Amazing, has blown me away.

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2012)

This review is going to be very short, because I am still completely blown away. It rendered me speechless. I saw the Hobbit last night and I can't stop being in the movie, in my head. Sinking back into Middle Earth is executed perfectly, it's as if we have never left. For me that's one of the biggest strengths of this movie.
I heard complaints that it is a less epic story than LOTR, and in fact: it is, as it well should be. It is more of a 'fantasy meet a road movie' than LOTR has been. But for me it doesn't take away anything from the amazing, most beautifully crafted spaces of Middle Earth and the characters played SUPERBLY by Freeman or Armitage. I loved seeing the old characters coming back, for some reason I really liked seeing Elrond, he is fully fleshed out this time around. In short, this was amazing.
Add the score that is hauntingly familiar yet completely new, with a dark, murky, cave-like undertones of dwarfs, and you have perfection. I think shots and music are a work of genus. I will be coming back to the cinema for sure.