I've seen a lot of mixed reviews about Peter Jackson's first installment of his Hobbit Trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, over the last couple of weeks. A lot of them have a pretty negative vibe. People have said that the movie is slow, boring, disappointing, and is full of annoying characters… I guess they didn't see the same movie I saw because I freakin' loved it, and I can't wait to see it again!
I'm a die hard fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth universe, and I've been wait for The Hobbit to be turned into a live action movie for as long as I can remember. The Hobbit was my favorite book growing up, and I couldn't be happier with the direction that Jackson is taking it! The first film was incredible, and I can't wait to see the adventure continue!
One of the biggest gripes about the film that I've heard and read is that it's way too long, and very slow. I full-heartedly disagree with that. When the movie ended I couldn't believe it was already over! The movie is almost three hours long, but the time just flew by. Hell, I wanted it to keep going! But, it had to end, and they ended it at the perfect place in the perfect way.
As for the complaints about the movie being boring… I didn't think it was boring at all! What I saw was completely action packed! I don't understand how people can call this movie boring. There were some awesome battle scenes with dwarves fighting goblins, an awesome giant rock monster fight, some great chase sequences and several other scenes that keep the adrenaline pumping throughout the film. Yeah, the movie starts out a little slow, but the characters have to be established and introduced, but it was done in a very entertaining way. Even when there were no action scenes the movie was still fun and engaging.
I loved the characters in the story, and I didn't find the dwarves confusing or annoying at all. The actors they got to play them were all great in their roles as well, they were a very fun and amusing group of characters, and Jackson did a great job bringing them to life. Richard Armitage as Thorin was exceptionally badass though. Ian McKellen was unsurprisingly amazing, like everyone else who reprised their roles in the story, but it was Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins who stole the show. He was amazing! I can't imagine anyone else playing that character, he was born to play Bilbo, and he played it perfectly.
We've also heard people compare Radagast the Brown to Jar Jar Binks, which is completely ridiculous. First of all, he's not even in the movie that long. Secondly, he's a fun character that plays an important part of the story. I didn't find anything annoying about him.
The special effects in the film were also incredible, but I don't think we would expect anything less from Weta on these Hobbit films. They we're amazing in The Lord of the Rings, and they're even better looking in The Hobbit. My biggest issue with the film was watching it in 48fps. It was just really weird for me. I'm not against it, I just don't think a fantasy film is the right fit for it. It kept pulling me out of the world, and I never felt like I was fully engulfed in the world of Middle Earth. There were some shots that looked beautiful, and the action sequences looked cool in it, but then there was everything in-between that I found more distracting than anything. I'd like to see a slick looking sic-fi film in 48fps, but I don't think it fit the fantasy realm. It didn't feel cinematic to me. But as you can already tell by my thoughts, it didn't hurt how I felt about the movie as a whole.
Just so you know I paid to see this movie with my own money, I didn't get invited to a press screening, so the studio didn't pay me off to write this review. As a fan I genuinely loved this movie, and I can honestly say that it's one of my favorite movies of the year. It's hard for me to understand how some people don't like this movie. I can't wait to see what the next two films have in store for us!
I want to point out is this is not as hardcore or as dark as The Lord of the Rings films were. People that have read the book know this, but it's still an amazing adventure fantasy story with lots of decapitations. Just go see the movie! I know there's going to be a ton mixed feelings about it, but it doesn't change that fact that I thought it was an incredible movie, and it was so cool to go back to Middle Earth again.
What did you think of the movie?!