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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

We've finally warmed to Jackson's return to Middle-earth.

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Stripped away from the 48FPS debacle that ate up the cinema release headlines, and given additional watches, The Hobbit cancels any fears of the company doing a Phantom Menace.

This, more than first LotR entry Fellowship of the Ring, feels part of a trilogy; characters are established but arcs are far from completed, and there's the sense that the pieces are being arranged on a board for later pay-off. As such the rather homely and light-hearted fare that is Bilbo Baggins meeting and joining a a company of dwarves on a merry adventure feels tangibly lacking in the gravitas that underpinned The Lord of the Rings from the very start, while characters feel more comic relief, and those there for dramatic reasoning lack in contrast to those of the Fellowship.

If anything that's the problem: the film suffers in comparison to the predecessor trilogy (and, effectively, sequel), and that this journey so closely mirrors Fellowship's own - The Shire, the flight to Rivendell, a climatic attack by goblins and orcs - that it feels like a poor copy, even though this is the original version on which Tolkien rebuilt on a grander scale for that trilogy. As such on first viewing, we're aware of what this isn't rather than enjoying it for what it is.

Problems with the narrative are mainly due to strict adherence to the book (Gandalf's continued rescuing of the company, a Goblin City lacking terror), though you're caught wondering what was cut, dropped of switched as The Hobbit morphed from a two-part film into a trilogy proper during production (score fans will note several pieces of Howard's Shore's original soundtrack have been cut, and key themes from Lord of the Rings roughly inserted in).

But, with the latter two films promising themes that slowly sync up with the darker take of the world that are introduced in Lord of the Rings, An Unexpected Journey may yet prove a confident first step in another rich trilogy, and a lightness of tone that works when you become aware of the horrors that are to come.

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
SPECIAL FEATURES: Trailers and an eight-part blog that teases more than it elaborates on the film's creation, though the collection was released during the production period before the movie release. As with the previous trilogy, the real goods are likely being saved for the Extended Cut due this autumn.
08 Gamereactor UK
8 / 10
overall score
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