Cinema The Hobbit Extended Trilogy - Hobbled by a Rushed Deadline and Excessive CGI

[Arnox]

Rating

3.00 star(s)

​

This would be my third time watching this trilogy through, and this time, I watched the whole thing. All of it. And it did not improve my opinion of this trilogy. Oftentimes while I was watching it, I kept having the same thought. This feels too much like a DREAM I had of Lord of the Rings, not Lord of the Rings itself, or maybe someone's fanfiction of it. And it's not like it doesn't have great parts to it. It very much does, but those great parts are just not frequent enough for this trilogy to merit anything more than three stars.

I also disagree with some who say that the problems stem somewhat from the core material itself, namely, the Hobbit book by J.R.R. Tolkien. I've semi-recently read The Hobbit, and while it's certainly not my favorite fantasy book (though I actually like the graphic novel version illustrated by David Thorn Wenzel much better, for whatever that is worth), it is a very solid foundation for an incredible two or three movies. No, the issue here is definitely in the execution, and the Hobbit trilogy gets a death by a thousand cuts in that department, whether it comes from the overdone CGI or the sometimes generally bad scene executions or the weird unneeded scene additions that weren't in the book.

They also did Gandalf so dirty in this trilogy. Part of this isn't the producers fault entirely though. It's clear that Ian McKellen is thrown heavily off his game for this trilogy due to all the goddamn CGI. He often looks (unintentionally) intimidated, tired, and worn out. Most of the other actors fare way better with dealing with this (or at least, they seem to in the final product) but Gandalf is one of the main protagonists of this story, damnit. So when Ian's very much the worse for wear here, you feel it throughout the entire runtime.

But there's more than that. Gandalf just generally gets his ass kicked WAYYY too much for comfort as well, and while I certainly don't expect him to win every single battle, this is the same character that holds one of the legendary three rings of the elves and SOLO'D A DEMON KING FROM THE ABYSSAL DEPTHS OF HELL. I mean, it cost him his life to do so, but there you go. There is zero reason why he should be showing this much weakness. Now in fairness, in the LotR books, his power level is somewhat inconsistent as well, but even there, he still very usually emerges the victor, and especially after being sent back after death.

Coming off of that subject now, the most of the cast is pretty good actually. Brom reminds me a little much of Will Turner, Lord of the RIngs edition, but that's not entirely a bad thing at all, and the actor they chose for Bilbo was, I thought, a good choice as well. Smaug and Smaug's treasure was well portrayed and the first sight of the One Ring is appropriately dramatic and awesome, though it be a seemingly small thing. Gollum is done well, the dwarves are done pretty well, with the actor for Thorin Oakenshield also being a nice pick for the character. And finally, I really like this quote from Bilbo about the importance of home. Something we may overlook and take for granted.

Thorin Oakenshield: Why did you come back... ?
Bilbo Baggins: Look, I know you doubt me. I know you always have. And you're right. I often think of Bag End... I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden... See, that's where I belong. That's home... And that's why I came back, 'cause... You don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can.

And with that, in conclusion, yes, I do know all about how troubled development of this trilogy was what with the former director Guilermo Del Toro bailing at the last second and Peter Jackson needing to pick up all the pieces with almost no pre-production available to him. And with that in mind, it is perhaps astounding that we got as good of a trilogy as we did here, but nevertheless, the reality is still the reality, and the reality is that this trilogy just really cannot compare at all to the masterful Lord of the Rings trilogy, regardless of who's fault it was. So... Give it a watch if you must, but do NOT be expecting a five-star trilogy like Lord of the Rings. In fact, I think the best way to watch this trilogy is simply to consider it non-canon. That way, you won't be stressing over the inevitable jank you'll see.