THE HOBBIT Part 1 directed by Peter Jackson (New Zealand, 2012)
There were plenty of reasons for making the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy into an equally epic cinematic trilogy. Peter Jackson did a marvellous job too and on paper it was a nice idea to complete the Tolkien-at-the-movies cycle with a modest version of The Hobbit.
Instead of which we get the mother of all prequels stretching the 300 page children’s book into around nine hours of screen time. This OTT treatment is so blatantly motivated more by financial interests I have no patience with any who vouch for its artistic integrity.
Martin Freeman is a genial Bilbo Baggins. the scenes with Gollum are fantastic and the battles with the trolls and orcs are spectacular but I don’t know that I have the stamina to sit through parts two and three.
After it’s all done I wouldn’t be surprised if someone suggests creating a spinoff series with Gollum in the starring role. Possible titles would be:
- Come To Me My Precious.
- Gollum Always Rings Twice.
- Never Mind The Hobbits Here’s Gollum.
