First, it was the Harry Potter series, then it was Twilight and now another era has come to an end as the final instalment of the J.R.R Tolkien phenomenon, The Hobbit, was released last month. Hundreds of fans flocked to the midnight screening, anticipating to be blown away by the gory and thrilling final battle. But, does the final film live up to the hype?
Like many other Lord of the Rings fans, I couldn’t wait to see The Hobbit transformed from the novel to the screen now that cinema has advanced to 3D with jaw-dropping CGI. If Lord of the Rings was breathtakingly surreal, The Hobbit would only be nothing but this. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the intense battle was mediocre; although there were a few admirable moments, his conventional battle sequences were too precise and dance-like.
I think there comes a point when CGI is just too much. If you compare the orcs in Lord of the Rings to the orcs in The Hobbit, there is a massive difference. Whereas they used to be realistic and therefore something to fear of, Jackson has made them look too unbelievable. There is something about an actor dressed as an orc that makes it nightmarishly real. Not only this, while we were introduced to new and fantastic characters such as the Elven King Thanduil and Thorin Oakenshield’s parodic Scottish cousin Dáin on a wild boar, there were characters that had literally zero impact on the narrative such as Alfrid, the cowardly idiot. Although he provided some well-needed light relief from the ominous bloodshed of battle, it appeared as merely child-like and repetitive moral scenes of bravery. Moreover, the humour in general was incredibly childish in that it bordered on the slapstick and cringe-worthy.
In terms of the acting however, Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins performed his usual, perky underdog self that essentially saves the day. Ian McKellan as the lovable Gandalf the Grey did not disappoint, while Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield was chillingly brooding and seductive in his dwarfish descent into greed and madness. What stood out to me was the romance between the dwarf Kili (Aidan Turner) and the elf siren Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly).The actors portrayed a believable chemistry and ultimately heart wrenchingly bittersweet tale of humanity.
Overall, it simply made me nostalgic for The Lord of The Rings trilogy all those years ago; there used to be an element of reality to it which made Middle Earth terrifying and beautiful simultaneously. Lord of the Rings had a mature side which appealed to older viewers, whereas now, The Hobbit appears designed solely for the younger generation.