his studio partners as the loyal “Lord of the Rings” buffs rush theaters in hopes of experiencing something akin to the thrills they felt in the previous acclaimed trilogy.
The $270 million epic, which is based on Tolkien’s young-readers’ novel (1937), follows the young Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who has never used a sword and enjoys living in the comfort of his Hobbit hole, as he joins the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen). They embark on a journey with 13 dwarfs across Middle-earth to locate Lonely Mountain, face a dragon, battle enemy orcs, trolls and goblins, and try to stay alive.
During all of the exchanges, Bilbo comes to possess the powerful gold ring that’s key to the fate of Middle-earth. He then deals with the obsessed Gollum (Andy Serkis in another impressive motion-capture performance) who will go to any extreme to possess the powerful object.
Some favorites returning from “Rings” in this prequel include Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Ian Holm as the old Bilbo and Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins. Other new characters populate the quest, but few have memorable personalities and never deliver breakout performances.
Many industry observers are keeping a close eye on the opening of “The Hobbit” because Jackson filmed it at 48 frames-per-second (the normal count is 24 frames), a shockingly clear visual style that gives the image a hyper real (some might say plastic) appearance. The look received the full support of 3-D whiz James Cameron. He might use 48fps in his two “Avatar” sequels, coming in 2014 and 2015, and certainly Cameron, a famously perfectionist filmmaker, will improve the visual style, which at this point looks different but not necessarily better. (A limited number of theaters will offer the film in 48fps, and it does look like something we will see a lot more of in the future.)
This first installment faced some pre-production problems that might explain the bloated nature of “An Unexpected Journey.” Gifted Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth”) was originally hired to direct. Unfortunately, some delays due to rights issues caused del Toro to leave the project, and rather than let it languish, Jackson agreed to return as director and guiding force.
Perhaps Jackson needed more time to tighten the script, and it seems like the director went out of his way to push the PG-13 rating to the limit by punctuating the story with intense battles and some decapitations.
As a fan of the first three “Rings” titles, perhaps my expectations were just too high for “An Unexpected Journey.” Maybe the two sequels — “The Desolation of Smaug” and “There and Back Again,” arriving in 2013 and 2014, respectively — will energize the tale that now seems more like a loud video game than a compelling motion picture.