So what may we conclude about this third instalment upon the Jacksonesque reinterpretation of JRR Tolkien's great kids' fantasy story, The Hobbit? Well, far as this dude's concerned, it's an adequate film, rendered moreover in classic, even inimitable Peter Jackson Et Al style, but, alas - in the final analysis - one all too soon forgotten, much less fodder for writing home about. So where does it go wrong - if my preceding comments are to mean anything at all? As well as, in fact, right, if I'm to do my own previously-posted notes and observations the justice they deserve?
To avoid relitigating each and every last point and/or issue, angle and nuance thereof raised in my previous three blogposts upon 'The Battle of the Five Armies', let's cut to the chase, and deal with some broad, overarching aspects and themes relating thereto, ones that bear directly upon the significance, the poignancy and power, the utility if you will, of this third and final take upon Tolkien's classic childrens' adventure tale. On how - if in any way or in any real sense at all - the Five Armies actually adds value, if you will, to JRR's literary legacy: as in, say, expanding upon the impact, the pathos and power, the sense and force, the understanding of Tolkien's original story. Whether this particular interpretation or take upon The Hobbit really contributes anything meaningful to the literary tome left us a little over *77 years ago by JRR Tolkien, thanks to George Allen and Unwin 'running with it', as it were, following the chance or indeed providential reading, nay devouring of the story by ***Stanley Unwin's 10-year-old son Rayner, who 'gave it the thumbs up and the rest is history.'
Beginning on the positive side of the ledger, giving the good news (on the topic) first, my overriding impression is that this final flick certainly shows great consistency with the previous two cinematic adaptations of Tolkien's work (or, more correctly, five such (already-produced and screened) filmic reinterpretations, if we include the three Lord of the Rings 'sequels', termed such only inasmuch as, in strict Tolkienesque chronology, they are successors to the current Hobbit 'prequels'.). As such it is typically and thankfully full of, yea overflowing, with el usual super-abundance of superlative visual effects, action and even carefully-nuanced characterizations of certain key members of the cast, most notably Bard (the Bowman, Dragon-Slayer and Saviour of Esgaroth), Alfrid, Chief Advisor of the Master of Lake-town, Smaug the Chiefest and Most Terrible of Calamities, the Elvenking Thranduil and his warriors of note Tauriel and Legolas, and Thorin, Gandalf, Balin and Dain Ironfoot (aka comedian extraordinaire, Billy Connolly). Not to ignore the ongoing, superb performance of Bilbo Baggins, though his role in this film I feel is, though not necessarily less impressive in delivery, somewhat played down in scope and/or prominence at least.
Yes, we are treated to an ongoing roller-coaster ride, for sure, of fast-moving, coherent, suspense-laden action and plot moving toward the much-heralded, climactic Battle of the Five Armies and its immediate aftermath/denouement: Thorin's death; the reconciliation of all the forces of good; and ultimately Bilbo's gracious exit from the scene with chief adventurer Gandalf the Grey and a distinctly ungracious reception by one and all Baggins' kith and kin upon his home-coming in Bag-End. Yes, the ending, in its complete de-escalation of the plot and ****anticlimactic return of our hero Bilbo the Adventurer to the supposed comforts of home in quiet little Hobbiton - in both quintessential Tolkien substance and style - thereby pays long-overdue credit and tribute to JRR's remarkable literary instincts and good sense. For arriving at said comfy Bag-End residence we see Mr Baggins - as were Frodo, Samwise Gamgee, Pippin and Merry in Tolkien's original storyline in The Lord of the Rings (if definitely not so in the Jacksonesque take thereupon!) - 'greeted' not only by ignorance of his great world-saving adventures, but by positive indifference thereabouts and even utter contempt for his very (and moreover now justly-esteemed) personage; 'in absentia' this being misunderstood, misinterpreted, misconstrued in the worst possible light and with the worst possible construction placed thereupon - to be duly charitable to Bilbo's 'folks' and townspeople.
Anyhow, suffice to say, in their own unique, truly inimitable way and style, Jackson & Co sweep one and all up and along in their usual cinematic tsunami of action-studded, exciting, suspense-dripping action and adventure... . So much so, in fact - but of course! - we can hardly breathe a breath till it is all over, rover, all too soon, nuff said, 'that's all she wrote'. Before we can barely blink an eye (under our 3D glasses, themselves under our regular ones if you happen to be 'four-eyed' like me). So far so good, that's for sure...and yet... .
And yet - as I've alluded to already - when I later, even immediately afterwards, outside the picture theatre, sought to involuntarily, instinctively, intuitively as it were, reflect upon said experience...nothing no nothing stuck nor came back to me, sprang readily to mind, nothing really 'grabbed me', leapt out at me from said experience...much to this Jackson devotee's very real disappointment, you can be sure!
*Incredibly, not only did the Hobbit finale premiere upon the 77th anniversary year of the first printing of The Hobbit, December 7th (NZ time) and/or the 8th (Northern Hemisphere time) would've actually been **77 years and 77 days to the date, and my own (recent) ****50th birthday would've constituted the 77th year and 88th day!
**When I discovered this fact - around the 3rd or 4th of December, to be sure - I'd meant to inform Weta Workshop et al, but I missed doing so and realized anyhow that they'd probably not be able to transfer the start date at such a late stage anyway even were they to consider my point an interesting and moreover valid one!)
***Info well known and freely available, provided in this instance by Sarah Oliver's An A-Z of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit: An Unendorsed Colourful and Critical Guide Celebrating the Movies. (Completed and published perhaps even before, or at least simultaneous with, the release of the first film.)
****Even more amazingly to this devoted hobbit-worshipper, the Hobbit trilogy's grand finale this year not only happened to coincide - in an incredible way, as just outlined - with my own first half century, but just a little over two months following what would have been my beloved Grandma's 111th! In addition the New Zealand premiere of Battle of the Five Armies also coincided with my own (one-time fellow LOTR and Hobbit devotee, till the politics thereof skewed his views thereof to the nth degree and beyond) nephew's *****22nd ('tweens, to paraphrase Tolkien), or came a day or two (at most) prior. The first and second films' premieres likewise coincided with CJB's birthday, moreover he like myself at one point was also actively looking into trying to secure a role as an extra upon the movies (c/o auditioning in Oamaru, a stone's throw up the road). But ultimately only I went up, and as readers of my blogsite will be well aware, I didn't manage to cut the mustard; otherwise I'd have been one of the many townspeople in the various Lake-town scenes (in movies #2 and #3), shot around the North Otago township/village of Twizel, which I believe also featured in the Rings' films, or at least Fellowship of the Ring, that is those (like the first and/or second Hobbit flicks) featuring Bree and its infamous bar.
****I noticed also yesterday, as I now start re-reading The Hobbit once more for perhaps the fourth time, that Bilbo's own adventures 'never arrived, until Bilbo Baggins was grown up, being about fifty years old or so...'!
*****My fascination with all these various and assorted 'milestone' birthdays, or, more correctly, 'birth-anniversaries' as my beloved (might've been )'step-dad', Richard Welch, used to put it, is simply the fact - as all devoted Tolkien afficionadoes would only be too well aware - that Bilbo and Frodo of course celebrated their 111th and 33rd respectively in the immediate run-up to Frodo setting out with his three cobbers on their quest with the one ring, and also - as I only rediscovered just the other day, Bilbo's own original adventure likewise coincided with his own 50th. So the seeming synchronicity with such is rather striking to me, to put it mildly.
******In yet another serendipitous twist - in light of my essential evaluation of this final film, and moreover in terms of my view of the relative diminishing 'quality' of the two preceding ones - I'm more than just a little intrigued that my trusty Chambers Concise Dictionary provides the following entry definition to the word 'anticlimax': 'a ludicrous drop in impressiveness after a progressive rise.' Hey, what can I say, but 'nuff said'!
*******Disclaimer: As with previous blogposts, I have scrupulously avoided listening to or reading all but the most cursory references to (as in 'reviews' of) this final hobbit film (as of 'penning' these four blogposts, indeed as of the present moment still), one way I feel I can legitimately critique them without being unduly influenced by others' views, opinions and/or prejudices. Indeed even my brother, loath to do the same and thus spoil my cinematic experience, and who'd invited me along with my two young 'all things Lord of the Ringish-loving' nephews, to the midnight premiere for my 50th, refused to even say whether he and they actually really enjoyed the experience or otherwise...and indeed I'm still not altogether all that sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment