Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold, A Hobbit Review

December the 14th. The premiere of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I have to say my expectations were very high for this film. I love The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien's story has always and will always be my favorite story. The Hobbit novel isn't as high on my list. However, I do enjoy it and it is crucial to the history of The Lord of the Rings. Alright, I'm going to jump right in here. Fair warning, SPOILERS AHEAD!

Alright, right away the movie pulls you back into Middle-earth with the opening dialogue and scenes with Mr. Ian Holm as Bilbo. Telling his story, or rather writing, of his adventures with the dwarves to Frodo. Bilbo, noticeably looking older by the way, takes us back to the time when the dwarves flourished. Before Smaug. The prologue was great. It gives you a feel for just how massive the kingdom of Erebor really was. Not quite as big as Moria perhaps, but still impressive. We also get our first shadowy glimpses of the dragon. I figured they would be careful not to show too much of him here. Afterwards we go back to Bag End for the rest of the opening scenes which briefly shows Elijah Wood as Frodo and Bilbo preparing for a familiar birthday party.

We are then taken 60 years in the past to a young Bilbo and his chance encounter with Gandalf. After a little friendly banter about adventures, Gandalf decides to select Bilbo as his burglar. He sets up the location as the meeting place with the dwarves and away he goes. An okay scene. Nothing flashy. A little humor and it sets up the film nicely.

The gathering at Bag End that follows is the most enjoyable scene of the film for me. I love the humor and individuality of the dwarves. The dinner and the mood is fun. The song by Thorin and company, Misty Mountains, is awesome and enchanting. Made me remember why the dwarven race has always been my favorite. The morning after, the adventure begins. Several travel shots across beautiful New Zealand/Middle-earth.

The campfire scene I thought was an interesting one. The company stops for camp and there is a second prologue type scene told by Balin. It is about the dwarves' attempt to reclaim Moria after the fall of Erebor. Things start to change a bit from the books here. Let me explain. In the film, Balin tells Bilbo of how the orcs get to Moria first and lay claim. A great battle ensues. The orcs are led by a great pale orc named Azog. Who wants nothing more than to end the line of Durin, Thorin's kin. During the battle Thror, Thorin's grandfather and King Under the Mountain, is beheaded by Azog which results in a showdown with the young dwarven prince. Thorin cuts off the orc's arm and turns the tide of the battle. The orcs retreat into the mines and Moria is lost. The pale orc thought dead and Thorin made a hero. The appendices of Lord of the Rings however, say otherwise. In the books it was not Thorin, but Dain, his cousin, who fought the orcs outside Moria and defeated Azog. It works here for the film though. It helps set up Thorin as a leader among the dwarves.

While the dwarves rest the scene shifts to the forest of Mirkwood and to Radagast the Brown. One of the 5 wizards who guard Middle-earth. Radagast is an odd fellow, to say the least. He talks to animals, lives in the forest, has a bird living in his hair...strange indeed. Radagast sees a darkness in the forest and we get our first, in not brief, look at the giant spiders of Mirkwood and Dol Goldur. It was fun to see Jackson use these pieces of the appendices in the film. Well done as well. So far, I'm loving the pace and feel of this movie.

Next up, the trolls. Just before this classic scene Thorin and Gandalf have a small argument about going to Rivendell for help. Thorin wants nothing to do with the elves after their lack of help concerning the dragon years prior. This upsets Gandalf and he briefly leaves the company. That evening they encounter three mountain trolls stealing their horses and arguing over how to cook them. Bilbo is tricked into investigating by Kili and Fili which quickly leads to his capture. The dwarves soon come to the rescue only to be captured themselves. Again the trolls argue amongst themselves. A combination of them arguing and Bilbo's smarts to delay them as long as possible, Gandalf arrives just as the sun is rising and the trolls turn to stone. Pretty good scene if for nothing else than to lead to the discovery of the troll hoard and the finding of the elvish blades. This is where Thorin claims Orcrist, Gandalf claims Glamdring and Bilbo gets his dagger later to be named Sting.
All of the names they discover from Elrond in later scene. But, I'll get to that in a second.

As the dwarves move on through the wild, they are soon met by Radagast. Who is searching for Gandalf to fill him in on the findings in Dol Goldur. After the reveal, which shows the Witch King and The Necromancer (Sauron for you Tolkien fans), they are attacked by orcs riding wargs. It's worth noting that Radagast gives Gandalf a morgul blade during his telling of his tale. So, Radagast lures the orcs away as the dwarves try to escape. Eventually Radagast leaves and the company escapes into the opening into the valley of Rivendell. Outside they can hear the elves attacking the orcs. Into Rivendell. These scenes were okay. Radagast riding his sleigh, pulled by rabbits, was a bit much but, it is in the story.

Rivendell was a cool scene for me. Not only do they get their weapons analyzed but this is also where they get Elrond to read the map and discover the moon letters. Cool stuff. After this is another scene that was not included in The Hobbit but in the appendices. The White Council meeting. Gandalf is confronted by Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman the White about his journey with the dwarves. He fires back with news of Dol Goldur and the rising of a dark power in Middle-earth. Gandalf shows them the morgul blade only to have Saruman brush it aside. dismissing the news as not enough proof of Sauron's return. Galadriel and Elrond don't dismiss the news as abruptly. After the meeting, Galadriel tells Gandalf that he should continue his journey and help the dwarves in any way he can. While all this is going on the dwarves and Bilbo are leaving Rivendell. Off to continue their journey without the consent of the council. Again, good scenes. With the exception of some weird relationship/feelings between Galadriel and Gandalf. It comes across kind of strange.

The dwarves are then on the move again. Soon they are in the Misty Mountains and are in the midst a Stone Giant battle while a storm is going on around them. This weird scene leads to the company finding a cave to take shelter in. Here we see Bilbo attempt to leave the group as he constantly belittled by Thorin and the others. Bofur attempts to stop Bilbo but eventually consents to let him go. However, the cave floor breaks free and they fall into the realm of the goblins. They are swept away. Taken before the great Goblin King. Bilbo attempts to sneak away and is attacked by a goblin and they fall into a great ravine. The dwarves are confronted by the Goblin King and are about to be killed when Gandalf arrives, rescuing the group aiding in the escape.

The scene shifts to probably the most anticipated scene of the film. Riddles in the Dark. Bilbo awakes in a dark cave with the goblin he fell with barely moving lying next to him. Bilbo, hidden from view by growing fungus, watches as Gollum slinks into view and drags the goblin off to eat him. Bilbo waits then follows. He wathces Gollum beat the goblin with a rock several times. While following behind, Bilbo finds the one ring and puts it in his pocket. Gollum finally sees him after a couple of minutes. He sneaks up on Bilbo and attempts to kill him but the hobbit backs him off with Sting. The following scene is beyond awesome. The back and forth between the two is classic. Bilbo trying to escape and Gollum arguing with himself. Loved it. Eventually they agree to a game of riddles. If Bilbo wins Gollum shows him the way out. If Gollum wins he gets to eat Bilbo. This goes on for awhile until Bilbo finally wins the contest by asking Gollum what he has in his pocket. Gollum cannot not guess the answer and is furious. He then plans to use his ring and kill the hobbit. Until he realizes that his ring is missing. He soon figures out that Bilbo has it and chases the hobbit through the cave. Bilbo soon slips the ring on and sees that it makes him invisible as Gollum passes by him. He follows Gollum through the cave hoping to find a way out.

The dwarves are being pursued by the goblins while this is going on. An escape/battle scene if you will. Some cheesy moments here. The dwarves using a piece of railing to knock the goblins off their walkway into the great chasm below, for one. Perhaps the cheesiest scene though is when the Goblin King catches up with them and is blocking their path. He asks Gandalf how he intends to get passed him. Gandalf slashes the King across his gut to which the King says, "That'll do it." Gandalf cuts him again and the bridge they are standing on collapses and they all fall. After, they race towards the exit.

Back to Bilbo who finds that Gollum has indeed led him to an exit. Gollum still raging about his missing ring soon hides when he hears someone running towards the exit. The dwarves are soon seen running by them, which Bilbo sees, out the exit. Bilbo decides them to make his move and jumps over Gollum as the creature screams at him and out the exit the hobbit went.

Bilbo rejoins the company soon. Before he takes the ring off he hears Thorin doubting him again and saying Bilbo ran away. He then takes off the ring and reveals himself to the dwarves. A touching scene here where Bilbo explains why he came back to them. Telling them he feels sorry for them about the loss of their home and that he will do what he can to help get it back. Some admiration from the dwarves here. While in the midst of the their brotherly love, they hear the howling of wargs coming as they realize the orcs have found them again. They run down the mountain only to be cornered at a cliff with only trees to hide in. Which they do. The orcs are soon on them and are confronted by Azog, the pale orc. The dwarves are eventually condensed down to one tree and are on the verge of falling over the cliff. Thorin, seeing this as the end, runs at Azog to confront the monster. He is taken down quickly by the orc and is hurt badly. He is almost killed but Bilbo rescues him. Knowing he is outmatched but still willing to defend his comrade. Half of the dwarves come to the rescue and fight off a few of the orcs. Just when Bilbo is about to be killed the eagles arrive and fight off the orcs. They rescue the dwarves and fly them to their Eerie. I'm not sure we needed the whole Bilbo to the rescue stuff, but it is needed to help with his relationship with the dwarves.

Once they land at the Eerie Gandalf races to Thorin to make sure he is okay and heals the dwarf of his injuries. He then awakens and begins to question the hobbit's motives but then embraces the hobbit and apologizes for doubting him. Thus, continuing to help with the relationship. Again, not in the book but it helps here. The film ends soon after as they see the Lonely Mountain in the distance. The camera then follows a thrush all the way back to the mountain. There it leads inside the mountain where we see piles of gold. Smaug's snout is seen moving underneath a large pile of gold. Soon some of the gold shifts and we get a glimpse of the dragon's eye as we fade to black.

Overall, I loved the film. A couple of small gripes. A little too much CGI and some corny dialogue. However, it still had the magic that the trilogy created. It takes you to Middle-earth. Makes you believe you're there. I can't wait to be taken back there again next December.

To A Galaxy Far, Far Away..And Beyond!

After almost 30 years we Star Wars fans are getting what we all wanted. New films! About a month ago Disney purchased Lucasfilm, Ltd. from creator George Lucas and all that comes with it. Including Star Wars. Along with the sale came the news that Disney would be releasing a new Star Wars trilogy. Episodes 7, 8 and 9 in the series.The first of which will be opening in 2015.

Of course this brings up a lot questions. What is the story? Who will direct? Will the original cast be back? There are unlimited resources from which to pull story ideas. Including the 100+ novels set in the Star Wars universe. With that little tidbit comes my big question. Will Disney/Lucasfilm use any of the material from the novels in their new movies? The short answer would be no. Both Lucas and Disney have stated that the expanded Star Wars universe is officially non canon. Does that mean that they won't use any material though? I hope not. There are so many things worth pulling from these books. For instance, what about the character Mara Jade? Seen here at the right. Jade was introduced in author Timothy Zahn's Heir To The Empire novel and has been a central character ever since. Eventually she marries Luke Skywalker and they have a son, Ben. Can Disney really just throw that information away? What about the marriage of Han Solo and Princess Leia? Their kids? There has to be a way to use these characters in the new movies. Maybe even improve them. Now there are some things I would not use as well. The death of fan favorite Chewbacca, for one. Yes the lovable wookie met his end in the novels a few years back. Definitely something I would fix for the films.

Aside from the new trilogy, Disney/Lucasfilm have also stated that they plan on releasing 2-3 Star Wars films a year. That is a lot of Star Wars! Just think of all the possibilities. How about a bounty hunter or underworld themed series? A lot of fans have been asking for a Boba Fett film. Is now the time? Maybe an Old Republic trilogy? For me, the biggest possibility is for a Star Wars/Pixar project(s). An exciting thought. There are literally endless ideas to play with. Well, whatever they decide, expectations will be high. For some, like me, they already are. I have faith Disney will do the right thing and that we will all be pleased. Check back here for more Star Wars updates. Until then, "Remember, the Force will be with you..always."

Jr.

Passing Go

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