It didn't help when it was revealed that Jackson has decided to try and see if lightning strikes twice, by splitting the fairly slim book into three separate, 3 hour long films.
The first of the new Hobbit Trilogy has been named, in part, after the books first chapter and spans approximately the first third of the book (with some added stuff courtesy of Peter Jackson, but more about that later.) After a short prologue involving Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) and Frodo (Elijah Wood), tying The Hobbit to Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the story flashes back to when a young Bilbo (Martin Freeman) is approached by Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to accompany some dwarves on a mission to reclaim their homeland from an evil dragon. Of course, Bilbo is initially reluctant, due in part to being a hobbit who likes nothing more than to stay at home away from adventure, but he soon agrees to join Gandalf and the ragtag group on their journey. After stopping off at the Elf Kingdom and failing to get the blessing for their mission from the council, including Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Saruman (Christopher Lee), Bilbo and the dwarves are forced to continue on with their journey without anyone to help (except good old trusty Gandalf.) What follows is the setting up of a new mission and new dangers (while also feeling quite familiar at the same time) without the group actually making it to the dwarves homeland.
The reason why I say that it's all too familiar, is because The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey does largely feel like that little unknown film, Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring. The two films are alike in the sense that their soul purpose is to set up the mission that the protagonists are facing and (re)introduce us to the world and the dangers that they now face. While it's not all boring exposition (even though the start is a little bit slow), you can't help but feel after watching the film that the best is still yet to come.
Sure, An Unexpected Journey does provide us with some the added thrills (courtesy of Jackson, that wasn't in the original book) of the Orcs returning to be the main antagonist. The Orcs are lead by Azog (Manu Bennett), a large and impending Orc who has a personal vendetta against Bilbo and the elves. To be honest, he was a welcome addition made by Jackson to include more predominantly in the film, otherwise Bilbo and the dwarves would have been simply chased by wild wolves (Wargs), like in the book, which might have felt a bit flat and unthreatening on film. While Azog's CGI left much to be desired, unlike the rest of the visual effects in the film, and his dialogue was sometimes a bit cheesy and "on the nose" (especially when he kept calling them "Dwarf Scum"), I still found him to be an effect antagonist.
Having said that, not all of Jackson's additions seem to fit in as well. His choice to include more light-hearted humour fell a bit flat sometimes - noticeable moments where this happens include when a Dwarf asks for some chips (do they have chips in Middle Earth?!) and when Bilbo is attempting to free the dwarf's horses from a group of Trolls and Jackson decides to include some snot gags. It just made the film, as a whole, feel more like a light hearted family fantasy epic, rather than the dark and mysterious Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Another example of this includes Jackson's decision to feature the Brown Wizard, Radagast (Sylvester McCoy) more predominantly (considering he only has a fleeting mention in the book.) While Radagast's scenes weren't all bad, his attempt to bring a dead hedgehog back to life felt like it was lifted from a Disney film and his bunny rabbit sledge chase, when he was trying to lure the Orcs away, felt a little flat and boring compared to what it should have been.
However, An Unexpected Journey is not all bad. In fact, it's a pretty solid opening to a new Middle Earth trilogy with Jackson back at the helm. The casting was pretty spot on (although we didn't really need to have Elijah Wood and Ian Holm come back for about a minute of screen time, did we?!) and even though the dwarves were a little hard to tell apart (something that was always going to be a problem with such a large ensemble piece) the actors did a god job of keeping the group into a tightly knit community that we cared for - although Gandalf did fall into being a bit of a babysitter at time, because those dwarves are just so useless.
The film (and books) highlight has to be the inclusion of Gollum (Andy Serkis) who is just as obsessed with the ring as he was in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The CGI used to bring him to life is still as breath-taking, and the riddles scene that he takes part in with Bilbo is a welcome break from the dwarves encounter with and escape from the Goblins and their King. I just hope that Jackson finds a way to try and bring him back into the other two Hobbit films (although I'm not sure how?)
So, overall An Unexpected Journey is a pretty solid effort into kick-starting the new Middle Earth Trilogy. While Jackson's decision to split the small book into a three part epic film series was a questionable one, his ability to intertwine new ideas with those already existing with J. R. R. Tolkien's is pretty seamless. So sit back and enjoy the wonder of Middle Earth... again.
**** / *****
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