Dec 14, 2012 That’s partly because The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey strives to connect all the narrative dots between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The first result is a tale I suspect many Tolkien fans will approve of (though purists may take issue with the ways Jackson has tinkered).
The answer to the question fans of Tolkien have been asking about this movie for months is “no, not really.” But we’ll get to that in a moment.The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of three movies covering J. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, is anything but “unexpected.” In many ways, it is precisely the film most of us knew that Peter Jackson would make: another Lord of the Rings movie. It has the same epic scope, breathtaking cinematography, and Hobbit-based charms as the first trilogy. The dwarves are funny, the elves are beautiful, and Gandalf shows up in the nick of time. Twice.But there are still some great surprises along the way.The opening 45 minutes of this 169-minute movie takes place in the Shire, and more specifically in Bag-End, the home of Bilbo Baggins. Much has been made of the casting of (of The Office and Sherlock fame), but the Bilbo we first see is played by the part’s originator, Ian Holm.
Bilbo is preparing for his 111 th birthday party, the same one celebrated early in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and putting the final touches on his book There and Back Again, which documents the adventure that made Bilbo very rich and, in the eyes of the other inhabitants of the Shire, vey eccentric. His nephew, Frodo, played by Elijah Wood, helps him in this endeavor and sets up a trope in the film–the introduction of characters and actors from the first trilogy. I’ll not give away who makes appearances, but there are a few that will absolutely delight.The film quickly shifts into a flashback, some 60 years earlier, and we are introduced to Martin Freeman’s Bilbo, a very different Hobbit.
Pre-adventure, Bilbo is a nervous, provincial, and awkward creature whose response to the dwarves and wizard who invade his home makes it clear he’s the last person the party should pick as their burglar. And Freeman isn’t just good as Bilbo, as anyone might have predicted. His performance is Oscar-worthy in the best possible way: rather than giving the impression of an actor doing a good job pulling off a difficult role, Freeman’s depiction is seamless and seemingly effortless.Nor is Freeman the only one putting in an excellent performance. Of course, Ian McKellan and Hugo Weaving are excellent in reprising their roles, but the most surprising performances (and writing to some extent) is that of the dwarves. In Tolkien’s book, few of the dwarves beyond Thorin have distinct personalities.
In Jackson’s film, however, these characters are subtly fleshed out and by the end, we have specific impressions of about half of the dwarven band. Fili and Kili , as the young warriors, are great to watch in action, and Balin provides a well-grounded wisdom that keeps the group–and Thorin–from going too far astray.Now if only he could have the same effect on the plot.The question, of course, is “Can you turn a 200-page book into a three-part, nine-hour movie experience that really works?”Perhaps it’s possible with a very dense and action-packed book—like ones that make up The Lord of the Rings.
But it’s important to remember that The Hobbit wasn’t written for the same adult audience as the trilogy. It is essentially a children’s book, penned for Tolkien’s children, the eldest of whom was only 13 when he started writing it, and thus it’s a much more airy and conversational story. There’s simply not enough there to fill all those hours. And what was an unfortunate but occasional issue with the first trilogy (Jackson making dramatic and wholly unnecessary changes to Tolkien’s storyline) becomes very problematic in The Hobbit.In fact, what Jackson does to stretch the tale is to vacillate between two polar strategies. In the first, he milks every bit of the text dry. This is most obvious in the dwarven party scene at Bag-End.
I did not have a copy of the book with me, but I’d read it enough to recognize each piece of dialogue from the book, as well as virtually every narrative nook and cranny. What’s more, Jackson takes Tolkien’s widely acknowledged writerly (annoying) habit of lengthy and often very dry descriptive passages—something The Hobbit is much less guilty of than any of the rest of the author’s work—and inserts the filmic equivalent. And he applies it even to the interior of Bag-End. In utilizing the text to the fullest and then further expanding on it, Jackson takes a sixteen-page bit of story and turns it into forty-five minutes of slow-paced cinema that threatens to bog the tale down before it even gets out the door and on the road.On the other extreme, Jackson feels compelled to not just change or severely embellish Tolkien (think Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers), but actually adds not one but two distinct major parallel plot lines. One involves the emergence of a shadowy figure called the Necromancer , a character to whom there are only three exceedingly vague references in the original story.
Jackson turns this into a somewhat intriguing but equally distract side story involving another wizard, Radagast the Brown , who saves the band from a terrible threat.This threat is the second and much more problematic embellishment: the vengeful orc Azog. Plucked from a brief description in an appendix to The Lord of the Rings, Azog is established as the killer of Thorin’s grandfather, Thror. But where Tolkien tells us that Dain Ironfoot killed Azog in retaliation for Azog’s murder of his own father Nain 130 years before the beginning of The Hobbit, in Jackson’s film, Azog is very much alive and bent on the destruction of Thorin for nearly killing him in battle earlier. This will set up later issues in the remaining films, as Dain plays an extremely important role at the end of The Hobbit, and part of his claim to power is based on this heroic action that, in Jackson’s film, is not his own.Unfortunately, this change is not just an issue for the Tolkien purists out there. The use of Azog detracts a great deal from the main story line of the film, interjecting unnecessary chases and fight scenes that seem intended to thrill and entertain us.
But in the end, those scenes disrupt the pace of the film and come off as Jackson doing in his first theatrical release what so many of us hated about George Lucas’ re-releases: adding in impressive special effects and picking scenes up from the cutting room floor simply because he can—never asking whether he should but only whether he could. Jackson would do well to learn from the mistakes of the master. (I mean, Storm Giants? Really?)Luckily, he does manage to keep himself on track in a couple of key places, at least one of which sells the film for me. The entire sequence between Bilbo and Smeagol , deep in the heart of the Goblin’s mountain is perfectly done. Jackson juxtaposes the quiet menace and deadly intent of the Riddling Game between the two with the obnoxiously loud capture and torture of the dwarves by the Great Goblin and their salvation by Gandalf.
But what really works is the way in which the scene reveals a great deal about both characters. In Smeagol, we get a real sense of the geographical and emotional darkness to which the Ring has driven him, as well as the scale of desperation for it that would be necessary and which will draw him back out into the light. In Bilbo, we see the essential goodness that Gandalf also sees in the Halfling—the reason he was chosen and the reason Frodo will also be selected—in Bilbo’s decision to spare the murderous creature. We also see, in both characters, a depth of cleverness which will be necessary on the journey ahead of each of them.And it is scenes like that one that hold out for me a flicker of hope that perhaps Jackson will be able to make this all work in the end. He does seem to get what makes Tolkien so great, and his ability to craft a believable Middle Earth is astounding in itself. But at the same time, I think he misses one of Tolkien’s main themes in The Hobbit: that of the destructive nature of greed. Because there can be little doubt why one would choose to make such a short book into nine hours of blockbuster cinema.
Unfortunately, he is now committed to all nine hours.So the only thing we can really do at this point is to take the same leap of faith as Bilbo—we’re already out the door without our handkerchief. And hope that things will turn out as well for us as they will for the little hobbit hero.Posted: December 16, 2012.
(November 1, 2012 – Los Angeles, CA) – WaterTower Music has announced the release of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” at all retailers on December 11. The soundtrack will be available both digitally and as a 2 CD set. A Special Edition of the soundtrack, featuring six exclusive bonus tracks, seven extended score cues, and deluxe liner notes will also be available December 11. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” features original score by Academy Award winner Howard Shore recorded at famed Abbey Road studios by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Additionally, it includes an original song entitled “Song of the Lonely Mountain,” written and performed by Neil Finn (Crowded House). “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” the first of a trilogy of films from Oscar-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson (“The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy), will be released in the U.S. on December 14, 2012. One of today’s most respected, honored, and active composers and music conductors, Howard Shore previously worked with director Peter Jackson on “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy. Shore’s music for “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy has been performed in concerts throughout the world. In 2003, Shore conducted the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the world premiere of “The Lord of the Rings Symphony” in Wellington, New Zealand. Since then, the work has had more than 140 performances by the world’s most prestigious orchestras, and has even been the subject of a book, “Music of The Lord of the Rings Films.” “I have looked forward to returning to the imaginative world of Middle-earth for quite a while,” says Shore. “I read all of the books by Tolkien, including ‘The Hobbit,’ when I was in my twenties, and his deep love of nature and all things green resonates deeply with me.” “It’s a thrill for us to work with Howard Shore on ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ soundtrack,” stated WaterTower Music head, Jason Linn. “His reputation and body of work have long inspired us, and we look forward to another successful partnership as we embark on the next chapter of our journey together.” Shore’s music for “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy stands as his most towering achievement to date. He won three Academy Awards for his music for those films, two for Best Original Score, and one for Best Original Song. Shore has also won numerous other honors for his film work, including four Grammys and three Golden Globe Awards. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” on WaterTower Music in the United States and Decca Records outside the United States. It will be available on December 11, 2012. The track listings for the 2 CD Standard and 2 CD Deluxe versions are as follows: “The Hobbit” Special Edition Tracklist: Disc 1: - 1. My Dear Frodo
2. Old Friends (Extended Version)
3. An Unexpected Party (Extended Version)
4. Blunt the Knives performed by The Dwarf Cast
5. Axe or Sword?
6. Misty Mountains performed by Richard Armitage and The Dwarf Cast
7. The Adventure Begins
8. The World is Ahead
9. An Ancient Enemy
10. Radagast the Brown (Extended Version)
11. The Trollshaws
12. Roast Mutton (Extended Version)
13. A Troll-hoard
14. The Hill of Sorcery
15. Warg-scouts
- 1. The Hidden Valley
2. Moon Runes (Extended Version)
3. The Defiler
4. The White Council (Extended Version)
5. Over Hill
6. A Thunder Battle
7. Under Hill
8. Riddles in the Dark
9. Brass Buttons
10. Out of the Frying-Pan
11. A Good Omen
12. Song of the Lonely Mountain (Extended Version) performed by Neil Finn
13. Dreaming of Bag End
- 14. A Very Respectable Hobbit
15. Erebor
16. The Dwarf Lords
17. The Edge of the Wild
“The Hobbit” Standard Edition Tracklist: Disc 1:
- 1. My Dear Frodo
2. Old Friends
3. An Unexpected Party
4. Axe or Sword?
5. Misty Mountains performed by Richard Armitage and The Dwarf Cast
6. The Adventure Begins
7. The World is Ahead
8. An Ancient Enemy
9. Radagast the Brown
10. Roast Mutton
11. A Troll-hoard
12. The Hill of Sorcery
13. Warg-scouts
- 1. The Hidden Valley
2. Moon Runes
3. The Defiler
4. The White Council
5. Over Hill
6. A Thunder Battle
7. Under Hill
8. Riddles in the Dark
9. Brass Buttons
10. Out of the Frying-Pan
11. A Good Omen
12. Song of the Lonely Mountain performed by Neil Finn
13. Dreaming of Bag End