Roads go ever, ever on

Rating: 10/10 (22 June 2013)

To begin with the first form of embellishment is to immediately address the concern that Jackson and co.'s Hobbit may be a painful inflation of a slim, bedtime storybook, as opposed to The Lord Of The Rings' leaner interpretation of a vast fantasy-historical epic. Team Jackson looks outside the novel's narrative (which, while quicker than Rings, is still rich in detail and packed with incident) to the Tolkienverse yonder, and unashamedly treats The Hobbit as a prequel in which the return of Sauron The Deceiver is foreshadowed ominously.
"All good stories deserve embellishment," Gandalf The Grey (Ian McKellen) tells Bilbo (Martin Freeman) before the latter has even left the snug, leathery comfort of his Bag End armchair and embarked on his Unexpected Journey. There is no way this line, a pithy conclusion to a tall tale of Bilbo's Tookish grandfather (beheads goblin, invents golf), could have been written unknowingly. The Hobbit is a good story. And embellishment, controversially for some, has been the order of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo Del Toro's adaptation — both narratively (An Unexpected Journey is now a trilogy opener rather than part one of two) and visually; this sunnier, 60-years-younger Middle-earth was digitally shot at double the frame rate of the three earlier movies which concerned this mythic realm's difficult autumn years.
So what, finally, of that other embellishment, the history-making visual treatment? 48 frames per second is, as they say, something else. And you can take that both ways. On the one hand, the crispness of detail is almost overwhelming, whether you're noticing the seam down the back of Gandalf's hat, or repulsed by the scabby goitre dangling from the Great Goblin's (Barry Humphries) hideously distended face. On the other, there's something about the lack of grain and motion blur that oddly makes the movie feel less epic — it's so immediate and intimate that the distance between seat and screen is all but removed. This may make you feel more thrillingly part of the action, or it may diminish the spectacle and unflatteringly highlight the film's more set-bound nature. Something to bear in mind when deciding if you're going to seek out the upgraded experience.
The most powerful moment comes during the Riddles In The Dark incident, which briefly brings back Andy Serkis' Gollum, the other arguably strongest character in the saga. It is a joy and a thrill to once more see mo-cap master Serkis owning the role, and to have the celebrated encounter brilliantly re-envisioned through the prism of the Sméagol/Gollum split personality. However, the true punch of poignancy comes at that most pivotal of moments: when Bilbo, invisibly standing over Gollum with sword at his throat, exercises mercy. Jackson holds on Freeman's face. This isn't just Tim-from-The Office or Watson in pointy ears, but an actor at the height of his prowess finding every layer to a character it now seems he was born to play.