This prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s most famous work – The Lord of the Rings – is in fact a smallish book featuring a children’s fantasy adventure – with tales of dwarves, elves, hobbits and a dragon. Tolkien started writing this book well before the LotR as a story to tell his grand-kids and this explains the relatively simplistic adventure here. In fact he had to revisit this book 15+ years later to tie it in with his adventure series. No such problems for Peter Jackson though, who has masterfully adapted the story into an epic that blends in seamlessly in his Middle Earth. Still I do have reservation about splitting the book into 3 long movies – only time will tell how this strategy holds up.
Cast and Crew:
No one stands out in particular in the huge ensemble of actors although Martin Freeman (as Bilbo Baggins) and Richard Armitage (as Thorin Oakenshield) share the honors. Ian McKellen reprises his role of Gandalf from the trilogy with the same assuredness. To add to the nostalgia, Christopher Lee (Saruman), Cate Blanchett (as Lady Galadriel) and Hugo Weaving (as Elrond) make cameo appearances and in the prologue of the movie, we even glimpse the old Bilbo and Frodo!
Comments:
The movie has a very similar feel and look of the trilogy. Peter Jackson along with his wife Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens once again show us that they are masters at adapting Tolkien’s universe to the big screen. From art direction to sets and from costumes and weapons to the landscapes, Middle Earth is vividly depicted. From Hobbiton to Rivendell (or Imladris), Tolkien’s vision has been brought to life in great detail. “Far over the misty mountains cold…” – the song in Bilbo’s hut has a serene, haunting tune that stayed with me long after the movie was over. Another scene that I loved, and which was probably the most anticipated for many, was the riddles scene with Gollum. Undoubtedly one of the most memorable CGI characters of all time, Gollum does not fail to wow the audience. The different aspects of his split personality – playfulness and wit along with his scheming nature and cruelty is perfectly captured. One cannot imagine a better Gollum than the one created by Peter Jackson and played by Andy Serkis.
I hated the long drawn battle sequences in the movie. After a point, they get monotonous. We have the same creatures -mostly the Orcs that keep coming at the group of dwarves with the predictable outcome. It was the same thing in Peter Jackson’s King Kong – most notably the dinosaurs stampede scene. It gets frustrating after a point and unnecessarily adds to the already lengthy run time.
HFR:
I cannot believe I am this far into the review without once mentioning Peter Jackson’s new toy – High Frame Rate (HFR).He had developed several new filming techniques during the trilogy for scenes involving the shorter Hobbits and Dwarves alongside the taller Elves and Men. Also, the motion capture techniques for Gollum were outstanding at that time. But this time he tries something that has never been done in the history of cinema – using HFR for a feature length movie. Entering the movie hall, I was very doubtful about this and as expected it bothered me very early in to the movie when the MGM logo showed up. Everything seemed rushed and fast and abnormally smooth. But surprisingly, half an hour into the movie, I kind of managed to ignore it maybe due to the 3D, the spectacular sets or probably the scene with Gollum. But Every so often, I was reminded of the “smoothness” and it bothered me. Although the thing the I dreaded the most regarding HFR – “felt like watching a soap opera” – never occurred. It was a unique movie watching experience, one which very well might be the norm in the future. And I am glad that I saw it in this format.
Final Thoughts:
The high points of the movie are its sets, the background score and the innovative use of HFR. On the other hand, there are too many lengthy and monotonous battle sequences. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is my favorite film of all time. So it was ironic that I did not have high hopes from this prequel. I had a few pleasant surprises and it overall exceeded my expectations. But stretching an essentially children’s book into 3 movies of almost 3 hours is asking a bit too much from the audience.
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