Imperfect but very entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (15 December 2012)

I found The Lord of the Rings cinematographic trilogy an extraordinary adaptation of essential novels from fantastic genre. After that, director Peter Jackson made the excellent remake of King Kong and the tedious The Lovely Bones, which was completely lacking of any emotion and narrative force. Fortunately, Jackson redeems himself with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a very entertaining epic film...even though not lacking of some insipid passages and more characters than the necessary.
The screenplay of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is chronologically set 60 years before The Lord of the Rings, and as a consequence, it doesn't follow the same characters from that trilogy. Some of them have brief cameos, but we won't find the same dynamic between races nor the balance of heroic archetypes. And the 13 "leading" dwarfs are peripheral figures, reduced to their most basic identity trait: the fat one, the funny one, etc. The only exception is Thorin...pity that his personality doesn't go beyond his superficial function. For better or for worse, the "Company of Dwarfs" are extras in their own story (so far). On the other hand, this lets Ian McKellen and the great Martin Freeman carry with the dramatic weight of the film, and they are both completely credible in their roles while having a perfect chemistry with each other.
Then, we have Jackson's solid direction, which competently balances the personal drama with the visual spectacle. The special effects widely surpass the ones of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (naturally, the studio Weta had almost 10 years in order to improve their technology), but I occasionally kinda missed the employment of more practical effects, specially regarding creatures and enemies. On some moments, I felt the action scenes exceeded the requirements of the story and crossed to the "see what we can do now" field. On the positive side, Jackson shows a precise control over the tone and atmosphere, orchestrating light "comic relief" scenes without decreasing gravity to the serious moments of introspection and personal growth.
I'm now going to invest some time in writing about the controversial system of 48 frames per second employed in the shooting and exhibition of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Against my custom, I decided to watch this film on "HFR 3D", and I have to admit that the quality of image was phenomenal, much better than any other thing I have ever watched on a big screen. On the other hand, I keep disliking the 3D, because I think it darkens the image and overshadows the colours. However, regarding the HD system at 48 frames per second...I'm totally convinced.
In conclusion, I didn't like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as much as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I think it made a very good work at introducing us to another facet of Middle Earth. So, I can definitely recommend it as a very solid and entertaining film. Having said that, when will Jackson make the "independent horror film" he has been promising for years? I like the fantasy, but I want to see him back to the territory of Bad Taste and Dead Alive as soon as possible.