Directed by Peter Jackson
Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro and J.R.R. Tolkien
Cast
Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins
Ian McKellan as Gandalf The Grey
Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
Hugo Weaving as Elrond
Christopher Lee as Saruman The White
Sylvester McCoy as Radagast The Brown
Ian Holm as older Bilbo Baggins
Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins
Andy Serkis as Gollum
Lee Pace as Thranduil
Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield
Graham McTavish as Dwalin
Ken Stott as Balin
Aidan Turner as Kili
Dean O'Gorman as Fili
Mark Hadlow as Dori
Jed Brophy as Nori
Adam Brown as Ori
John Callen as Oin
Peter Hambleton as Gloin
William Kircher as Bifur
James Nesbitt as Bofur
Stephen Hunter as Bombur
Nine years ago, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King wrapped up what is possibly the greatest movie trilogy in history in stunning style. Since then, there had been rumours of Peter Jackson returning to the realm of Middle-earth to adapt the story of Bilbo Baggins for the big screen. This seemed to be put to rest when the co-founder of New Line Cinema announced that "Peter Jackson will never direct a film for New Line again". That's that then, right?
Wrong. A few months later it was announced that Peter Jackson would be involved in the production of The Hobbit, but would not direct, and by the following year Guillermo del Toro had been brought on board to direct. After a string of false starts, delays and disappointments, which eventually led to del Toro's departure, and Peter Jackson once again sitting in the director's chair, we were left to wonder whether these movies would ever actually see the light of day.
Well, this week saw the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of a new trilogy of movies (with The Desolation Of Smaug coming next year, and There And Back Again in 2014). Was it worth the rollercoaster ride of a wait? Yes. Yes it was.
Opening with Ian Holm reprising his role as Bilbo from the previous trilogy as he tells the story of the dwarf kingdom of Erebor, and how it was lost to the great dragon Smaug, we then get a brief scene between Bilbo and Elijah Wood's Frodo set directly before the start of The Lord Of The Rings (it's actually the first scene in the book), and for fans of the series it's nice to see these two familiar faces, and even better to hear the words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit". We are then transported 60 years into the past, where Bilbo looking more like Martin Freeman gets a visit from a wizard named Gandalf who invites him on an adventure. Of course, being a respectable Baggins, he refuses, but it's not quite that easy to refuse the will of a great wizard. That night a company of 13 dwarves on a quest to reclaim Erebor arrive uninvited for dinner, and before you know it, young Bilbo is recruited as the group's burglar.
There have been criticisms of this first hour, with people saying that it takes far too long to get going, but on the contrary, I think they spent exactly as long in the Shire as they needed to to introduce the characters, explain what they are up to, and to give Bilbo a chance to decide that he rather would like to go on an adventure after all. All in all, I don't think they spend any more time in the Shire than they did at the beginning of The Fellowship Of The Ring. In any case, once they leave the Shire, things proceed at a breakneck pace for the next hour and forty minutes, as our heroes are faced with hungry trolls, a group of orcs on the backs of warg's led by the villainous Azog with a vendetta against Thorin Oakenshield - the leader of the dwarves, and rightful king of Erebor, and travel to the elf city of Rivendell where we are given glimpses of some familiar faces.
As with Lord Of The Rings, Rivendell appears here as the brief calm before a storm, as even more dangers await the group once they leave, including the Goblin City in the Misty Mountain, and a deadly game of riddles with Gollum. The latter being the 15 best minutes of the entire movie. It's nice to see Gollum again after so long, and as ever Andy Serkis' performance is brilliant. I particularly liked the inclusion of Gollum's split-personalities into the riddle game... "Ooh, we knows! We knows! SHUT UP!!" being one of my favourite lines in the film.
However, all of this is stuff from the book. That's not all that's going on in this movie, as in order to fill up the running time of three movies, Jackson and co. have delved into the Appendices of The Lord Of The Rings and some of the Unfinished Tales to incorporate a different threat into the movie... the Necromancer. It's not as people feared - they haven't just made things up, all of these things were going on during The Hobbit, but just weren't in the book. And in doing this, they have effectively given The Hobbit a direct link between the two stories beyond a few of the same characters appearing. The scenes with Radagast the Brown (on his rabbit-pulled sled) and the White Council really serve to remind you that there is more at stake in the world than the fate of Erebor.
Tonally the movie is as expected far lighter than the Lord Of The Rings, but they've thankfully toned it down a bit to bring it more into line with what we've already seen. The dwarf songs are presented here, though, which is definitely a good thing. And with the exception of the deadly serious Thorin Oakenshield, the dwarves in general seem to work as 6 pairs of Merry and Pippin's. All of them aren't given time to shine, but they have all been given distinct personalities even if you aren't given the time in this first movie to get to know all of them. This is far more than Tolkien did, who just seemed to treat most of them as background characters.
There are only really two big criticisms that I can level against the movie, one regarding the story and the other regarding the presentation. Firstly, the scene with Bilbo finding the ring isn't the same as it was in the prologue of The Fellowship Of The Ring (or the book). This wouldn't be a big deal if they weren't going to such lengths to link the two trilogies, but as they are the scenes should match up both times they are shown.
The second, is that with the exception of Gollum, the visual effects just don't measure up to The Lord Of The Rings. If ever you are faced with a dilemma between which you prefer, CGI or miniatures/prosthetics, just watch these movies back-to-back. After nearly a decade, this movie should far surpass those movies, but just prove that there's really no substitute for physical objects. I can understand using motion capture when it's needed (like for Gollum and the Na'vi in Avatar), but with the excellent prosthetic work on the original series there was no need for all of the orcs to be rendered in CGI. It made the battle scenes seem less real. I'm pretty sure the first time you see the elves on horseback, they are all CGI, too... why? Actors on horses work far better... they should know. They've done it.
Overall, though, An Unexpected Journey is a highly entertaining movie, which though quite different from its parent series still stands up to it. And I'm expecting my enjoyment of the movie to grow - as it did with Lord Of The Rings - when I'm able to watch all three of them (the Extended Editions, preferably) back-to-back (on seperate days, obviously... I like to sleep).
