LOTR Deja Vu

Rating: 5/10 (9 December 2012)

Lord of the Rings part 1 The Directors Remix, would be a more apt title. If you value the wrapping over the present, then this film will satisfy you, or if you like repeats. Peter Jackson has decided to ignore the main concepts of The Hobbit and made LOTR all over again. Certainly not aimed at Mr Tolkein's target audience, evident by the 166min and 3 annual films runtime.
As usual the 3D aspect is great...for the first 10 minutes and very few people were ducking the first out-of-the-screen-debris shot, never mind the 8th. And the 48fps visuals are quite impressive, giving the viewer a real feel for being right there in the middle of it all....at the studio as they filmed it. The high definition begins to feel like a live TV recording after a while and occasionally the action looks a bit fast forwarded. Having also watched it with a Tolkein admirer I've been reliably informed that it misses on nearly level in relation to the book, including creatures and battles that just aren't in the original, the wrong overall tone of both the storyline and the characters (Jackson excusing himself with a 'foot in each camp' defence) and surprisingly too little character development!
Overall a flawed, overstretched, patchy repeat hiding behind a glossy exterior. No doubt it will be showered with fawning awards and fans will love it.