As promised at the back end of my last ‘Franchise Friday’, this week I am doing ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy. I don’t think I was the only person who was hyped for these films when they were announced, and I went to the cinema as early as I could after the first was announced. Did it meet my expectations? Well, this is the first time I am watching the second and third films all the way through so that should probably answer that question. I should say that I remember liking the first film when I watched it, but my expectations were so high that I couldn’t help but also feel a little disappointed with it. Now that years have passed, I think it is the right time to revisit these films with tempered expectations. Will they surprise me? Let’s hope so.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
My feelings towards his film have stayed pretty much the same from my first viewing. Yes, it has its moments, but for the most part I feel like it is just fine. I may be holding it up to an unfair standard given my love for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, but that is inevitable when you get the same people to make it. Let’s start with the good stuff. I again love the details that they throw into the world, with the costumes and the sets all being great. But I even find issue with this. In the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films the world felt lived in, dirty, like it had genuine weight to it. This film has this weird kind of gloss and sheen over everything which makes so much of it look fake. It probably isn’t helped that the film relies much more heavily on CGI than the ‘Lord of the Rings’ did. But I do have to say that the CGI is good and still holds up pretty well today, but the over reliance on it also leads in to the big issue I have with the film, but we’ll touch on that later. In terms of performances everyone does a good job, especially Martin Freeman as Bilbo who I think is great. His mannerisms and line delivery is spot on in each scene and its hard to say when he ever puts a foot wrong. Case in point, the Gollum scene which is hands down the bets part of the film. From start to finish the scene is brilliant. The direction is superb, the performances by both Freeman and Andy Serkis are fantastic, the dialogue is both funny, tense, and fits the characters brilliantly, and overall, it is the most emotionally engaging scene in the film. There are some other fun moments, but this stands out above the rest. My major issue with the film is that it often feels like a cartoon, which is a huge tonal shift from scenes where people are literally being beheaded. There is a scene at the beginning where the dwarves have this comically over the top burps which I hated, and there are a ton of moments where the film takes on a slapstick vibe which I am not here for. Again, ‘Lord of the Rings, felt like it had weight to it, that every moment was potentially dangerous. This film a huge goblin King literally falls hundreds of feet on top of the dwarves, which should kill them, and its played for laughs. I get that it is following more with the tone of the book which I would be fine with if this wasn’t by the same people who made ‘Lord of the Rings’ thereby setting it in the same world with what I assume would be the same rules. Perhaps I am being to harsh, but for me it just goes to far down that route. Maybe they changed this for the next two, or maybe they made it worse. Only one way to find out.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
From what I’ve seen and heard many people see this film as being a step up from the first, but not for me. It isn’t terrible, not at all. Like the first film it has its moments that I enjoyed. But, despite all the issues I have with the first film, at least I was never bored. This film started okay, but the final act just dragged. I just don’t have any particular emotional connection to the majority of these characters (Christ I couldn’t even tell you half their names) and so I don’t have any particular care for their plight. I especially could not give a any shits about that dwarf, elf love story which is in this film for some reason. The film does seemingly make an attempt to lessen the cartoonish elements and slapstick tone of the first one, going for something far more serious. The problem this time is that the film still does have some of these cartoonish moments in there, meaning that when they happen this time instead of it being a case of several tonal shifts they complete go against the tone of the film and stick out like a saw thumb. The look of the film still bugs me as well. It still has this horrible hue and glaze about it where everything looks so smooth and I really don’t like it. There are also some really shoddy moments of CGI, as well as one particular odd stylistic choice during the barrel scene where it cuts to really short shots of what looks like go-pro footage. Just bizarre. But, despite all of this, the film is not really that terrible. It is mostly directed quite well and does have some cool and interesting locations. All the actors do their jobs well despite me not particularly caring about their characters, with Martin Freeman again stealing the show. I liked Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance as Smaug and I think he character design and the way he moved was really well done and the film succeeds in making him feel like a real, fleshed out character. I also enjoyed the scene of Gandalf at Dol Guldur, with it building well to the reveal of the necromancer’s true identity. So, very much like the first film, it has its moments, but they mostly come in the first two acts and the final act had me really struggling to care. My boredom was only worsened by the end credits being accompanied by an Ed Sheeran song (I kid, but only slightly). Again, I feel like my love of ‘Lord of the Rings’ means I am extra harsh on these films, but I suppose that comes with the territory. Maybe the final film will surprise me. Fingers crossed.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
And with that we end almost exactly the same as we started, with a film that has its moments but falls flat on several fronts. One of those fronts is not the runtime with this film being the shortest of the lot. However, just because it is short (I say short, it’s still over two hours long) doesn’t mean there aren’t moments where it drags. The film is effectively a lot of battle scenes tagged onto each other for 95% of the runtime. Now, if you like big battle scenes and are invested with the characters involved then this is probably right up your street. And as much as I do like battle scenes in films, I have no care for the majority of these characters in these films and[HRT1] so there is absolutely no emotional weight to any of the action for me. It becomes action for actions sake and I just don’t care. Also, this film just struggles to give any emotion to anything outside the relationship between Bilbo and the Dwarves. That whole dwarf/elf love story is back in full force in this film and I still don’t care. It was hardly set up in the last film and it feels like it is only here to give added weight to the film (p.s. it doesn’t work). But even worse is the Legolas ‘story-arch’. There is a moment in this film where Legolas mentions that his mother died, and this part of his narrative is resolved by his dad saying that his mum loved him. Those two scenes are the only time this is mentioned, and it literally adds nothing to the film at all. Its inclusion is almost as dumb as Legolas turning into Mario in a scene in this film and platforming up a falling bridge. It is the dumbest shit in any of these films and there is a lot of dumb shit. This film is the least cartoonish of the trilogy, which is a plus, but that Legolas scene is one of those cartoon moments. And if we are talking of cartoons, I have to mention the character of Alfrid. I avoided mentioning him in the last film, but this film he has a much bigger role and I can’t not. Fuck this character. This character is so much of a character it hurts. He is meant to be a character to laugh at but is completely unfunny unless you’re a small child and isn’t even a fun bad guy. He is an annoyance who should have been killed off first scene. But again, the film is not terrible. The action is fun despite me not really caring, and the performances remain good. And if watching these films immediately after ‘Lord of the Rings’ has taught me anything it is that I think Bilbo is a better character than Frodo, at least in film form. That is one thing this film does have over ‘Lord of the Rings’ and that is worth at least something.
This trilogy was facing an uphill battle right from the start. My love for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy meant that the bar was extremely high, as were my expectations. And, of course, I was a little disappointed with the final result of the trilogy. I don’t enjoy the tone of the films with them going for a much more childish, cartoon vibe. I know this goes along with the tone of the book a bit more, but it doesn’t work for me. I also don’t like the overall look of the films with this clean, shiny look they have gone for. But the trilogy has some great moments and great performances, especially Martin Freeman as Bilbo who steals the trilogy. Overall, I would say the trilogy is fine. Not good, not bad, just fine. That’s right, I am sitting on the damn fence with this one. So, my next ‘Franchise Friday’ happens to fall in October, do you know what that means? Well, let’s just say I hope you like horror films. A lot of horror films.