Peter Jackson admits what we guessed all along

As we watched Sir Peter Jackson's three part "adaption" of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit with increasing reluctance, those of us who read and love The Hobbit wondered just what in the world he was doing so dear to many. Jackson's trilogy, in fact, was so bad and so far below the standards of his earlier adaption of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings that we wondered if he had really read The Hobbit.

Now, in a behind-the-scenes feature accompanying the release of the extended edition of The Battle of the Five Armies - with which I thought he succeeded in doing what was beyond the realm of possibilities and made a movie worse than The Desolation of Smaug - Jackson has admitted what some of us guessed along: he didn't know what he was dong. As The Guardian reports:

The chaotic state of affairs on set in New Zealand helps explain why The Battle of Five Armies was pushed back by five months in 2013, from a July 2014 release date to its final December 2014 slot. Jackson explains he “winged it” right up until the film’s climactic battle but was eventually forced to concede that production would have to be called to a halt while he worked out how to shoot it.

“We had allowed two months of shooting for that in 2012, and at some point when we were approaching that I went to our producers and the studio and said: ‘Because I don’t know what the hell I’m doing now, because I haven’t got storyboards and prep, why don’t we just finish earlier’[more]?

There are several parts of The Silmarillion and stories from The Book of Lost Tales I would love to see adapted into a movie. If it ever happens, I only hope Jackson has no part in it.

My favorite movie poster for the 3rd installment of The Hobbit and a few thoughts

A series of movie posters has been released in recent days for the upcoming release of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies on December 17, 2014. My favorite of the posters so far is this one featuring Galadriel and Gandalf:

Exactly why the Lady of Lothlorien has come to the Misty Mountain I do not know (she does not in the book), nor do I know how grievous are Gandalf's wounds in Jacksons' film. Of the wounds of Gandalf, Tolkien says:

It was not long before Bilbo was set down before a tent in Dale; and there stood Gandalf, with his arm in a sling. Even the wizard had not escaped without a wound; and there were few unharmed in the host.

It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what "adaptations" Jackson and company have devised for this third installment. I am still somewhat cautiously hopeful (is that language guarded enough?) that after the great disappointment that was The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (which I still have not purchased, nor intend to) some corrections to the story will be made.

I still think the second "the" is quite unnecessary, which would be why Tolkien himself did not employ it.  He describes the beginning of the battle with these words:

So began a battle that none had expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was very terrible. Upon one side were the Goblins and the Wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves.

Still, if anyone can film a battle involving five armies, it is Jackson, and maybe only Jackson.

A Review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Over the past several weeks many of you have asked my opinion of Peter Jackson's recently released The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Naturally, I saw the film at the opening show and spent most of the movie both frustrated and angry.  Consequently, I have thus far refrained from offering my thoughts because I realized fairly quickly that my expectations were perhaps too high.  This is a common problem with me and I'm told I would be much happier if I simply lowered my expectations of myself and of others (but that isn't likely to happen).

Be that as it may, I wanted to wait until I saw the film a second time, with my expectations lowered, before offering a review of the first of Jackson's three-part installment of the journey of Bilbo Baggins.

Let me begin by saying that if you have not read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, or at least did not read it attentively, you will very much enjoy An Unexpected Journey (unless you somehow missed the fact that this is only part one of three).  The acting, the costumes and sets, the CGI, and the cinematography all combine in a glorious fashion.  Let me also say that the soundtrack composed by Howard Shore is, once again, superb.

Jackson's An Unexpected Journey has a decidedly different feel than his trilogy of the Lord of the Rings.  Precisely what this different feel is, I cannot say, except that it feels somehow heavier and more serious.

Whereas the first part of Tolkien's book has a certain whimsical feel, Jackson's movie is missing this same whimsy.  Attempts are made to insert it in different spots throughout the film, though they don't seem as effective as Tolkien's original and feel somewhat forced.

For whatever reason, Jackson and his team made several changes to the story that, to my mind, do not help the movie but will only serve to frustrate Tolkien fans.  While I acknowledge the team did the same with the Lord of the Rings, the changes to The Hobbit are more noticeable to me - and more substantial - perhaps because it is my favorite of Tolkien's books.  I probably shouldn't have re-read the book the week the movie was released (I clearly didn't learn my lesson with Prince Caspian).

For instance, in the book, Bilbo is surprised and flustered when the Dwarves begin arriving, but in the movie he seems angry from the very moment the first dwarf arrives.  Tolkien writes of Bilbo, "He had a horrible thought that the cakes might run short, and then he - as the host: he knew his duty and stuck to it however painful - he might have to go without."  This sense of honor is somewhat lacking in the depiction of Bilbo in the film.

Several scenes in the movie were significantly altered from those in book: the trolls (how they are turned to stone), for one, and the wargs (which makes Bilbo more heroic than he was at that moment), for another, and the arrival of Thorin (which doesn't really have any impact), for a third.

In terms of the flow of a movie, particularly for those not familiar with the book, I can understand why such changes were deemed appropriate (though I do not like them).  One change I do not understand is the lack of colored hoods belonging to the dwarves (Tolkien goes to great length to point them out).

Some scenes in the film seem to have been shot for no other reason than to impress audiences watching in 3-D (the encounter with the stone giants and the escape from the tunnels of the Great Goblin, come to mind).

All that being said, I did enjoy the movie on the second viewing and expect I'll enjoy it all the more with a third viewing.

By far, the best scene in the film was Riddles in the Dark (though a riddle was curiously omitted). The CGI begind Gollum is a visual treat, stunning and captivating, and the way the riddles were asked and answered was simply brilliant, a job very well done.

Some have said the movie is too long.  I do not think it is too long, but an intermission would be helpful; movie theatre seats aren't the most comfortable things around, but then, as Tolkien would say, "adventures are not all pony-rides in May sunshine."

While The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey isn't what I had hoped it would be - perhaps unreasonably - it is a good film and I look forward to watching The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

The movie, as someone has said, is not Tolkien's The Hobbit, but rather Jackson's The Hobbit.  Be that as it may, Jackson's film is leading me once again back into the book, which is no small gift or treat.

Another Hobbit video

A little over two months ago, the good folks at The Hobbit Blog - the official blog of the forthcoming movies The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again - posted their fifth Production Video, On Location.

At the time, we were promised a subsequent video, which was finally released today: Production Video, On Location (Part 2).

Enjoy! Amidst the troubling news of the day we need something to lift our spirits.

I'm now a happier nerd

At long last:

Less than a year to go!

Trailer debut tomorrow!

Tomorrow, 22 December 2011, will witness the debut of the trailer for the upcoming film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which will be released in December of 2012.

A journey worth undertaking: Hobbiton

Eric Vespe has written a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of The Hobbit to movies which are set to be released over the next two years.

When Hobbiton was built for the filming of the Trilogy, it was a temporary settlement.  Not so this time around:

That doesn’t even count the construction crews that actually built the Hobbit holes, the stone bridge and The Green Dragon. And built them to stay, I should add. 

The last time out they built the Hobbit holes and structures like most movie sets. They were temporary, not functional past the time the crew needed them to work. This time out they made a deal with the landowner to make this site an official and long lasting attraction for fans of the movies. 

Forty-Four Hobbit holes were built to be permanent, with retaining walls, waterproofed roofs, etc. The stone bridge was constructed with a steel superstructure covered with real stone cladding. The Green Dragon is the most impressive of them all because it was built with a functioning fireplace, plumbing, water pipes and the works. 

Hennah said the plans were to actually turn The Green Dragon into a real, working pub, but that’s all on the landowners at this point, I believe.

How awesome is that?! There's even a web site to help with the tour.

The Hobbit: Production Video #4

Over at the blog for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson and company have posted a fourth Production Video in which they discuss the use of 3-D filming.  It's a very interesting video and gives great glimpses into the glories that await our eyes in just a year's time.