Since opening night would be rather insane and his schedule wouldn't allow it, my brother and I managed to get tickets for the 10:30 p.m. showing for Saturday night (ah, yes, it is actually Sunday morning!). He was willing to stay up late after an eleven hour shift so we could see it together as a late birthday celebration. The people at the theatre told him that he bought some of the last tickets to the showing and arriving an hour early was the best bet. We got there right at 9:30 p.m. With the comments when he purchased the tickets, we were rather surprised that only a third of our theatre was full. Honestly, since we rushed to the theatre after he got off work at 9 p.m., we were both a little annoyed. However, the previews kind of made of for that.
Unfortunately, the movie finally started . . . If it hadn't been for the ticket prices, I would have walked out of the theatre. To say I was disgusted is a very large understatement. Honestly, I don't even know where to start. I feel as though a large part of my childhood has been violated. The fact that Jackson had the audacity to put Tolkien's name on this filth insults me to the core.
Jackson stated that he had to break the book into three movies. Supposedly, there was too much material for two movies. When I first heard this, it made me extremely skeptical. While I love the book, it is not that long. I was kind of willing to accept two movies, but three seemed very, very extreme. And, after this monstrosity, I know why. If he had cut out all of the extraneous shit that he added—stuff that wasn't even in the book—he wouldn't need to make three movies! Seriously, the movie might have been an hour or an hour and a half if he followed the book and cut out all of the stuff he added. I'm still not sure why he added it and refused to follow the storyline.
It frustrated me that the movie opens with Frodo and Bilbo shortly before Gandalf arrives for Bilbo's birthday. However, with the fact that Jackson made this movie last, he probably is trying to tie them together. While it was frustrating, it made a certain amount of sense given the movies' order. Unfortunately, once Bilbo started telling the tale that the dwarves tell, I nearly threw my popcorn! Thror was killed in Moria, Thorin was young when Smaug took the mountain, Dain killed Azog, Thorin is the oldest of the dwarves with a grey beard, etc. I was still trying to be hopeful, but the movie got progressively worse. I was appalled at the dwarves' behavior when they came to Bag-end. They were always very polite to Bilbo. Further, Bilbo was always very polite to them. In the movie, his attitude toward the dwarves was very unlike him. In addition, when he awoke the next morning, he was relieved. Since there wasn't any sign of the dwarves', he assumed it had been a nightmare. While sitting down to a meal, Gandalf barges in, informs him he will be late, and tells him of a note the dwarves left on the mantle.
The whole meeting with the trolls was completely wrong, and the occurrences with the trolls kind of forced the company to Rivendell. Once there, Thorin's behavior toward Elrond was shocking! At that point, I had to forcibly hold myself in my seat. I was disgusted and hurt. Thorin never behaved in such a way to Elrond. And, if that bullshit wasn't enough, the council never happened!
The whole orc/warg adventure wasn't done properly, the caves with the goblins was also nonsense, Jackson ruined the whole part with Gollum and the ring, the entrance of the Great Eagles was screw up, the battle for Moria was totally wrong, Thorin's behavior towards Bilbo completely changed the dwarf's character, etc.
I could spend pages picking this thing apart and fully explaining what Jackson did wrong. However, I am too tired and too disgusted to waste more time talking about this filth. In short, it never should have been made. If you loved the book as much as I did, don't waste your time. It is better to relive the magic of the book over and over again. Don't let this ode to capitalism taint your memories of Tolkien's masterpiece. If you must watch something, find the old anime. At least it was fairly true to the book and had beautiful art.
I loved Lord of the Rings and was pretty sceptical about The Hobbit...now I really don't want to watch it! I'm disappointed that Peter Jackson would do such a thing! In the Lord of the Rings, he had one film per book. But splitting the small story of The Hobbit into three?! That's a bit much!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, if you love the book, don't waste your money. There were issues with the LoTR movies; however, I didn't feel as though he completely bastardized them. With this movie, it felt as if he was just trying to make a quick buck. The casting wasn't the greatest, and the sets weren't up to par with the other movies. It was extremely sad and disappointing.
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