The Hobbit: TBOTFA – Movie Review
The third installment of a series that did not need to be three movies. Like so many of these artificially lengthened movie series (Hunger Games, Twilight) these days. I went into it without any expectations since the first movie was just kind of there and the second movie had some neat fun moments. Now this third movie felt like an unlimited amount of padding followed by an overlong battle sequence. Was it a bad movie? No, surely not. It was well enough made and had its moments. But I’m really starting to question now if I didn’t enjoy these 3 movies because of the 48 frames per second or the 3d. Because all this useless 48fps (HFR) does is to show me how weak the monster makeup fx were and when and where greenscreen was used. It took me out of the movie everytime. Don’t get me wrong, I was looking at the gorgeous matte paintings more than the actual story because it almost felt as if the movie wants it to be that way. While the 3d is there to give you depth… the HFR works counterproductive and removes depth. It’s so weird to look at and distracts from all the parts that you actually should look at to get immersed in the story.
I want to spare you with story details since there is hardly a story in this movie. Thorin Oakenshield got what he wanted, except some crystal stone (I don’t remember the name anymore and I saw that film 3 hrs ago!) that would make himself as the new dwarf king complete. Now Bilbo has it and smuggles it out of town to the elves who rallied an army to attack Thorin because the dwarfs still own some strange jewelry from them. The elves want it back and side with the humans who just had to flee the city of Laketown, which is now devastated by the dragon Smaug. The bad guys know about the killing of the dragon as well and want to take their shot conquering the Erebor because it’s a strategically valuable fortress.
I’m not sure why I didn’t enjoy this movie more. There is a lot of stuff going on that should have worked. Return Of The King did have almost the same structure, with a giant battle in the second half of the film. On the other hand there was also a complete book to back the story up. The three Hobbit films were made from ONE book. And it was a childrens book. Imagine how much padding was necessary to get this into 3 movies with more than 2hrs runtime each. Too many overlong action sequences that made you numb after a while. And again I ask myself if it’s because of the 3d and HFR. I still have to see the movies in 2d and maybe they’re much better that way. I’m almost sure they’re better that way.
What I did enjoy were the references to the LOTR trilogy. Saurons appearance and how Galadriel kicked his butt. The movie also had some neat humour going on. Even though that one greedy comic relief character did get a little too much attention for my taste. The battle scenes worked fine except for the fact that it all didn’t look dirty enough. Some of the CG work felt odd too. Especially when someone fell off a cliff or down a hill… the animation just doesn’t look right and believable. But that’s not just this movie. But here you have a ton of scenes showing it. The matte painting backgrounds looked fantastic and will not get a complaint out of me. Overall the technical side of the movie left me with mixed feelings. While the LOTR was still rooted in reality and on location shoots… The Hobbit looked more fake than real. Very oversaturated colours and by far not dirty enough. Kind of the Star Wars prequel syndrome. Just not dirty and believable enough.
Acting wise it was fine. Even though there were some schmaltzy moments in it. Richard Armitage sold his Thorin well. Especially in the beginning when he’s corrupted by all the treasury and gold. Martin Freeman does a solid Bilbo again by just being Martin Freeman. The romance between Kili (Aidan Turner) and Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) works fine too. Even though I found that part very unsatisfying. Yeah I say it… I do enjoy a good romance! I do have a soft spot! But what I find useless is a love triangle for the sake of having a love triangle. Which brings me to Legolas (Orlando Bloom) who is having a thing for Tauriel as well (and who wouldn’t?). Legolas has some of his “look I can fly!” moments in this movie too. In fact… multiple of these moments. I found that cheesy and unnecessary in the LOTR movies and so I do in the Hobbit movies. Elrond (Hugo Weaving) made a short appearance as well and my hopes were up. But as soon as he leaves the movie he’s not coming back. Last but not least we have Gandalf. When we left the theater someone I was with seeing the film mentioned that Gandalf never really used his magic. He’s basically just there to ruin everybody’s day by demanding you to do stuff to save the world. If I would live in Middle-Earth I would try to get as far away from these magic people as possible. They’re bad news everytime they show up and don’t even bother to use their skills to help you.
My ultimate thoughts are that the three movies altogether surely work fine. It’s by far not as epic as the LOTR trilogy but it’s solid entertainment. It will be interesting if there will be a fan-cut out there soon. One that cuts out all the padding and condenses the 3 movies into 2 and much more coherent viewing experience. I’ll keep my eyes open for sure. It would be interesting to talk to an Editor about this new trend in movies. Not long ago the Editor was there to tighten the storytelling and remove unnecessary parts. Nowadays it seems like the rules are turned upside down. Right now I can only say that I enjoyed the second movie most with the first and the third on the same kind of level.
A 7.4/10 for me.
