by The Old Maid » Dec 16, 2012 12:43 pm
(Note: I'll let the mods in question decide how spoiler-iffic this is ... the book has been available for more than 70 years.)
"The Hobbit part 1: an unexpected journey" opening night observations:
-How good to see Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, and Cate Blanchett again.
-Galadriel looks even more lovely, if that is possible.
-Saruman looks even more wise and devious, if that is possible.
-Scenery as usual is stunning.
-Galadriel and Elrond have new crowns.
-Thorin Oakenshield has a brighter Galadriel-light in his eye highlights than Galadriel does. Was this intentional?
-The dwarf with the axe in his head wasn't as noticeable as I'd thought. If I hadn't read about it in advance, it might have slipped past me. Part of that also is that the action was very swift.
-Some of the old Dwarves looked a little too like a caricature with heavy, heavy makeup, whereas the youngest Dwarves looked a little too human or Elvish with so little makeup. It's hard to find a balance, maybe.
-Bilbo's new actor nailed it.
-Thorin's actor nailed it.
-They make a good team as the prissy, whiny jerk and the bitter, condescending jerk who soften each others' sharp edges.
-Balin's actor nailed it as the fellow who has seen it all and keeps on plodding anyway.
In order of the plot:
-The Kingdom under the Mountain is (mostly) superb. There were a few small scenes of twee, but nothing achingly so.
-The Kingdom of Dale is reminiscent of Gondor. Maybe that can't be helped, as it was made of stone. Based on the geography, I expected Dale to be more Polish/Slavic.
-The film claims that Thranduil had an army on the scene when Smaug came but refused to use it. Compare to the books where the Elves weren't in the area. (Recall that it took Thranduil 3-5 days to get help to Lake-town, and that was a lot closer.)
-Thranduil does look like the father of Legolas, with the exception that I don't recall Legolas riding a reindeer. If reindeer have horns that look like the leaves of a table.
-The Arkenstone was ... odd. Odder than a disco glitterball. Think the Marvel film "The Avengers" ... something as bright and erratic as Loki's shimmering blue Tesseract and scepter-bulb, and you've got the general idea. I always figured the Arkenstone should be a spherical diamond with a touch of inner light. (Which makes sense if it drifted through the path of Maedhros' Silmaril during its formation, then came up in the Erebor kimberlite pipe. The Erebor pipe produced the Arkenstone; the Khazad-dum pipe produced mithril.)
-How Thorin got the surname Oakenshield is explained and illustrated, but the order of events is reversed. In the books, Thror and a great army win Moria but cannot hold it, so his people go to Erebor. Then Thror goes to Moria alone after losing Erebor to Smaug, and dies alone. In the film, Thror and the survivors of Erebor make their one and only journey to Moria, where they fight and win (pyrrhic victory) the Battle of Dimrill Dale/Moria. Thror dies during this great battle.
-In the book, Dain Ironfoot gets credit for killing Azog, a dangerous Orc/goblin. In the film, Dain is portrayed as a coward who won't help Thorin even though Dain has an army at his back. Also, nobody kills Azog.
-I guess that means a change of origin for Bolg, which unless they can think of something worse than his real origin might be just as well. The LOTR orcs don't do dynasties. Can you imagine Lurtz with a son? A son who would care enough to avenge him? A son he didn't eat? Didn't think so.
-Azog is portrayed as an albino, with an albino wolf. He also has a Captain Hook thing going, using a weapon where his missing hand would be.
-Gandalf doesn't give Bilbo as hard a time in the film when they meet, but his scary eyeball in the window makes up for that.
-Gandalf doesn't scratch the paint on Bilbo's door, which in the book used to exercise Bilbo inordinately.
-The dwarves arrive in time for supper rather than brunch.
-They eat Bilbo out of house and home. The book mentions that he has multiple pantries and that while they cleaned out the goodies, there was more than enough for Bilbo to have breakfast and second breakfast the next morning.
-Bilbo doesn't shriek like a teakettle; he justs faints.
-The contract is not his idea. This is a big deal in the book, as his insistence on a written contract establishes his "business manner, usually reserved for people who try to borrow money off him." This business manner returns in the book when he confronts Bard and Thranduil, explaining in impeccably polite language that he thinks all three kings want a sound spanking.
-The Dwarves sing when they toss the plates.
-They sing in the darkness about their land "far over the Misty Mountains tall."
-In the book the Dwarves trash Bilbo behind his back. It's Gloin, Gimli's father, who breaks the rules and challenges him to his face. In the film, Thorin says to his face that he thinks Bilbo can't do the job. Gandalf tells Thorin to stop being a baby.
-Bilbo doesn't sign the contract until late in the film. In the book, he didn't have to; it was as much a bid as a contract.
-Bilbo's look of regret when he realizes the dwarves left without him is retained from the book, and believable.
-Gandalf doesn't nudge Bilbo out of the door. ("But!" / "No time for it." / "But!" / "No time for that either. Off you go." It is not there, and is much missed.)
-Bilbo tells people he is going on an adventure. In the book, he links adventures to both danger and disgrace. Pardon the metaphor, but in the book Bilbo would no more tell people that he is going on an adventure than he would go streaking around Bywater. It's just not done, dearie!
-The dwarves place cash bets on whether Bilbo will join them. Gandalf collects, as do the few dwarves who trusted his instincts.
-Fili and Kili are prounced Filly and Killy, rather than Feely and Keely.
-Bilbo's motives and methods for confronting the trolls are changed. Fili and Kili see trolls taking their ponies, send Bilbo ahead, and sound the alarm when the Burglar fails to retrieve their ponies. Also, the ponies must be mutes; they don't scream their pony heads off and wake up the whole mountainside.
-Every dwarf comes in fighting the trolls, and yes, they do fight like mad when cornered. The trolls grab Bilbo and threaten to draw and quarter him unless the dwarves surrender. The look on Thorin's face when he orders the others to drop their weapons bespeaks thoughts not lawful to be uttered.
-Half of the dwarves are on a spit over the fire.
-Bilbo tries to stall the trolls by giving them tips on the correct way to cook dwarves. This stalls the trolls nicely (replacing Gandalf's ventriloquism), but as Bilbo seems not to have noticed, it didn't stall the fire over which the dwarves were roasting!
-The trolls do indeed seem very human-like, unlike the LOTR trolls. At least they don't use names, though. (They are credited with the Bert, Tom, and William names in the credits.
-Gandalf brings out the sun a little early by splitting a rock that shades the troll-den. The effect when they turn to stone was well done.
-Thorin doesn't want to take Orcrist when he learns that Elves made it. Gandalf tells him to stop being a baby.
-The Dwarves are attacked by wargs and riders, before they reach Rivendell.
-Twice.
-This happens in the books ... zero times.
-Bilbo gets his first kill against a warg. In the books his first kill is a giant spider in Mirkwood (in the next movie, supposedly).
-The point is made several times that someone is stalking Thorin and company. Thorin insists that they told nobody except other Dwarves. Whoever it was who did snitch is never explained.
-Radagast. Sigh. Radagast! Tolkien created him as a sort of St. Francis of Assisi figure. Granted, Francis was a touch different, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't ditzy. Saruman says it comes from Radagast having eaten too many "special" mushrooms.
-Also, when St. Francis needed to go somewhere, he used a horse, or at least a donkey or mule. Radagast, an angel of Valinor gets ... a bunny sled. I think the bunny sled was added just to see if they could do it. (The film-makers, that is.) Not even a dog-sled, mind ... a bunny sled.
-Besides, the book version of Fellowship of the Ring says plainly that when Radagast went looking for Gandalf, Radagast had a horse.
-Radagast finds many dead and dying animals in his realm. As he uses magic to try to save a baby porcupine, his home is attacked by giant spiders. When he puts forth his power to save the animal, the spiders retreat. He follows them to their lair and realizes that they came from Dol Guldur to assassinate him.
-Major cool points, though, to Radagast for braving Dol Guldur without backup, fighting a Ringwraith without backup, and bringing a Wraith-sword to Gandalf as proof that the Necromancer is not some Uncle-Andrew-of-London playing at magic but a real Jadis.
-The Dwarves are rescued from the second non-canonical warg-and-rider attack by Elrond's Elves. Everyone except Gandalf and Bilbo are ticked: the Dwarves for being rescued by Elves, the Elves that the Dwarves are orc-magnets, and the orcs for displeasing Azog the Albino.
-Elrond's lieutenant could be one of his sons. If he isn't, he looks like one. Alternately, it could be Figwit. I didn't catch his name.
-Elrond is orc-hunting. In the books, his sons do that; he's a stay-at-home dad and a schoolteacher, so to speak.
-There are no singing Elves.
-There is a flute-playing Elf. Just for an instant, I almost thought "harem." Just an odd vibe that didn't have a better word for it. They were teasing the Dwarves with the flute, though.
-The Dwarves are stymied by the vegetable fare, whining that they don't eat green food. They barbecue the romaine lettuce and do end up eating something, at least.
-Elrond offers to look at the map. Thorin doesn't want his dirty Elf-germs on his heirloom map. Gandalf tells him to stop being a baby.
-Gandalf is dragged to a staff meeting with Elrond, Saruman, and Galadriel. During this time, Gandalf and Galadriel repeatedly do the telepathic equivalent of passing secret notes between their desks while the teacher Saruman is lecturing.
-Unlike in the books, Saruman declares that Sauron can't come back; therefore whatever happened in Dol Guldur must have had nothing to do with him. In the books Saruman knows well that Sauron can grow back without a body, but that it will take longer. The film gives the impression that Saruman isn't stalling but really doesn't believe it.
-Of course Saruman doesn't believe it because he does not respect the source, Radagast. But when Gandalf produces the Wraith-sword, Saruman says he doesn't recognize it.
-The Dwarves, still ticked off at all Elves everywhere-ever-ever, slip out of Rivendell during the White Council Staff Meeting, with no ponies, no wizard, and no supplies but what they can carry.
-Galadriel detects their departure, confronts Gandalf, but doesn't snitch.
-The Dwarves wander into the thunder-battle in the Misty Mountains. This takes the form of actual stone giants punching each other in the head. They're bigger and tougher than Voltron could handle, but the Marvel Comic Avengers could probably take them.
-At one point the Dwarves realize they are not in an earthquake; they're in a stone giant's lap. They escape to find themselves on a stone giant's chest.
-The cave is quiet without any ponies. Bilbo tries to leave when he thinks everyone is asleep. When asked why by the watchman, he says he belongs at home. This wounds the Dwarves, because they don't have a home.
-The capture is more believable, what with a trapdoor in the bottom rather than the side. That is, any trap-door is a little unbelievable, but the bottom-drop allows the orcs to capture the entire party at once.
-Bilbo is overlooked in the melee by lying on the floor in a little ball. He is charged by a straggler orc. Both fall into a crevice, which is conveniently over Gollum's realm.
-Gollum hears the two drop and comes forth to claim the dying Orc as crunchable-lunchable. The orc struggles before Gollum bashes its head in. In the struggle, Gollum's ring falls out of the rags of his loincloth.
-Bilbo picks up the ring, pockets it, and follows Gollum, presumably because Bilbo can't fly so Gollum's way must be the way out. It is Bilbo's choked sound of disgust that alerts Gollum that there is more prey.
-The Great Goblin is ugly as all-get-out, but witty. If Orcs could read, I'd say this guy reads the newspaper, including the editorials pages.
-The Great Goblin says there's a price on Thorin's head. He tells a mini-me to slide down a zip-line to tell some other orc about the capture. This implies that The Great Goblin isn't really in charge here; Azog is.
-I could do without the Great Goblin having hairy nipples, though. If this bugs you, don't go to the 3-D showing.
-Which reminds me: Orcrist and Glamdring glow every now and then, when someone remembers that they're supposed to glow. Sting glows brightly, every time. When Gollum kills the Orc, Sting sputters and goes out like a light-bulb.
-Gandalf rescues Thorin & Co. with his usual flash-bang attack. The Dwarves fight their way out. (Compare to the book, in which Thorin and Gandalf do the fighting so that the others can escape.)
-The bridge fall was wince-inducing. Not just for the implausibility of it, but because Gandalf now doesn't get credit for killing the Great Goblin as in the book. The big guy dies by falling down a big hole instead.
-Since Bilbo was separated right from the start and never even got counted by the Great Goblin's troops, there are no scenes of any Dwarves carrying him.
-Gandalf never gets into an argument about looking for Bilbo, as nobody thinks he was left behind. Bilbo said he wanted to go home, and they are convinced that that's exactly what he did.
-The riddles-in-the-dark scene was excellent, but too short! This is meant in a good way.
-Andy Serkis turns in his usual enthusiastic performance. Both of his personalities, that is. Smeagol likes having someone to talk to, even though he agrees with Gollum that they will eat this fellow in the end.
-Bilbo's temptation to kill Gollum and temptation overcome are well-played. The look on his face and the look on Gollum's face are gorgeous.
-The reunion scene being rushed, Bilbo doesn't get to prank poor Balin.
-The wargs and goblins immediately pursue. In the book, there is a long journey to tire out the heroes first.
-Azog the Albino leads the pursuit. The Dwarves promptly swarm the trees. These wargs don't know that dogs can't climb trees; they get about 3 branches up, on average. Bilbo climbs higher than that.
-The wargs then push down the pine trees. I realize that wargs are heavier than wolves, but I doubt even wargs are stronger than, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime. If the Hulk were in this movie, that's okay, but the wargs pushing over 5+ pine trees was just funky.
-As the trees domino, the Dwarves run to the top to get into the next tree. Maybe they're part squirrel? They all end up in the last tree, which teeters over a cliff.
-After they're falling off the cliff, Gandalf gets the idea to light the pine cones. None of the wargs catch fire, not really.
-Azog gives Thorin a taunting die-die-die look. Thorin being Thorin, he climbs out of the tree and charges across the burning field toward Azog. Azog spanks him really hard.
-When Thorin is defenseless on the ground and barely conscious, Bilbo climbs out of the tree, charges across the burning field, and notches his second noncanonical kill by slaying Thorin's would-be executioner (not Azog, just an orc-lackey).
-Seeing this, all of the Dwarves climb out of the tree, charge across the burning field, and fight really hard.
-The Eagles rescue them. They don't take them to their lair, but they do take them across the Anduin.
-Gandalf heals Thorin a little. Thorin cusses out Bilbo in G-rated cussin' language about how dummy-dumb-dumb that was, and I want to reach your brain/where is it currently located, etc.
-Bilbo says he realized that he has a home and they don't, so he wants to help them get their home back. (Cue *awwww*). Thorin apologizes. (Cue *awwww*).
-In the distance they see the Lonely Mountain. It doesn't look volcano-ey to me, more like earthquake-upthrust, but what do I know. As long as it has a kimberlite pipe, that's all that matters, I suppose.
-End of film.
...
Verdict: the book was a Bildunsroman, a coming-of-age story for Bilbo, not Gandalf-and-the-Elven-Avengers. I've always said that if padded material is any good, it deserves its own film, and if it's not good, it shouldn't be in any film. I still wish that Bilbo's story was contained in one film, but this wasn't as non-canonical as I dreaded. Wish it were better, glad it's not worse, and whatever else I'd think, I couldn't have done it myself.
I'm glad I saw the half-price matinee though.
So I got to see the film in PJ's ideal specifications, with the exception that our sound system wasn't Dolby Atmos. So that was very cool.
But then once you got inside the Lonely Mountain, it was just stunning. HFR combined with 3D combined with better CGI made for a freakishly-realistic experience...I literally felt like I could step into the screen and BE there. All the other locations shone in the same way. I've seen LotR multiple times, but I never grasped the full depth of Rivendell until now. It looked REAL, and that's the highest compliment I can pay as someone who is very "behind the scenes savvy" and is not usually faked out by matte paintings or CGI. 
Anyway, I agree in thinking that Gandalf gets the credit for doing in the Great Goblin.
um, Radagast, shows to Gandalf. After Arnor's collapse, when its last king goes missing with the palantirs, there does seem a time of Watchful peace where the Nazgul remained hidden and inactive until Sauron became established at Dol Guldur, not far from the Gladden fields. I would have to know in detail what the Witch king had been up to all those years.
