An Unexpected Journey, or the morning after

[Thinlómien]

Okay so I saw it tonight (with Nog, Greenie and Volo) and here are my thoughts (or some of them!)...

Five things I liked

1. The heroes - both the actors and the characters. Richard Armitage as Thorin and Martin Freeman as Bilbo - amazing, loved them both to bits. I'm afraid I will become a horrible Thorin fangirl before the end (he's way too epic for my brain to handle, although I don't entirely like his aragornization) and start crying when he (and poor Fili and Kili!) die. I loved Balin and Dwalin too, and all the other Dwarves (save maybe Bombur) were fine too. And I was so happy about Gandalf being as bitchy as he's in the book and Hugo Weaving as Elrond was so much better and nicer than in LotR!

2. The history bits about dwarves, Dale and Smaug. It all looked so cool, and I started liking Dwarves (again). I also actually liked how the enmity between the Elves and the Dwarves was played out.

3. The music. I really like the Dwarven theme, and I was a lot happier about the musical than the visual references to the LotR movies. For example playing the Ring theme for the first time again really had a desirably creepy effect.

4. The scenery and the places. New Zealand is just so amazingly beautiful and it does look like Middle-Earth to me.

5. Including so many small things from the books. I'm so happy we were explained why Thorin is called Oakenshield (again dying of the epicness of it all), that we got the Dwarves messing around with Bilbo's plates, that the stone giants were included (although the DID look like transformers, gotta agree with Legate), the Blue Wizard quip (not just 'cos the estate has the rights but also because it was a funny reference to how little Gandalf seems to know about them in the books), Bilbo's homesickness and reluctant heroism, Oin and Gloin making a fire, Dwarves being known as toymakers etc etc.


Five things I didn't like

1. The humor. 75% of the time it just wasn't funny. Some lines just made me squirm embarrassedly in my seat, and don't get me even started about Radagast, bird poo, bunny sledge and the hedgehog named Sebastian of all possible things!

2. The storytelling problems. Although I enjoyed (almost) every minute, I think the movie was too long. Too much of everything: unnecessarily long and dumbed down beginning with Ian Holm and Elijah Wood, overlong (and silly) action scenes, incredible amount of running around... Generally although most of the stuff was nice the structure "20min of actual plot, 20min of showing what happened it the past/ what happens elsewhere" just didn't work. Too much stuff in a movie with a simple storyline. Speaking of which, it also started to bother me that The Hobbit doesn't really work as a heroic story. I mean, the point is that the Dwarves fail at everything, going from one misfortune to another and they are always saved either by Bilbo's wits, Gandalf or coincidence. They are not any great war heros, and in the current situation the movie's plot kind of contradicts the portrayal of characters like Thorin and Balin.

3. Too much recycling LotR. The same shots, portrayal, moves in fight scenes, lines, plot devices etc. One of the worst things not mentioned yet was probably when Aragorn said "Legolas, shoot him!" in a totally LotR style... wait, I mean Thorin said that to Kili.

4. A lot of the non-Tolkien dialogue. Whenever Gandalf starts to philosophise something not written by Tolkien my head just starts to hurt. While Tolkien can really say something wise (even if it's nothing new), Jackson and co just come up with really cheesy and empty lines. Also what the heck was that when Galadriel was talking in Gandalf's head? It was creepy. (And moreover, what was that about Gandalf being so awed about her, I think it should be the other way around! Even though it wouldn't be of course as funny as having an old man looking longingly after a beautiful Elven queen. *sigh*)

5. The CGI. I was a bit disappointed, I have to say. Technology has advanced but the wargs look even worse than they used to. Also Azog (whose addition I think was a little silly but fine) looked incredibly ugly, and apart from the king, the goblins too looked silly. Gollum was even cuter than before, which was sad. (Although Andy Serkis was wonderful again.) Even the eagles were kind of lame.

Originally Posted by Agan

And when Gandalf and the Goblin King are standing on the bridge, you can't really help noticing all the similarities between LOTR and this even if you've been trying to ignore them before - the structure of the story is so blatantly similar (which is not the case in the books)!

Given how many thing they copied from the LotR movies, I was really dreading Gandalf would say "You shall not pass!" but I was relieved when he didn't.

Originally Posted by Boro

The Riddles scene between Gollum and Bilbo are easily the highlight of the first film, and my favorite part. There are some big differences here, but that I won't spoil. The differences make sense as far as adding to the movie and fitting nicely with what the narrator in The Hobbit tells us about Gollum's history.

I liked that scene, but there was way too much fidgeting and pointing with swords and running around. It seemed to me Jackson was afraid the audience might be bored by a simple game of riddles which is pretty insulting.

Originally Posted by Di

The ridiculous parts just made me laugh, like when Azog killed Thorin's father and elicited the most over-the-top "Nooooooooo!" I have ever witnessed.

Grandfather, I think. Anyway, that was pretty ridiculous really. I mean, it really might be that you would cry "Nooooo!" in a situation like that, but we've simply seen it so many times the audience just won't take it seriously. (Apart from the Radagast stuff, that probably caused the most collective facepalming from me and Nog. )

All in all, I enjoyed it a lot, but I can't say if I really liked it. There were wonderful epic moments but there was a lot of cringeworthy stuff too. Better or worse than LotR? Actually, it might be it just feels fresh but it's actually worse, but I'm not judging before I've seen this at least half as many times as the LotR trilogy. Do I want to see it again? Yes. To pay attention to more stuff. Am I looking forward to the next two? Yes, but not with 1/10 of the enthusiasm I look forward to the next season of Game of Thrones with.


PS. Has anyone spotted PJ's cameo yet?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

All in all, I enjoyed it a lot, but I can't say if I really liked it. There were wonderful epic moments but there was a lot of cringeworthy stuff too. Better or worse than LotR? Actually, it might be it just feels fresh but it's actually worse, but I'm not judging before I've seen this at least half as many times as the LotR trilogy. Do I want to see it again? Yes. To pay attention to more stuff. Am I looking forward to the next two? Yes, but not with 1/10 of the enthusiasm I look forward to the next season of Game of Thrones with.

Better than the LotR films for me, only in that LotR has greater meaning & significance for me. The running, jumping & falling down stuff in Goblin Town pains me less than the similar stuff with the falling stairway in Fellowship, not simply because it lessens the impact of Gandalf's confrontation with the Balrog & is the first point at which Gimli becomes comic relief, but mainly because if we'd been spared that we might have gotten a glimpse of Mirrormere. TH is a lighter work & I have less of a problem with it being played around with. The book is a high adventure romp right up till the end & I have no problem with the film taking the same approach. Some of Tolkien's stuff is light-hearted comic adventure (TH, Giles, Roverandom, Mr Bliss) & some certainly isn't.

[Zigûr]

Here in Australia we're not getting "An Unexpected Journey" until the 26th for some reason, but I would like to ask only this about the film of those who've seen it: could someone give an impression about how much Professor Tolkien's original dialogue and language is retained/maintained in the film? Obviously my expectations are low given a) the precedent and b) how much I know has been changed, made up or extrapolated from historical recount rather than direct narrative but I'm still curious. The rearrangement and omission of perfectly serviceable dialogue from the source material is something that makes the films of The Lord of the Rings incredibly difficult to watch for me. Compare in the Voice of Saruman section of the Extended Edition of The Return of the King the use (almost) of the original Professor Tolkien e.g. "when you hang from a gibbet for the sport of your own crows" vs the clashing Boyens/Walsh pastiche e.g. "Something festers in the heart of Middle-earth" (I find the inconsistency in phrase/tone at occasions like these very off-putting, when Professor Tolkien's unique style is merged with what is, to me, very stock and cliché Fantasy vocabulary).
And more specifically, does the Great Goblin ask "Who are these miserable persons?" He'd better...

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

Here in Australia we're not getting "An Unexpected Journey" until the 26th for some reason, but I would like to ask only this about the film of those who've seen it: could someone give an impression about how much Professor Tolkien's original dialogue and language is retained/maintained in the film?
...And more specifically, does the Great Goblin ask "Who are these miserable persons?" He'd better...

I honestly can't remember if he uses this specific line, but if not then he says something very similar.

I recognized certain passages from the book, but, of course, not strictly everything was there, and there were other additions. Sometimes I too could tell that some passage is very off stylistically (like the White Council bits) but generally I think the inserted bits were ok.

Realistically, when you're stretching one book into 3 films (subsequently adding 2/3 of it) you have to insert both actions and dialogue. Generally, it wasn't too bad. Not bad at all.

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

*Kiligolas. The parts where he's just being Legolas

I'm not complaining because even though archery is sexy per se, it's a hundred times sexier when it's a dark-haired dwarf doing it instead of a blond elf.

I tell you, something's gonna happen with Kili.

It had better not happen before the Battle of the Five Armies though!

And thank you for your compliments. I got laughed at by teenage girls in elven cloaks (not to mention the bus ride to the cinema), but it was naturally highly enjoyable.

[Tuor in Gondolin]

If PJ doesn't botch it, the deaths of Fili and Kili
defending Thorin could be a highlight.

PJ not going over the top? What am I saying!

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Tuor in Gondolin

If PJ doesn't botch it, the deaths of Fili and Kili
defending Thorin could be a highlight.

I'm so looking forward to that too! Because already in this movie one the awwww-iest moments for me was when Thorin thought one of them was dead/in danger and he was totally like "ohmygodnooo!!!!" and then he was relieved to find out he was ok, so I'm just trying to imagine how he'll react when they die defending him... and Thorin's death will really make me cry because it's so sad in the book too (and in the book you don't get the tear-fishing music in the background).

Originally Posted by G55

Thorin half-dying? And Gandalf saving him?

Oh that was silly, but after Aragorn half-dying in The Two Towers, I can't say I was surprised! Gosh, I had forgotten about Gandalf's healing powers. That was pretty ridiculous! Couldn't he have woken up himself, couldn't one of the Dwarves had some healing herbs, couldn't even, I don't know, the eagles have magically healed him or something? I mean, Gandalf's no doctor (when it comes to physical wounds) and I wish they'd kept it consistent. The only more ridiculous solution would have been having Elrong riding up the steep path to the Eyrie in a cloak that covers his face and making a surprise visit to demonstrate his healing powers accompanied by some quasi-wise words about the relations of Elves and Dwarves in the ages to come...

[davem]

Some nice short interviews with the cast here: Martin Freeman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLi6ojygvpc Richard Armitage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmP9jAVPESA Christopher Lee http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKvkaEipcN0 James Nesbitt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8XJEIRIfeY Peter Jackson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHZ7zvwKgU0 Ian McKellan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpkREQecPdg