I finally saw The Hobbit. I know, I know… If you know me you would expect that I was there opening night. I wasn’t.
Here’s my review. It was long.
I mean, it was good. Nothing not to like really. But it felt an awful lot like I’d seen it all before. And the filmmakers greasy thumb prints are all over the story as they tuned-it up to make it more visually stimulating and alter the action so every moment becomes edge-of-the-seat and it looks great and the monsters are cool and the lighting is awesome. What’s better than 200 goblins? How about 22,000 goblins! And in the end I found myself caring amazingly little about it all.
Which is sad. I love the book. And I will certainly watch the film again. As I said, it’s not a ‘bad’ movie. But I think we’ve hit the 11th hour in filmmaking. The team of people working on it can craft it, visualize it, I think that’s what they call it, visualize it, and render it and sand it and shine it and perfectly manipulate every pixel and moment and my god, isn’t it a lovely thing. But It’s oddly lacking in an ability to resonate any humanity except for the grandioseness of it all.
It’s like being asked to find a 747 charming. Can you truly say a 747 is comfortable in a meaningful way?
You can admire a 747 as an amazing piece of machinery. And be thrilled with the comforts it provides at 600 miles an hour and at 30,000 feet (Given you can pay for the good seats.). A 747 is the result of brilliant engineers and craftsmen and a victory of human ingenuity and you can marvel at a monetary system that can advance fund such an undertaking… But it isn’t a place I want to live. It’s simply a machine that takes us from A to B. It’s lasting commentary is that humans are remarkably cleaver.
Now I want to watch something I care about.
I know what you mean. I think they accidentally made us care less by making the heroes somewhat indestructible. That falling bridge thing? You know, if you trip over a street curb, you might sprain an ankle. These guys fall a thousand feet or more, the bridge miraculously stays horizontal, and they all fall on each other and no one is hurt. Take that comment and multiply it a hundred times and that’s the movie I saw. That wasn’t the book I’ve been in love with for the past 40 years. But it was the movie I saw. Am I actually asking for less in my movies? I guess. Curiously, less and more. Less spectacle, and more humanity.
But I guess I ask for a lot. Makes me feel somewhat better to think I’m not alone, at least.
Good point. I hadn’t made it that far into thinking about it. It just kind of washed over me, and I thought they made WAY too much of that goblin scene. I know WHY they did it, and they did it well…but really? And you are right, everyone in that scene kept falling not 10 feet, or a hundred feet or even a thousand feet. They kept falling for like 3 miles. And I almost thought he was going to kill off one of the dwarves just to up the emotion. I don’t know. I just didn’t really care by the end, not because it isn’t a well crafted film, but that it lost its heart.
I’m afraid to see it. I keep hearing that it’s all about the action,the technology — that’s not the story I love,which had adventure for sure, but also second breakfast and Hobbit toes. It sounds like they’ve taken something both charming and exciting and made it into the most grandiose road chase movie ever. I’ve been thinking of reading the book again.
If it helps, remember, it’s all being told by Bilbo. He’s telling a tall tale. It’s right for the tone of the book which keeps talking to the reader.
It’s a tough call, and I am not saying it’s a ‘bad’ film. And I understand why they did what they did as filmmakers. And I certainly could never handle a project of that scale. But it seems like it tilted too far into a show for shows sake. I would like to see what he could have done with half that budget. I think he would have made a more moving film as he may have focused on characters instead of plot mechanics. Instead of another massive scene featuring 50,000 digital elements he might have had to use his actors to build meaning and tension and excitement. It’s inspired filmmaking, but that’s actually what it’s about.
Thanks for this. I’d rather read the book again and thought I was being a fuddy duddy.
Well, you are a fuddy-duddy, but that doesn’t make you wrong! And being a fuddy-duddy is tons better than being a nutty-duddy.