Monday, January 7, 2013

The Hobbit: An Unexpected disappointment

First off I want to say that I am a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, and own the books, dvds, blu rays, and a few other items as a fan of the universe he created, and Peter Jackson brought to life on the big screen.

While yes I am a bigger Star Wars fan then I am Lord of the Rings fan I will say that as books go Tolkien's work is priceless, and while I was extremely excited for the past few years about this movie.

Last time I remember being this hyped up about any film I would have to go back to the Fellowship of the Rings which was a very good movie that did everything it had to do just right.

But I don't think I've been this let down in more then a decade. I mean I think maybe the sequel to the Matrix was a bigger let down for me then this but not by much. Not by much at all. In fact this movie is so bad at times that one has to wonder if it was made bad on purpose out of some grudge being held by Peter Jackson for all the shenanigans that went on for years with the studios, and him concerning this trilogy.

There is a long dark history attached to getting the Hobbit to the big screen, and to be honest It's almost as if this was his way to pay the studio back for anything they put him through. It's about the only thing which makes sense unless we consider that Peter Jackson isn't the master Director some nerds have pegged him to be since he wrapped up the Rings trilogy.

But to the root of the matter this movie fails to capture the heart of Tolkien's characters, and the main issue with it is the slow pace the movie suffers from. This is due to the movie being stretched out to three pictures was a bad idea. This has become clear after watching this first movie. Now we have 2 more movies to go.

The film suffers from terrible character development, and it all starts with the Dwarves who were not developed as characters at all compared to LOTR where u got to know, and like each of the characters.

This move felt as it spent more time finding who looks funny dressed up rather then actors who would bring something epic to their roles, and we are left with characters which feel  out of touch with the rest of the movie. Which leads me to my issues with the over use of comedy. This movie tries way to much to be funny.

I mean did George Lucas have something to do with the humor in this movie? Because honestly this felt as bad as Jar Jar Binks in Phantom Menece. I mean Literally in one scene the dwarves fall through a door and a "bowling pins knocked over" sound effect is played.

Too much is played for laughs, and not enough storyline is developed... There is so much hype build up to a very anti climactic ending.

I know there are two movie coming out still... This could be the main problem. The Hobbit is a weak book compared to LotR already as it is! To stretch it out to 3 movies really makes me think that the sequels aren't going to be much better, and we might be looking at another 30minute exit scene like in "Return of the King."

I was very hyped about this movie but after watching it I now find myself less interested then I was for Attack of the Clones. Maybe Peter Jackson should have stayed away from this movie, and had allowed Del Torro to direct it as planned at one point because Peter Jackson to me was going thru the motions on this movie, and his directing has got worse over the last decade not better.

Peter Jackson has a long body of work which includes a lot of stinkers like "King Kong," "Dead Alive," and many other turds. In fact look at his IMDB his only good work has been The Lord of the Rings movies, and even those have many flaws to them. Like the earlier mentioned 30minute exit scene at the end of Return of the King.

The fact is that Peter Jackson isn't the skilled master director that some think, and he's crafted a very expensive, very cartoonist, very boring movie to start a trilogy. I was expecting so much more then this but I pray he fixes some of the overwhelming issues, and flaws from his first movie.

I hope there is enough story to make the next two movies worthy of making this a trilogy at the end, and that this doesn't turn into the next prequel trilogy most fanboys love to hate for years to come.

Either way I'm let down by this movie, and haven't been this let down in many years.