I’m actually sad…. Sad to see this saga butchered by this film that we must say is a failure. Fan of the Lord of the Rings books and movies, I expected a lot from the film that is putting an end to 20 years of investment from Peter Jackson, a filming started 16 years ago (the first film of the Lord of the Rings “the fellowship of the ring “) and 6 films …
It might be the problem: having hoped for a second trilogy as good as “The Lord of the Rings” with “The Hobbit”. Great expectations that led to big disappointment.
Firstly, the base of the story that is to say the book itself was not meant to be told in 3 movies. Initially, it was supposed to be adapted in only 2 movies. So “The Hobbit”, a tale for children, was stretched into a plot that could provide three films. It gave three films indeed, but with a diluted dramatic tension and it also entailed problems in the structure of the movies themselves. It’s especially true for this last film (see part with spoilers above).
Secondly, the other big issue of this trilogy is the fact that Peter Jackson didn’t want to make these films in the first place. It was Guillermo del Toro who was supposed to do it (director of “ Pacific Rim”, “Hellboy” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” ) and who finally ends up in the credits as a consultant and a co-screenwiter. In fact, Peter Jackson said he put everything he had in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and warned the producers he couldn’t do much more with this one … and he was right.
Peter Jackson who used to perfectly managed to combine entertainment and intelligence, humor and emotion, who could explain the most complex plots, just made a caricature of his own style. This was already the case in the first “Hobbit: An unexpected Journey” where very dramatic shots of Gandalf were exactly the same as in the first part of the “Lord of the Rings.” It was less true in the second Hobbit film “The Desolation of Smaug” that we preferred (see article here).
In this film, it’s really obvious with zoom-ins followed by punchlines, the character of Legolas pushed to the extreme (let’s not talk about his fluorescent eyes), the not very consistent character of Thranduil, the love story between Tauriel & Kili created from scratch (which kinda of worked in the 2 but not in this one), caricatural characters of Bard and Alfrid the “trickster” (including their performances) and so on … even the original score is a caricature.
You are told when to laugh, to be surprised, to cry … You can only realize how the director uses his old good recipes of success but this time without inspiration.
Legolas’ acrobatic scenes are ridiculous (some people in the audience actually laughed at dramatic moments), tirades about love were just too much, inconsistencies in the some characters, exaggered performances… in short, a big mess only partly redeemed by a scene with Galadriel, by the talented Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman (although the final scene is so so). Don’t get me wrong, it is well shot, but the directing tends to the grotesque sometimes. And it is pretty corny too. No big emotions like in his previous films ( the first “Hobbit” movie was blah and the second one was just a good teasing the “Hobbit” number 3) Indeed, you are really disappointed. He should have stopped at the last Lord of the Rings movie like he wanted to in the first place. If you put the Lord of the Rings aside, you can enjoy this film as a spectacle almost … would I dare say it? … Like a Michael Bay movie…
