Back in the early 2000s, Peter Jackson published The Lord of the Rings movies, which are widely regarded as some of the best movies of all time. For example, IMDB rated the three movies at 9th, 11th, and 17th in the best movies of all time, and Rotten Tomatoes gave then 91%, 94% and 96% fresh tomatoes. In 2012, Jackson decided to make The Hobbit into a movie as well, but he decided to split the single book into three movies. I don't know for sure what the motivation behind it was: perhaps it was greed, or perhaps it was because he thought three movies would tell the story better. Either way, the book was split into three movies. And I am not complaining; I am a big fan of the LotR movies, so I figured the more screen time in Middle Earth the better!
The first movie was what I expected, the acting was great, the music was amazing, and the scenery was beautiful. The first movie also followed the book fairly well. In fact, some of the scenes I even recognized from the text. However, the main complaint about the movie was "how slow it was" and how it was "just a bunch of walking." And although this is true, the beginning of the book is this way as well, so Jackson succeeded in following the book, even if it wasn't the most action-packed movie.
The second movie was better as a movie, but much less true to the book. Everything that was good about the first book was still great, but the movie included a lot more action. However, many of the best scenes in the second movie were not from the book, and many of them were from Tolkein's notes on Middle Earth and the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. Although I love the book, I didn't think this was a bad thing; The Hobbit book just wasn't exciting enough to make a movie without adding some action and drama into it. This would also explain many unexplained stories from the book, such as what Gandalf was doing the entire time. And while there was some stuff that came straight from Jackson's imagination, I still thought the added material was overall beneficial to the movie.
And finally, the third movie comes out on December 16th. I already have tickets for the 7:00 showing on the 16th (even though this is the day before finals, I convinced my parents to let me and my older brother go because it would be a " brotherly bonding experience"). Looking at the reviews on IMDB and Rotten Tomato, I think that this movie could be as good, if not better, than the 2nd one.
#OneLastTime
#OneLastTime
Somehow, I still remember really well that time freshman year when the first Hobbit was coming out and you were really excited...which meant going to the midnight showing right before finals (deja vu much). Unfortunately, my parents won't let me do anything like that. But I'm fancying the idea of having a LotR + Hobbit watching marathon during winter break.
ReplyDeleteI'm also really looking forward to the last movie. I personally think that the decision to split the book into three films was mainly done to get more money, but it did add some good parts to the movies in the end. To fill up about nine hours of time only with material from a book that's actually shorter than any of the main LoTR books was always going to be impossible, so they had to add lots of new material, most of which has worked out pretty well (the main exception for me is the elf/dwarf romance which doesn't really seem to add anything). Azog has been a good villain, and I've really enjoyed the Gandalf storyline, which I wanted to know more about when I read the book. The things I'm worried about for this movie are the battle scenes, which there are sure to be a lot of. I realize the the fighting has to be made exciting to make a good movie, and Jackson did a good job with that in the original movie, but I feel he's gone a bit over-the-top with The Hobbit, and has sort of ignored physics a lot of the time to get a cool shot.
ReplyDeleteI've read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and watched the second Hobbit movie, but I can't say I've enjoyed them as a much as you do (it drags on a bit and there's too many characters for me). Still, the film was good enough, especially with that ending, that the last one is intriguing. I think the split of the Hobbit into three parts has to be because of money; the three together look to gross around $3 billion while I believe only 1 film would've taken maybe half that.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really happy about the fact that the Hobbit was split up into three films. Two would've been bearable, but three is just a scam. I'm somewhat disenchanted with a few of the plotlines that Jackson added to The Hobbit, but still, I was extremely excited that he was returning to direct. The fact that Christopher Lee got his wish and is a part of The Hobbit just kills me.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the opinions of The Hobbit are, there is no disputing that it is a good series, though perhaps not as excellent as LotR. And then the book! The Hobbit (as a book) is life. I'm going to make sure my children love this book as much as I did. LotR 4 lyfe <3
So excited. So excited. SO excited!!!! I started rewatching the behind the scenes from the LOTR movies over the weekend because I needed to restrain myself from watching the actual movies (we always watch all 3 LOTR films over winter break). The main reason I get excited for the Hobbit move though is because Middle Earth is awesome, not necessarily for the actual storyline of the Hobbit. While I love the Hobbit movies, Lord of the Rings will forever be my true obsession, and I do wish Peter had stuck with 2 Hobbit films. I thought the whole end chase thing in Desolation of Smaug (where they run around working the bellows and making a gold statue thing) was kind of unnecessary, and the elf/dwarf romance was weird, they could have cut all that. But still, I thought Smaug was fantastic and I loved the riddles in the dark scene with Gollum in the first movie. I mostly just wish LOTR would continue forever and I get annoyed with The Hobbit trying to act like it's a more epic story than LOTR, when it's so not, but overall I definitely enjoy the films and am so unbelievably excited to see the movie next Tuesday!!! :D :D :D Also Pippin is singing the credits song at the end. *crying*
ReplyDeleteI feel somewhat out of the loop because I haven't seen a single LOTR movie. I haven't read the books. I've read The Hobbit, but I haven't seen any of those movies, either. I feel as though I'm missing out on a huge part of movie culture. I've gleaned important plots, characters, and moments from the internet, but I should probably go on an LOTR marathon sometime soon...
ReplyDeleteI was going to finish watching the LOTR movies. The universe hasn't really piqued my interest yet and there are so many to watch that I kind of put it off. I feel like it's one of those series where you're obligated to see though because it's such a classic.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know the hobbit was a book... Also arent LOTR and the Hobbit like the same series or something?
ReplyDeleteI've never read The Hobbit or any of the LOTR books, but I did see two of the LOTR movies. I have wanted to start reading the Hobbit because I've heard it's a really great book, but I don't really have the time. Hopefully during the break I'll have time to finally read something non-academic. The movie trailers for all the Hobbit movies look very cool. Hope you enjoyed the movie!
ReplyDelete