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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

There are many folk around that are roasting this movie as if it were the latest in a line of Adam Sandler comedies with Kevin James as the co-star. But (in PeterVincent's opinion at least) it is not.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has a horrible time finding it's footing (at least for the first ten minutes). The film opens with a narrated flashback remeniscent of The Mummy and is even more uncomfortable to watch with it's 48 frame per second look. Alas, the film finally snaps into gear when we get our first look at Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins. Something seemed strange about the character, I couldn't tell if Freeman was making him semi-unlikeable on purpose or because he's overplaying the characters concern for his property. However I soon realised that he's building a character...the best type of character...one of those heroes that turns from a nobody into a complete badass over the course of a few hours.

The Dwarves of the film were something I was dreading, however, they ended up being incredibly likeable and (some of them at least) memorable. Thorin Oakenshield is the leader of the company and the king of the Dwarves, desperate to take back his home from Smaug The Dragon. This of course leads me to another point...the changes. Peter Jackson and co. have made some rather large changes in order to drag this story on for three movies, one of those is a nemesis for Thorin. The bad guy is an albino orc with one arm, something that wouldn't look out of place in a sequel to Season Of The Witch. This villain was also something I was uneasy about, but that also surprised me...he was only in the movie for about 15 minutes and he wasn't too bad. Another change is the enhanced sub-plot of the Necromancer and Radagast The Brown (played here by former Doctor Who, Sylvester McCoy), that sub-plot wasn't delved into too much, but is sure to become a massive thing in future films.

The direction is beautiful, despite the 48 frames thing screwing around with my eyes and making all the special effects look a little strange. Peter Jackson is doing his ol' camera pans again...and it's beautiful and epic as ever. Lord I missed Middle Earth...and Jackson's bringing it back to me...
Overall The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is not anything like what people are saying, in fact it is a contender for the best film of 2012. Do I regret going to the premiere of this in costume? No...No I don't, and I won't regret doing the same thing for the next one...next year...

There are many folk around that are roasting this movie as if it were the latest in a line of Adam Sandler comedies with Kevin James as the co-star. But (in PeterVincent's opinion at least) it is not.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has a horrible time finding it's footing (at least for the first ten minutes). The film opens with a narrated flashback remeniscent of The Mummy and is even more uncomfortable to watch with it's 48 frame per second look. Alas, the film finally snaps into gear when we get our first look at Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins. Something seemed strange about the character, I couldn't tell if Freeman was making him semi-unlikeable on purpose or because he's overplaying the characters concern for his property. However I soon realised that he's building a character...the best type of character...one of those heroes that turns from a nobody into a complete badass over the course of a few hours.

The Dwarves of the film were something I was dreading, however, they ended up being incredibly likeable and (some of them at least) memorable. Thorin Oakenshield is the leader of the company and the king of the Dwarves, desperate to take back his home from Smaug The Dragon. This of course leads me to another point...the changes. Peter Jackson and co. have made some rather large changes in order to drag this story on for three movies, one of those is a nemesis for Thorin. The bad guy is an albino orc with one arm, something that wouldn't look out of place in a sequel to Season Of The Witch. This villain was also something I was uneasy about, but that also surprised me...he was only in the movie for about 15 minutes and he wasn't too bad. Another change is the enhanced sub-plot of the Necromancer and Radagast The Brown (played here by former Doctor Who, Sylvester McCoy), that sub-plot wasn't delved into too much, but is sure to become a massive thing in future films.

The direction is beautiful, despite the 48 frames thing screwing around with my eyes and making all the special effects look a little strange. Peter Jackson is doing his ol' camera pans again...and it's beautiful and epic as ever. Lord I missed Middle Earth...and Jackson's bringing it back to me...
Overall The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is not anything like what people are saying, in fact it is a contender for the best film of 2012. Do I regret going to the premiere of this in costume? No...No I don't, and I won't regret doing the same thing for the next one...next year...