The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Dec. 17th, 2012 03:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
castaliaSaw The Hobbit last night and OMG SQUEE. I can't express how cool it is to be getting new Tolkien films again to revive my LOTR squee.
Things I Loved
- ThorinThorinThorinThorinThorin! Richard Armitage brought it. I was worried, b/c I find Thorin a difficult character to like sometimes in the book, and felt he would be a tough character to bring to life on the screen, but everyone involved nailed it - writing, directing, acting, everything. Bringing in his backstory to the beginning of the film and making the focus of his quest more about taking back his homeland and taking care of his people, not just finding gold and getting the Arkenstone...brilliant. It worked so well for me and gave the story a lot more depth, plus I was thrilled to see Erebor in its glory days, something we never got to see with Moria.
- The Old Gang, ie Gandalf, old!Bilbo, Frodo, Galadriel, Saruman, Elrond, etc. I've seen some criticisms of the beginning scenes, but they worked for me. It tied everything together in a very emotionally satisfying way and then there was that lovely transition from Ian Holm to Freeman and...yes.
- The Dwarves. I came into this feeling like PJ owed it to us all to make up for the shallow portrayal of dwarves in LOTR, especially Gimli as comic relief. There was still comedy, most of it focused on poor Bombur, but the dwarves felt more well-rounded here. They could go from silly and singing about breaking dishes (How much do I love that they included the song? A LOT OKAY.) to very quiet and thoughtful and wise. I've always loved Fili and Kili (and was glad to see them get a lot of attention, especially with Dean O'Gorman as Fili) and their family connection to Thorin, so it was nice to see him keeping a watchful eye on them. But Bofur was my standout favorite of the rest of the company - he had some the best moments with Bilbo, plus he has Best Hat.
- Gollum. Holy shit that technology keeps getting better. So, so realistic.
- Lee Pace as Thranduil, even for just that brief moment. What a marvelous stroke of casting, seriously. He looks so otherworldly, just perfect, and I can't wait for the Mirkwood stuff in the next movie.
- Radagast the Brown and Sylvestor McCoy in general. Sooooooo awesome, not at all what I expected but I loved it. My only quibble was the costume, specifically the bird shit down his face. It was HUGELY distracting for me visually, with the white standing out against so much brown, and anything about a costume that distracts a viewer that much is IMO a bad idea.
- Smaug, or at least how they're holding back with him so far. I love that they're going the Jaws route so far and not giving away too much of his design yet, as I was hoping they'd do. Love it.
- The White Council and the Stone Giants and all those little moments that could have been left out but weren't.
- Galadriel being awesome and all-knowing and already looking suspicious as all hell of Saruman. It was such a relief to have her presence in the movie.
- Bilbo not being too silly or anything like that, but still hobbity and foolish at times but ultimately brave and honest. His speech to the dwarves about why he came back to join them after escaping from the tunnels was perfection. His actions saving Thorin were perfection, as was THE HUG afterward.
- Um, seriously, Thorin/Bilbo. I 'ship it now. It fits perfectly into my head canon about why Bilbo was a bachelor to the end of his days. Thorin admitting he was wrong and hugging the shit out of Bilbo in gratitude...hell yes. More, please.
- The music. Howard Shore knocked it out of the park again, especially with Thorin's song at the beginning, which became the dwarves' theme throughtout the movie. Also, Richard Armitage needs to sing more, b/c DAMN. That whole song gave me chills.
Things I Disliked
- At times, Martin Freeman was a bit too Martin Freeman, as is his wont sometimes. He can definitely be the type of actor who just plays himself. It stood out the most at the beginning of the Riddles in the Dark section, which I'm told is the first thing they filmed so that somewhat explains it. The modern deadpan delivery works great in modern day stories, but not in something like this. Otherwise, he did great, especially in the quiet, expressive moments. I wish he cared more about the role and the source material, mostly. I need to stop reading any interviews or articles about him, seriously, b/c they're harshing my squee.
- Only one woman with a speaking role. The Hobbit is even more of a boys-own-adventure type story than LOTR, so if PJ hadn't added Galadriel in there we could've gone a whole movie without hearing one woman speak at all. Still, I kind of wish he'd made some of the dwarves female. I'm sure the purists would rage, but really, it would not hurt the story one bit to change the genders of a few of the company. How fun would it be to have Gloin be a woman, so that the famous Gimli son of Gloin reference was to his kickass mom?
- All the fat jokes/presentation of fat as grotesque. I was glad when the Goblin King bits were over.
- We have to wait a year for the next one. I had been worried about them dragging these movies out too much, but even at almost 3 hrs this one ended too soon for me. I left the theater wanting more right that moment, and the wait is gonna suuuuuuuck.
I need Hobbit icons now.
Things I Loved
- ThorinThorinThorinThorinThorin! Richard Armitage brought it. I was worried, b/c I find Thorin a difficult character to like sometimes in the book, and felt he would be a tough character to bring to life on the screen, but everyone involved nailed it - writing, directing, acting, everything. Bringing in his backstory to the beginning of the film and making the focus of his quest more about taking back his homeland and taking care of his people, not just finding gold and getting the Arkenstone...brilliant. It worked so well for me and gave the story a lot more depth, plus I was thrilled to see Erebor in its glory days, something we never got to see with Moria.
- The Old Gang, ie Gandalf, old!Bilbo, Frodo, Galadriel, Saruman, Elrond, etc. I've seen some criticisms of the beginning scenes, but they worked for me. It tied everything together in a very emotionally satisfying way and then there was that lovely transition from Ian Holm to Freeman and...yes.
- The Dwarves. I came into this feeling like PJ owed it to us all to make up for the shallow portrayal of dwarves in LOTR, especially Gimli as comic relief. There was still comedy, most of it focused on poor Bombur, but the dwarves felt more well-rounded here. They could go from silly and singing about breaking dishes (How much do I love that they included the song? A LOT OKAY.) to very quiet and thoughtful and wise. I've always loved Fili and Kili (and was glad to see them get a lot of attention, especially with Dean O'Gorman as Fili) and their family connection to Thorin, so it was nice to see him keeping a watchful eye on them. But Bofur was my standout favorite of the rest of the company - he had some the best moments with Bilbo, plus he has Best Hat.
- Gollum. Holy shit that technology keeps getting better. So, so realistic.
- Lee Pace as Thranduil, even for just that brief moment. What a marvelous stroke of casting, seriously. He looks so otherworldly, just perfect, and I can't wait for the Mirkwood stuff in the next movie.
- Radagast the Brown and Sylvestor McCoy in general. Sooooooo awesome, not at all what I expected but I loved it. My only quibble was the costume, specifically the bird shit down his face. It was HUGELY distracting for me visually, with the white standing out against so much brown, and anything about a costume that distracts a viewer that much is IMO a bad idea.
- Smaug, or at least how they're holding back with him so far. I love that they're going the Jaws route so far and not giving away too much of his design yet, as I was hoping they'd do. Love it.
- The White Council and the Stone Giants and all those little moments that could have been left out but weren't.
- Galadriel being awesome and all-knowing and already looking suspicious as all hell of Saruman. It was such a relief to have her presence in the movie.
- Bilbo not being too silly or anything like that, but still hobbity and foolish at times but ultimately brave and honest. His speech to the dwarves about why he came back to join them after escaping from the tunnels was perfection. His actions saving Thorin were perfection, as was THE HUG afterward.
- Um, seriously, Thorin/Bilbo. I 'ship it now. It fits perfectly into my head canon about why Bilbo was a bachelor to the end of his days. Thorin admitting he was wrong and hugging the shit out of Bilbo in gratitude...hell yes. More, please.
- The music. Howard Shore knocked it out of the park again, especially with Thorin's song at the beginning, which became the dwarves' theme throughtout the movie. Also, Richard Armitage needs to sing more, b/c DAMN. That whole song gave me chills.
Things I Disliked
- At times, Martin Freeman was a bit too Martin Freeman, as is his wont sometimes. He can definitely be the type of actor who just plays himself. It stood out the most at the beginning of the Riddles in the Dark section, which I'm told is the first thing they filmed so that somewhat explains it. The modern deadpan delivery works great in modern day stories, but not in something like this. Otherwise, he did great, especially in the quiet, expressive moments. I wish he cared more about the role and the source material, mostly. I need to stop reading any interviews or articles about him, seriously, b/c they're harshing my squee.
- Only one woman with a speaking role. The Hobbit is even more of a boys-own-adventure type story than LOTR, so if PJ hadn't added Galadriel in there we could've gone a whole movie without hearing one woman speak at all. Still, I kind of wish he'd made some of the dwarves female. I'm sure the purists would rage, but really, it would not hurt the story one bit to change the genders of a few of the company. How fun would it be to have Gloin be a woman, so that the famous Gimli son of Gloin reference was to his kickass mom?
- All the fat jokes/presentation of fat as grotesque. I was glad when the Goblin King bits were over.
- We have to wait a year for the next one. I had been worried about them dragging these movies out too much, but even at almost 3 hrs this one ended too soon for me. I left the theater wanting more right that moment, and the wait is gonna suuuuuuuck.
I need Hobbit icons now.