Digital trickery galore in The Hobbit
(L-r) JAMES NESBITT as Bofur, MARTIN FREEMAN (front) as Bilbo Baggins, STEPHEN HUNTER as Bombur, GRAHAM McTAVISH as Dwalin, WILLIAM KIRCHER as Bifur, and JED BROPHY as Nori in the fantasy adventure THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), released by Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM.
There is a moment early in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey when Gandalf The Grey (Sir Ian McKellen) turns to diminutive hero Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and counsels: “All good stories deserve embellishment.”
Director Peter Jackson and co-writers Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro have taken the wise wizard’s words to heart and embellished JRR Tolkien’s novel to the point of creative obesity.
Visually stunning flashbacks, which fail to advance the plot, are roughly hewn into a sprawling narrative that doesn’t kick into second gear for a good 45 minutes.
The decision to shoot the film in 3D at the higher rate of 48 frames per second compared to the usual 24 frames will divide audiences.
Everything looks cleaner and crisper but this might be too much heightened reality for a sweeping fantasy that romanticises the bonds of trust between gung-ho brothers.
In the first deviation from the text, Jackson opens his picture at Bag End with the elderly Bilbo (Ian Holm) penning a book to his cousin Frodo (Elijah Wood).
We rewind 60 years to meet Bilbo (Freeman) in the Shire as he encounters Gandalf (McKellen) and a 13-strong company of dwarves, who intend to reclaim their lost gold from the dragon Smaug in his mountain lair.
After a sleepless night, Bilbo agrees to accompany dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and his troops on their perilous mission.
En route, the brave souls encounter elvish allies including Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), as well as wretched Gollum (Andy Serkis) and the corpulent Goblin King (Barry Humphries).
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which should perhaps be subtitled The Return Of The Fellowship Of A King, reunites Jackson with cast and crew of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
The writer-director employs the same visual lexicon: sweeping aerial shots of characters traipsing over New Zealand landscapes, close-ups of ethereal figures in deep contemplation.
Nerve-racking scenes with Gollum are undoubtedly the highlight of this opening salvo.
An hour of substance is bloated to 166 minutes of digital trickery and breathless action sequences including a protracted chase through the subterranean lair of the goblins.
One plot strand, involving a Necromancer gaining power in his stronghold at Dol Guldur, dangles tantalisingly in the background and will presumably be stitched into the narrative in the second film.
While some of the dwarves, notably Balin (Ken Stott) and Bofur (James Nesbitt), are gifted scenes to illustrate their personalities, most of Thorin’s motley crew are indistinguishable aside from their rhyming names.
When Bilbo subsequently remarks, “I do believe the worst is behind us,” we know he must be joking, else the next two chapters, Desolation Of Smaug and There And Back Again, released in 2013 and 2014 respectively will be exceedingly dull affairs.
by Damon Smith
HHH
l Savoy Cinema has recently had High Frame Rate 3D (HFR 3D) installed so The Hobbit can be shown in this format.
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