Less a Film and More an Intro

Rating: 7/10 (27 November 2014)

First and foremost this is a terribly L O N G movie. Epic does not it justice. For it is truly epic and much more than that, and in that it is inherently just a very long movie -- with very little plot. Which perhaps is the greatest irony regarding this mammoth project of Jackson's. The trilogy format worked so well for him in THE LORD OF THE RINGS films that one assumes that he believed he needed to do the same thing with this remake of THE HOBBIT. Problem is, there is very little story here. This, the first of THREE, is over two and a half hours long. And what is it? The first of three films to retell the tale told in a book for children that's a little more than 100 pages. It is Hollywood hubris gone mad with an over abundance of money resources pride and short sightedness. Yet at the same time it is inspiring to see someone take an "ah screw it" attitude and take all that pride money and hubris and do what they want with it. In that Jackson has created in this movie and the ones that follow it something rare in American cinema, art for art's sake. And that is a refreshing thing indeed. It is needless to say that this is far and away the "largest" grandest spectacle that's ever been attempted in film. It is gargantuan. Just unnecessarily too long. It could have easily been an enjoyable hour and a half and been just fine. But as it is it still remains a remarkable achievement. We need more artists like Jackson, men who are willing to buck the system for their own selfish desires and delusions of importance. These films definitely deserve the low critical Meta Scores they have achieved; but they will last forever and entertain and astound for generations.