I finally watched this movie for the first time last night and now that I’ve had time to think about it I need to get some stuff off my chest. The more I think about it the more I am realizing I truly and thoroughly hated this movie. I am surprised by my own reaction and I am interested to know what others thought about it. I feel like this was simply a poor man’s Lord of the Rings and the appropriate time to make the film passed a few years ago. I have never read the book but I had never read LotR either and that didn’t make a difference then. To be honest I really don’t even like the story of The Hobbit that much.
My biggest problem has to be that this film centers on the Dwarves. Of all the races of the world of Middle Earth I find Dwarves to be the least interesting. They are angry little men that all have a chip on their shoulder and I find them really annoying. All through Lord of the Rings Gimli did nothing but bitch and moan about everything. Yeah he had his moments but by and large he was the resident complainer of the Fellowship of the Ring. Hobbits are the complete opposite, they are awesome little people. Hobbits live to eat, drink, and smoke. They live to have a good time and they are probably the most awesome people of Middle Earth. In this movie we have one Hobbit, a ton of different Dwarves, and Gandalf who is far and away the only cool thing about this movie. Ian McKellen is great in the role of Gandalf and has more than a few moments in this movie to make it worth wild but he can’t carry the picture by himself. I thought Thorin Oakenshield seemed more like the Derek Zoolander of Dwarves rather than the bravest and boldest of the bunch. There are like a ton of Dwarves in this movie and they are all specifically weird looking except for Oakenshield who is “really really ridiculously good looking” standing among his company. I thought Martin Freeman was good as a young Bilbo Baggins and I liked what he brought to the movie. .
I don’t feel like this movie covered enough of the story to make it interesting. It felt so drawn out at certain times and at others simply seemed liked something we had already seen before. It had its moments but overall I think my expectations were too high. I will admit that I feel compelled to watch the next film but I can’t really say I’m looking forward to it. This movie has left such a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like I spent all that time watching it and nothing of any real significance even happened. Yeah Bilbo acquired the Ring of Power from Gollum but that doesn’t have anything to do with the dragon or the Dwarves’ quest. There is just a lot of build up here with no satisfying delivery. Their escape from the Orcs as Gandalf led the way wielding his weapons in force may have been awesome but it wasn’t enough for me. This movie was so incredibly long; to feel like it doesn’t deliver after all the time it took to watch it is quite a disappointment.
I did not like this movie and if you have read this then tell me if I am right or wrong. I loved the Lord of the Rings franchise. There was a time when I would have clamored for a film like this just to have more of that world, but it’s been ten years since those movies came out and the moment passed. I think Peter Jackson waited far too long to make this movie and it’s just not there anymore for me maybe. I am thoroughly shocked to find myself this disappointed because I spent a long time looking forward to this movie.
The Movie Snobs 