Credible Credits
Year: 2014
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, etc.
Tagline: The Defining Chapter
Synopsis: Having reclaimed the Lonely Mountain, the dwarves and Bilbo must now defend themselves as armies converge in the valley. Meanwhile, Gandalf and the White Council learn more about the motives and identity of the Necromancer.
Tagline: The Defining Chapter
Synopsis: Having reclaimed the Lonely Mountain, the dwarves and Bilbo must now defend themselves as armies converge in the valley. Meanwhile, Gandalf and the White Council learn more about the motives and identity of the Necromancer.
Review
I never did get around to re-reading The Hobbit before seeing any of the films. So I'm not entirely sure what was changed and what remained the same. But I remember enough to recognize the major changes.
Going into this finale, I had high hopes and expectations. Perhaps they were a little too high. The film is fun, beautiful, action-packed, and generally well crafted. But it was not quite the epic send-off to Middle Earth I'd hoped for.
Visually, the film is all that you'd expect from Peter Jackson by this point. Smaug -- though only briefly in this film -- is as epic looking a dragon as you could hope for. There's not a lot of traveling in this one, so we don't get all the grand New Zealand vistas of previous films. But the sets/settings there are, are beautifully imagined, especially frozen Ravenhill -- where Thorin and others battle the orc leaders -- and shadowy Dol Guldur -- where Gandalf has been imprisoned by the Necromancer.
One of the weaknesses of the film is how slow it is at times. The pacing is pretty good -- moving from one scene or action sequence to another. But there are a lot of quiet moments that seem unnecessarily prolonged. Seriously, how long do we need to stare at [insert emotional character's name here]'s face? Honestly, Jackson probably could have made The Hobbit as two films instead of three. That said, I'll be buying the extended editions of all three when they come out.
In terms of additions for the films, Tauriel is a much more interesting/useful addition than Alfrid, the assistant to the Master of Laketown who then becomes the (mostly useless) assistant to Bard. Tauriel is a sensible addition who is interwoven into the plot (more about her in the spoiler section). Alfrid ... he seems to be there just for obnoxious moments of humor, or as a reminder of why elves and dwarves don't always like humans. Honestly, I kept hoping someone would punch him (à la when Gandalf gives Denethor a swift knock to the head in Return of the King).
And then there's our favorite elf, Legolas, who also wasn't in the book but makes the most sense since it is his homeland and elven king Thranduil is his father. I have no problem with his addition to the films. I do have a qualm with his completely breaking the laws of physics. Yes, he's an elf, with superhuman agility. That still doesn't mean he can leap along falling stones. There was some heavy duty eye rolling at that part. Perhaps as a counterbalance to that impossibility, this film is the first time Legolas ever runs out of arrows. Shocking.
One thing the film gets absolutely right is Thorin's descent into "dragon sickness" and Bilbo's unwavering loyalty to his friend. Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman each do a fantastic job portraying the emotional struggles of their characters. Their sometimes uneasy friendship does much to ground the movie and keep Thorin relatable when he's otherwise being a jerk. It's also quite nice to see how much Bilbo has grown over the course of his adventures. It's great watching how changed he is in his interactions with Thranduil and Gandalf.
For me, the most epic part of the film was the scene in Dol Guldur where the White Council battles the Nazgul and the Necromancer. While not in The Hobbit, the event is one that occurred (more or less) within the history of Middle Earth. Watching the Nazgul emerge from the shadows to do battle with Elrond and Saruman was just plain cool. The setting, special effects, characters, and action just come together in epic fashion, reminiscent of LOTR.
If you saw all of the Lord of the Rings and the previous two Hobbit films, of course you should see this one. It (mostly) wraps everything up and sets the stage for The Fellowship of the Ring. It has enough moments of awesome, enough heart, and enough epic scope to be a worthwhile final trip to Middle Earth. It just could have been more.
*** Spoiler Section ***
Having read The Hobbit, I did remember that Kili, Fili, and Thorin would all die. So that felt rather inevitable when watching the film. I was so impressed by Thorin's clever dispatch of Azog by stepping off the ice and making him fall into the water to be trapped under the ice. Clever, but ultimately futile.
Since I knew Kili was doomed, I naturally assumed the Kili/Tauriel relationship was going to be the Middle Earth version of Romeo and Juliet, with both being killed. That Tauriel survives was a huge surprise. But then they didn't even sufficiently wrap up her story to explain her complete absence from LOTR. She's been banished from her own home, so where does she go? Why does she disappear? Does she depart Middle Earth from the Grey Havens? Tie up the loose end!
I was also a bit annoyed with Tauriel at the end. Yes, she was freshly grieving her love. Of course she didn't want to deal with the pain. But as I watched that final scene with her all I could think was that she was the anti-Arwen. Arwen chose the bitter with the sweet. She chose Aragorn even knowing he would someday die and it would break her heart. In that moment, Tauriel seemed not as strong or admirable a character. And if they were going for a comparison with Arwen, they could have done more to really build it up. Or they could have just killed Tauriel.
Also a little disappointing was the lack of wrap up for Bard and the rest of the humans. It's neither mentioned nor even implied that Bard becomes king of Dale, which is what happens in the book.
Going into this finale, I had high hopes and expectations. Perhaps they were a little too high. The film is fun, beautiful, action-packed, and generally well crafted. But it was not quite the epic send-off to Middle Earth I'd hoped for.
Visually, the film is all that you'd expect from Peter Jackson by this point. Smaug -- though only briefly in this film -- is as epic looking a dragon as you could hope for. There's not a lot of traveling in this one, so we don't get all the grand New Zealand vistas of previous films. But the sets/settings there are, are beautifully imagined, especially frozen Ravenhill -- where Thorin and others battle the orc leaders -- and shadowy Dol Guldur -- where Gandalf has been imprisoned by the Necromancer.
One of the weaknesses of the film is how slow it is at times. The pacing is pretty good -- moving from one scene or action sequence to another. But there are a lot of quiet moments that seem unnecessarily prolonged. Seriously, how long do we need to stare at [insert emotional character's name here]'s face? Honestly, Jackson probably could have made The Hobbit as two films instead of three. That said, I'll be buying the extended editions of all three when they come out.
In terms of additions for the films, Tauriel is a much more interesting/useful addition than Alfrid, the assistant to the Master of Laketown who then becomes the (mostly useless) assistant to Bard. Tauriel is a sensible addition who is interwoven into the plot (more about her in the spoiler section). Alfrid ... he seems to be there just for obnoxious moments of humor, or as a reminder of why elves and dwarves don't always like humans. Honestly, I kept hoping someone would punch him (à la when Gandalf gives Denethor a swift knock to the head in Return of the King).
And then there's our favorite elf, Legolas, who also wasn't in the book but makes the most sense since it is his homeland and elven king Thranduil is his father. I have no problem with his addition to the films. I do have a qualm with his completely breaking the laws of physics. Yes, he's an elf, with superhuman agility. That still doesn't mean he can leap along falling stones. There was some heavy duty eye rolling at that part. Perhaps as a counterbalance to that impossibility, this film is the first time Legolas ever runs out of arrows. Shocking.
One thing the film gets absolutely right is Thorin's descent into "dragon sickness" and Bilbo's unwavering loyalty to his friend. Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman each do a fantastic job portraying the emotional struggles of their characters. Their sometimes uneasy friendship does much to ground the movie and keep Thorin relatable when he's otherwise being a jerk. It's also quite nice to see how much Bilbo has grown over the course of his adventures. It's great watching how changed he is in his interactions with Thranduil and Gandalf.
For me, the most epic part of the film was the scene in Dol Guldur where the White Council battles the Nazgul and the Necromancer. While not in The Hobbit, the event is one that occurred (more or less) within the history of Middle Earth. Watching the Nazgul emerge from the shadows to do battle with Elrond and Saruman was just plain cool. The setting, special effects, characters, and action just come together in epic fashion, reminiscent of LOTR.
If you saw all of the Lord of the Rings and the previous two Hobbit films, of course you should see this one. It (mostly) wraps everything up and sets the stage for The Fellowship of the Ring. It has enough moments of awesome, enough heart, and enough epic scope to be a worthwhile final trip to Middle Earth. It just could have been more.
*** Spoiler Section ***
Having read The Hobbit, I did remember that Kili, Fili, and Thorin would all die. So that felt rather inevitable when watching the film. I was so impressed by Thorin's clever dispatch of Azog by stepping off the ice and making him fall into the water to be trapped under the ice. Clever, but ultimately futile.
Since I knew Kili was doomed, I naturally assumed the Kili/Tauriel relationship was going to be the Middle Earth version of Romeo and Juliet, with both being killed. That Tauriel survives was a huge surprise. But then they didn't even sufficiently wrap up her story to explain her complete absence from LOTR. She's been banished from her own home, so where does she go? Why does she disappear? Does she depart Middle Earth from the Grey Havens? Tie up the loose end!
I was also a bit annoyed with Tauriel at the end. Yes, she was freshly grieving her love. Of course she didn't want to deal with the pain. But as I watched that final scene with her all I could think was that she was the anti-Arwen. Arwen chose the bitter with the sweet. She chose Aragorn even knowing he would someday die and it would break her heart. In that moment, Tauriel seemed not as strong or admirable a character. And if they were going for a comparison with Arwen, they could have done more to really build it up. Or they could have just killed Tauriel.
Also a little disappointing was the lack of wrap up for Bard and the rest of the humans. It's neither mentioned nor even implied that Bard becomes king of Dale, which is what happens in the book.
Quotable Quotes
- "You should have stayed dead!" -- Elrond to the Nazgul
- "Nothing gets passed me, sire." "Except an army of elves, it would seem." -- Alfrid and Bard
- "It's out of the question. I won't allow it." "I'm not asking you to allow it, Gandalf." -- Gandalf and Bilbo
- "Leave Sauron to me!" -- Saruman [We know how well that works.]
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