The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Peter Jackson is a talented filmmaker. We all know this, and anyone who attempts to deny it is just plain talking stupid. His Lord of the Rings trilogy is epic blockbuster filmmaking at its best. It was great material handled by a man who clearly cared about making it work, and despite the length of each installment the viewer felt as if they had been rewarded for their patience. Only Return of the King walked right up to the edge of overstaying its welcome, but it doesn’t come close to undoing all the greatness that came before. About a decade later, Jackson has decided to return to Middle Earth with an adaptation of The Hobbit. Devoid of context, this is a welcome development. Unfortunately he and the studio decided to split the story into two, and then three films. The Lord of the Rings was intended to be a trilogy, and as such each installment was satisfying on its own while also serving the larger story. They worked on both the micro and macro levels.

Since The Hobbit is just a single, 300-page book, splitting it into three movies is a dubious prospect. Splitting it into three 150-minute movies is just asking for trouble, and for the first two thirds of the first installment, subtitled An Unexpected Journey, Jackson never finds a way to justify his decision. His Middle Earth is a terrifically fun place to visit, but too much of An Unexpected Journey seems to coast on this idea. This was a world that felt fresh in The Lord of the Rings, and he might have been able to get away with stretching thing out a bit. That is not the case here. Too much of An Unexpected Journey is a slog, and I was very close to dismissing it completely. Then something strange happened: the movie became exciting. The final act of this film is so terrific that it recalls the best moments from the original trilogy, and it comes very close to redeeming all the exposition that came before. It doesn’t entirely succeed, but it at least ends on a place that will leave the viewer wanting more.

For those who do not know, The Hobbit was written by J.R.R. Tolkien before The Lord of the Rings, and it tells the tale of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (here played by Martin Freeman) and his adventures with a merry band of warrior dwarves. An Unexpected Journey begins with Gandalf (Ian McKellen) choosing Bilbo to come along on this adventure. He spends some time meeting these dwarves—led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage)—and weighing his decision. Eventually he chooses to come along (obviously) and off they go. The dwarves are looking to reclaim their home at The Lonely Mountain, which has been taken over by a particularly nasty dragon named Smaug. They don’t get there in this movie. For that you’ll have to wait a year or two. No, here they simply spend some time hiking through the wilderness and dealing with such obstacles as trolls, orcs, and giant mountains that fight each other. During most of these scenes, a lot of time is spent laying out the groundwork for what is to come in the next two installments. It’s not that exciting.

Things take a turn for the positive when Gollum (Andy Serkis) shows up, and I am pleased to report that he is still awesome. I won’t say much more about the final act since some of you may be unfamiliar with the story and want to be surprised, but it’s a fine reminder of all that Jackson does well. He’s a force to be reckoned with when he’s directing scenes in which things actually happen. Unfortunately, these are few and far between in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. In the last hour or so, everything clicks into place and the film feels like it has actual direction. Jackson has a knack for stretching things out just a bit longer than they need to be stretched, and that is on full display here. Even the climactic action sequence feels as if it goes on a few beats too long. I really do appreciate his enthusiasm about everything Middle Earth-related, but at some point enough is enough.

From an acting perspective, there’s nothing to complain about. Freeman is a fine choice to play Bilbo, even though he gets shockingly little to do for a long, long time. For a while he just stands around looking frightened at everything, and only at the end does it seem like he has control of anything. McKellen slips right back into the Gandalf role like an old glove, and our old friends Elijah Wood and Ian Holm pop up in a couple flash-forward sequences at the film’s beginning. They do little more than tease a horribly uninteresting b-story (maybe c- or d- story) about the Baggins clan potentially throwing a party. Will they succeed? Wait until the sequels to find out!

No discussion of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey would be complete without bringing up the use of 48 fps (frames per second), which completely changes the way the movie looks and feels. This technology is intended to give the 3-D a brightness that it might lack with regular equipment, and on that level it certainly succeeds. Dimness is never a problem, and 48 fps makes some of the grand helicopter shots look downright stunning. Same with some of the CGI-only shots. Unfortunately, it makes the human beings look absolutely ridiculous. They all appear to be walking at double speed, and it makes some very serious scenes look downright silly. If they’re planning on remaking Benny Hill anytime soon, this technology may be perfect. As of right now, there’s still some work to be done. I recommend people see it in this format because you’ve probably never seen anything quite like it in a regular theater. Just be aware that it’s horribly distracting. Movies aren’t really supposed to look like this. I often hated it, but I’m choosing to keep an open mind right now. There’s potential with this technology, I think. The Hobbit is just the first film to step out into the abyss.

As such, I think it would be unfair to judge the film based on this new technology alone. The real question should be whether it is a satisfying return to Middle Earth, and the answer to that is appropriately complicated: it isn’t, until it is. I was impressed with Jackson’s ability to create a somewhat legitimate climax with the material, but it doesn’t quite excuse all the treading of water that comes before. An Unexpected Journey is simply the first of three chapters, and as with the Lord of the Rings trilogy it may wind up becoming truly transcendent when the successors are released and we can view it as a single piece of storytelling. His adaptation of The Hobbit is still a work in progress, but that doesn’t do a whole lot for everyone paying full price this weekend to see the cinematic equivalent of appetizers. I may not be wholly satisfied with this first part, but I am excited to see what’s still to come. I’ll just have to wait a year, and then another year. At that point I might be pleased.

Grade: B-