While
both were fixtures of my childhood, I read The Hobbit rather more. Well,
Lord of the Rings was a commitment of all your reading time for weeks,
even months, whereas The Hobbit could be read in a few days. But it was
a lot more inconsequential and I even came to view it as babyish, especially
beside its big brother. The Hobbit makes Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in their
little club sharing ideas make much more sense. It is in every way more
child-appropriate, simplistic and indeed, superficial. I never really felt
Bilbo was in any danger, unlike the members of the Fellowship. The dwarfs were
silly griping fellows and for all their roots in Norse mythology, they had
silly names and their quest seemed rather abstract and fuelled by gold. The
trading of riddles, so iconic now, always struck me as a very unlikely scenario
and I resented Bilbo for cheating, even if he did so inadvertently. The ring,
meanwhile, even though Tolkien actually rewrote the passages featuring it once
he knew how important it was going to be, seemed so trivial, as Bilbo slips it
on and off as he pleases – though of course it takes time.
Well,
I haven’t read the Hobbit since I was a preteen, but still remember much of it,
largely because of family discussions. So I know just how much was added to
this film, how much padding and embellishment there was – but that’s quite
understandable in an effort to make a rather small quest story epic, and expand
it to no less than three full films, which I can’t say I think entirely
necessary when they could be getting on with The Silmarillion. The
padding hasn’t just stretched the content to three films, though – it’s
stretched this film to a full three hours, which is really too long. The first
act in particular, when a mass of characters we can barely distinguish from one
another are introduced, is long-winded and I am very sure that the main
criticism The Hobbit will suffer is that it was dull. I had a very good
time of it, recognising hints and references, but I was also aware that had I
known nothing of mythology, deviations from the text or what was to come, I may
have been bored.
However,
bored I was not. A little surprised by sudden changes of scene once or twice,
but very soon delighting in the new chapter. More or less all of the additions
I loved, especially giving Radagast not only a role but a great and endearing
eccentricity, with a very obvious visual clue to how little he cares for the
impression he gives others. I was puzzling over who the actor was for a good
few minutes, having forgotten the prior announcements but knowing he was
terribly familiar, but when I realised it was the Doctor I remember seeing on
Saturday evenings, I couldn’t have been more pleased. I hope this leads to
Sylvester McCoy having a career renaissance, and his interactions with Gandalf
were priceless. Though now I will no longer get to be quite so snobby about
actually knowing who Radagast is – until now it was a bit of a bit of geeky esoteria.
The
film squeezes in a prologue of sorts with Frodo and the older Ian Holm directly
before the opening of Lord of the Rings, which is a lovely nod to the films
these quite clearly build from. We are then shown the younger Bilbo, and Martin
Freeman does an absolutely excellent job in his usual slightly baffled
Englishman role. I may not care much for Sherlock or The Office,
but he’s certainly one of the best things in either, and provides a nice Hitchhiker’s
Guide link with yesterday’s film, Seven Psychopaths. As Bilbo
tumbles into the quest, he gains confidence, and it will be great to see him
grow further in the next installations. As well as the familiar encounter with
the mountain trolls, the stop at Rivendell, the encounter with the goblins and
Bilbo meeting Gollum and finding his ring, the film gives itself more of a
structure by introducing a baddy only mentioned in the book as part of the
story of Thorin getting his full name Oakenshield. This allows for some pretty
heavy action scenes, and gives the film the artificial climax it needs. We also
get Radagast encountering Sauron in an early form, and having a rather
confusing episode with what will become a Nazgul, here apparently a summoned
spirit and not a man who can only be killed by a woman. There are also added
appearances from Saruman and Galadriel as well as Elrond, which is great –
seeing those familiar faces and getting Christopher Lee another screen credit
is never a bad thing. Also present is Stephen Fry – his voice, at least –
unexpectedly as a goblin king with a huge wobbling chin I’m sure insecure
Stephen will quietly fret over. The eloquence of this hideous creature and his
sublimely awful singing make for an excellent casting choice, turning what
could have been a highly forgettable character into a very memorable one.
The
dwarves are more memorable than they might have been, too. Though some are
little more than ‘the fat one’ or ‘the daft one with a slingshot’, others get
distinguished well, though of course it’s Thorin that does the most growing –
and comes over as far more formidable than in the book. James Nesbitt’s one
scene shows his great talent at seeming like a lovely guy in just a few words,
and the guy from Desperate Romantics as the one bizarre good-looking and
non-squat dwarf gets to stand out as a character as well as a face with his
naivety and careless tongue.
It
was long and in summary, doesn’t feel that action packed, but it was in fact
very enjoyable and I’m looking forward to seeing Beorn, hearing Smaug and cringing
at the spiders in glorious 3D – and yes, the 3D was exemplary here.
I
may well go and see The Hobbit again, too. After all, I saw it in 24fps,
which I had no complaints about, and was happy I saw first, but I am curious
about the controversial 48fps. I remember when making a film for my master’s
course, we were far happier with the lower framerate, the higher looking too
amateurish, but I do want to know if it looks different large-scale. Perhaps I
will see. I can’t see it being a more dramatic transition than that from film
to digital, and we barely noticed that.
I’m
also glad Jackson
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