Long have I awaited a resemblance of the experience of authentic epicness set by the lord of the rings trilogy!

Rating: 6/10 (1 February 2013)

Long have I awaited a resemblance of the experience of authentic epicness set by the lord of the rings trilogy! That trilogy was indeed prolonged by a new franchise called "the hobbit" aiming to offer the same experience. The hobbit directed by peter Jackson is set in middle earth where a group of 13 dwarfs led by Thorin played by Richard Armitage. Accompanied by the wizard Gandalf the Grey played by Ian McKellen and a hobbit namely Bilbo played by Martin Freeman, is embarking on a journey to retrieve their land taken by the fearful dragon called Smaug.
This movie is dated before the occurrence of the lord of the rings, before Frodo's adventure to destroy the ring. In order to make such a movie, a movie predating a certain point is terribly difficult. The chain of events should be well constructed to suite the events set in the lord of the rings, the character profiling should match that of the original movie and be injected with moments of inexperience, and the mood should be somewhat same yet accompanied by slight changes due to the passing of time as this movie is set 60 years before. this movie brings it all! It offers the same gloomy, uncertainty and fear that the characters feel and is well adjusted so that the viewers feel it as well. What caught my eye the most was the remarkable replication of the distinct feeling that really made the lord of the rings experience unique, the feeling of desiring to go back home! Back to shire. The viewers were well invested in the movie that we too desperately wanted to return to the comfort of the shire. And that is what distinguishes movies apart. How well they develop the characters and their feelings so that the viewers feel it as well. And that was well developed by the hobbit. However, I wanted to see a few moments of rookie actions by Gandalf. We obviously know him as the independent, wise and all knowing wizard that offers his knowledge that is necessary to guide them through this journey, but that was 60 years ago! A lot can happen in 60 years and that was not shown in his character. Speaking of characters, the viewers were satisfied with the character Thorin. He has been approved to lead us in battle and be the Aragorn of the hobbit.
The movie is set in a life that is not our day to day life. It is a new world that the crowd should be introduced to so that we could adhere to its events. That was well produced in the few minutes of narration in the opening moments of the movie. Explaining the new world we are watching and be attached to it. Furthermore, Bilbo's inexperience and immaturity in the aggressive world was well portrayed in his character. It was clearly shown in the way he treated the Gollum threat by playing riddles to get what he wanted. However his character development later was typical at best. A cliché that was due to a minor setback in character profiling.
The hobbit added its comedic touch quite impressively reflecting life's unexpected moments of pure humor. Since this movie is manifested with the goofiness of the dwarfs you would indeed expect more humor here than in the lord of the rings. The graphics on the other hand is incomparable especially with the adjustment to 48 frames per second, it is with this technical improvement that enhances the vividness and expands our imagination and experience to limits never reached not even in the LOTR trilogy.
Some have deemed the hobbit unfitting to be mentioned in the same sentence as LOTR, the hobbit is not well-equipped to challenge the LOTR' record in the Oscars; And indeed it is. Despite the extraordinary screen writing, the movie had moments here and there, moments of last minute rescue, moments adjusted just to add to the epic journey. On occasions, some scenes were obvious that the screenwriters Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro twisted around and did not seem coherent with the chain of events. This noteworthy loophole is seen in numerous scripts nowadays. We are living in an era where box office success equals movie success. And this success is achieved with "out-of-this-world" action scenes and eye catching punch lines. However that is not suited with life. A movie's resemblance of life determines it's success, and when the rules of life are broken, then that in my eyes is bad screen writing. My point is reinforced in the hobbit's lack of presence in the Oscars; Only getting three Oscar nominations for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design and Best Visual Effects.
If I was wearing a hat and peter Jackson was standing next to me then I would take my hat off and bow in respect. To replicate a mood and setting of a movie made 10 years, to take a 125 paged book called "the hobbit" and make into a trilogy of three hours each. And not one moment was felt as slow, or unnecessary, if this isn't great directing then I don't know what is! If your looking for an authentic experience of epicness then this is your movie!