Unfortunately,
The Hobbit trilogy was disappointing
to me, and rewatching The Lord of the Rings
only makes that more evident. It’s
especially disappointing because they had such potential to be great, and I
really feel that, had the production stuck to either one long film or
(possibly) two short ones, they could’ve been excellent. Because they really do have a lot going for
them and could’ve been a fine companion to the original trilogy. In amongst the excess and tonal missteps,
these are the aspects of the films that do
work for me.
Topnotch Casting
As in the
original trilogy, the casting is totally on-point on every level. Returning cast members like Sir Ian
McKellen’s Gandalf and Andy Serkis’s Gollum jump easily back into their old
roles. The new characters are all
excellently cast, from Richard Armitage as Thorin to Luke Evans as Bard to Lee
Pace as Thranduil, and although most of the dwarves don’t get a lot of
individual distinction, they work well together as a unit. And of course, there’s Martin Freeman – I
really don’t think there could have been a more perfect Bilbo, and it’s
precisely because he’s so excellent that I wish the films could have been
better for him.
“Golden” Book Scenes
These are
films that veer heavily from their source material, and where they are
faithful, are sometimes fastidious to the detriment of the movies. But every now and then, there’s a scene from
the book so perfectly rendered that it fully pulls you in, in these sequences
being every inch the films they could’ve been under better circumstances. I’m thinking particularly the two significant
Bilbo scenes: the “Riddles in the Dark”
sequence with Gollum and his conversation with Smaug, both of which are just
wonderfully done.
The Dwarves’ Journey
I like
the emphasis placed, not just on the dwarves wanting to reclaim the treasure
Smaug took from him, but also on the home he displaced them from. The idea that they’ve been wanderers since
being forced out of the Lonely Mountain, never truly belonging anywhere, is a
sympathetic one, and I love the connection Bilbo feels to this idea, thinking
of how greatly he values his own home and wanting the dwarves to again have
that for themselves.
Beautiful Production Design
As with The Lord of the Rings, this trilogy
looks gorgeous. The costumes, sets, and
location shooting all provide a visual feast and a nice attention to
detail. I particularly appreciate that
all the dwarves look distinct from one another – even if only a handful of them
have a fair amount of characterization, they don’t all blend together, which is
important when we’re dealing with so many.
Badass Dwarves
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