The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey
By Sean Lynch
Let's get this out of the way early, Lord Of The Rings and the world of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien isn't my bag. In fact, if Lord Of The Rings was featured in a bag store, I would walk out, cross the street and purchase a donut instead. That's how little my bag this stuff is. For most, there are only two real trilogies - LOTR and Star Wars... for me, it's Back To The Future.
How is any of this relevant to the review of The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey... well, basically I'm saying I'm coming into this without expectation or rose coloured glasses. I'm watching it for what it is and nothing else.
So here's what I know... It's a prequel to The Lord Of The Rings, and follows the journey of Bilbo Baggins (The Office's Martin Freeman) who is swept into an epic adventure with a tall and creepy wizard and a bunch of homeless looking midgets. Their quest has something to do with a bunch of made up words like "Erebor" and "Smaug".
Then, along the way, they also bump into the seventh doctor from Doctor Who (who for some reason is covered it bird shit) as they continue on their journey through the wild and treacherous lands which are swarming with Goblins and Orcs and other Brynne Edelston look-alikes, as well as deadly Wargs and a couple of Sorcerers thrown in for good measure.
There's also a few fun cameos from LOTR regulars like Gollum, who is really a bit of a dum-dum. Living on the shores of an underground lake (location, location, location), ol' mate Gollum continues to be the creepy, ring hungry, lacking in Vitamin D, creep we know and love. He's essentially Toby from the American version of The Office... what a loser.
Then theres some fisty cuffs and some running and some "learning the true meaning of being a small guy" codswallop. I'm not sure, I wasn't paying attention because Dame Edna had a ball bag on his neck and it really got me off track. Regardless, it all finishes in a rush (thanks to some large birds who inexplicably make the journey ten times harder for everyone involved) and the ending sort of has no point. Does that sound about right?
The Hobbit is an interesting one. Since The Lord Of The Rings came out (which, as I've stated, I hated) , the landscape of how audiences view TV and Cinema has changed dramatically. With the increase in quality of hour long TV, DVD and NetFlix viewing habits, Harry Potter & Twilight "sagas", we are all now expecting - nay, hoping - that a single instalment of a franchise is just PART of the story.
It's not like the old days when Police Academy : Assignment Miami Beach was just expected to be a three act a stand alone adventure - now we would hope Police Acedemy 5 was simply "Chapter 5" in one LARGE OVER ARCHING narrative.
What I'm getting at is this: what was Lord Of The Rings' weakness in it's time is, now, The Hobbit's greatest strength. Why? Because we're not botherd that An Unexpected Journey isn't a fully realised or stuctured film. It's essentially just like watching a couple of episodes of a TV series that you know will eventually all come together by the end of the other episodes. That's the way we like it!
Knowing there's more to come, as a viewer, you can really just let yourself get caught up in the adventure of The Hobbit. It's fun just to hang out with these characters and go along for the ride - not really caring where it's all heading or how it will end.
Now, I'm well aware those who have read the books will get nothing from this review. This review isn't for you - this review is for those who AREN'T or who have NEVER BEEN into Tolkien... you know... people who have had sex before. What I'm trying to tell you newbies is this: The Hobbit is fun, the Hobbit is long, The Hobbit is simply a piece of the puzzle... and now that's we've all experienced weekend long DVD marathons of Breaking Bad & The Sopranos we can now understand and enjoy the format.
Anyhew - good news for Hobbit nerds... there's a stupid number of special features. Just check out these babies:
- New Zealand: Home of Middle Earth
Video Blogs
- Start of Production
- Location Scouting
- Shooting Block One
- Filming in 3D
- Locations Part 1
- Locations Part 2
- Stone St. Studios Tour
- Wrap of Principal Photography
- Post-production Overview
- Wellington World Premiere
Theatrical Trailers
- Dwarves
- Letter Opener
- Bilbo Contract
- Gandalf Wagers
- Gollum Paths
Game Trailers
- The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-Earth
- Guardians of Middle Earth
- Lego The Lord of the Rings
Conclusion: Movie 79.95% Extras: 65%
