It's been two weeks since I saw the film, but I haven't had a chance to put my impressions into words until now. The following post is positively stiff
with spoilers. Spoiler-free summary at the bottom.
Where do I begin? I take my Tolkien
very seriously. I generally like his books the way he wrote them;
yes, I am frustrated by the unfinished ones, but for the most part
I'm a happy reader. I can't understand the point
of view of those who grumble over descriptions of landscapes, whine
that the pace is too slow, or gripe that certain scenes (eg, Tom
Bombadil) seem out of place. For me, these are high points, virtues that
never made it into genre fantasy. Some readers seem determined to
judge the original by how much it resembles the imitations. I fail to
see the appeal of these: they are generally too fast paced, too
frenetically plot-driven, never pausing to let the reader become
immersed in the world. The genre is too artificially smooth, lacking the
cracks that give depth and meaning, cracks that mirror the ones always appearing in
the rich but fragile fantasy world each of us knows as reality. Nope,
none of that nonsense for genre fiction, but efficient, formulaic
production with an eye on the clock, converting hours to dollars with
all the soul of a Taco Bell employee.
Peter Jackson seems to have a knack for
drawing together gifted actors, visual artists and composers. He
seems to have enough respect for the serious Tolkien fan community to
allow them to temper the worst of his impulses, and perhaps even has enough
appreciation of the books to actually want to create the occasional faithful
scene. In The Hobbit, I enjoyed seeing Bilbo run through Hobbiton
carrying the dwarves' contract: his excitement was truly infectious.
I liked the "Riddles in the Dark" scene very much, though
the setting was not nearly as dark and impressive as I pictured it;
Freeman and Serkis absolutely nailed it. So I'll give Peter Jackson
that much: he seems to have some ability to recognize talent. Still, at
heart, he's a Taco Bell chef: piling up tortilla, beans, cheese, and
just a pinch of iceberg lettuce to appease the wholesome book fans;
rolling it together with a little less care every time, and calling
it a meal. Remember how I said the Rankin Bass film taught me goblins
are scary and will eat your head? Well, that was not enough for Peter
Jackson, who showed us that goblins are comical creatures who line up
to be squished by a rolling rock or shoved off bridges with a handy
stick, led by a scrotum-throated giant who cracks jokes whilst being
disemboweled.
I seem to be
alone in this, but I enjoyed the scene in the book. The chase down a
pitch-dark tunnel with the flip-flap of goblin feet on stone drawing
gradually nearer, the brief confrontation when the hunters round a
corner to find two legendary swords glowing before their faces; the
second meeting, where the goblins come up stealthily to grab the
dwarves from behind in the dark. Perhaps all this "dark"
makes it difficult to translate to a visual medium, but it was a
genuinely scary scene and worth the trouble. But no, Peter "Subtlety"
Jackson decided viewers would prefer to see multiple
goblins squished by a rolling rock. Hey, I like references as much as
anybody, but when it comes to Katamari Damacy
tributes,
World of
Warcraft did it better.
As
for my fear that there would be a "flattening" effect as
the tale was stretched and made more similar to Lord of the Rings,
that was well warrented. Sometimes it feels as though the filmmakers
are running through a checklist, a sort of Tolkien blockbuster recipe: 1 tsp "dwarves are disgusting", 2 cups "archery
is sexy" and a 5lb bag of "Galadriel poses dramatically".
They even reused the music (though where the did spring for a new
theme, the dwarves' song, it is one of the highlights of the film).
The character development is also sped up in a way that will probably
leave nothing for the other two films. Now, before ever meeting a
spider and naming his sword, timid Bilbo has killed a warg, leapt
between an unconscious Thorin and a murderous orc, slain the orc, and
won the respect of the dwarves. Where can he go from here?
Spoiler-free
summary: 2.5 out of 5 stars: a decidedly mediocre film. Good acting
and a small amount of good (new) music, combined with classic Boyans
& Walsh Velveeta™ dialogue and gratuitously silly video-game
action.
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