The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

"In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit", so the story says. And so, almost exactly nine years to the day after begrudgingly leaving Middle Earth, Peter Jackson has finally decided it's time it was told. And told properly by the sound of it. 3D, double the industry standard frame rates, and circa 300 pages (in my edition at least) spread into three truly blockbuster films (An Unexpected Journey really living the definition of epic at just shy of 3 hours).

Lets deal with the latter point first; yes, three films. From 300 pages. To put that in context, the original publications of the Lord of the Rings trilogy carried a much more impressive 1571 pages. And three films were crafted from that. Now I'm not for a second going to suggest that everything from those fifteen-hundred pages was used in the original film series, but it does just contextualise the scale of the difference with this new trilogy. To be honest, I was happily on-board with the original two film premise. That seemed plenty sufficient enough to tell the story I remember from the book in typically lavish Jackson fashion. The extension to three that was announced in late July this year does therefore grate somewhat, even in spite of Jackson's assertion that the embellishments are taken directly from Tolkien's own notes on additions that he wanted to bring to his own story. Unfortunately, that initial instinct does hold some truth when watching the film, which does feel padded, and more annoyingly, almost self-indulgent in places when it seems to find requirement to go off topic in wild tangents. Indeed, the fact that after almost three hours of the luscious New Zealand visuals and seamless WETA effects we're only concluding the sixth chapter of the book goes some way to demonstrate the expansion of the story that has gone into the film.

Something tells me that the wig department had a field day on this film...

All that said, there is plenty in the three hours to keep almost any audience entertained. It seems almost redundant to say, but nods to the book are plentiful (including several direct quotations of key lines, a particularly nice touch for the bigger Tolkien fans), and indeed numerous salutes to the previous films as well (perhaps the most obvious of course being Elijah Wood and Ian Holm reprising their roles as Frodo and (old) Bilbo respectively). Pleasingly, those touches do give the first Hobbit film an enormously familiar feel, though that does come with rather a double edged sword. Truth be told, it feels great to be back in Middle Earth; this film is a welcome return to the world of absolute beauty, wonder and mythology that could only be the product of a genius like Tolkien's, but on occasion it doesn't really feel like anything has changed or improved. Tellingly, there are several shots that Peter Jackson could just have substituted in from the first film and nobody would have been any the wiser. As a result, although it feels totally comfortable and brilliantly in keeping as part of the fuller film series, there are very few occasions when anything feels particularly 'new'.

One thing that has changed of course is Peter Jackson's choice of technology. The aforementioned 48fps is double the typical Hollywood frame rate, a theatrical standard that has been in use since 1927. Put in context, that does seem like a long overdue leap forward, and of course, it does have quite splendid results, with the sweeping vistas and high quality special effects looking even more crisp and immersive. The scene with Gollum is of particular note here, and the extra detail does certainly help the movie do justice to such a pivotal and iconic moment, which is brilliantly delivered by Andy Serkis (though truth be told, he's had long enough to get the character right!). That said, the higher frame rate does deliver rather more mixed results in close up shots, and most particularly in close up action sequences. An unwanted side effect means that the effect does have to be rather perfect, as the additional texture and frame definition is a little more unforgiving of the poorer quality effects, of which there are indeed a few.

Someone's not happy... Bloody Bagginses.

Despite sounding increasingly negative in this review, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey actually has an awful lot going for it. As previously mentioned (and as you'd pretty much expect from Jackson and his team) 99% of the visuals are truly breathtaking. Yes, Jackson plays up to it, so a new panorama is seemingly crow-barred in as frequently as possible, but when they look as good as they do, it's mostly forgivable. The added familiarity also adds it's own distinct advantage, bringing with it that sense of magic that just rekindles the excitement of seeing the original series for the first time (so much so that I wanted to go home and rewatch them all immediately). Sure, there are a myriad of moments so forgettable they escape notice before even leaving the cinema, but the bits in the middle that string the story along are certainly more than worthy enough to hold your gaze and attention for the full 169 minutes (105 pages).