The Lord of the Rings returns with a prequel

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2014)

The Hobbit, or How perfection is not enough for perfection and form winning over content. To be clear - I enjoyed this movie but I have a number of objections to it which I would like to present here. First I'd like to criticize duration and the fact it was divided into three parts. It is obvious that three-times-Hobbit earns more money than twice-Hobbit, even though I think that the main reason to make three years lasting movie trilogy out of 'one-evening-book' might not be only money. I think Jackson should have quit from this project, keep his hands off it as a director and leave the work to others (I personally would have imagined Guillermo del Toro). Jackson's perfectionism and effort not to disappoint the fans (both of the book and 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy) seem to have become a sort of scarecrow to him as he decided to grab the book in hands and tell us a whole story from the big screen word by word. That would somehow not be a problem .. if he could fit everything into a single, let's say 3.5 hour long movie. Unfortunately, a tedious entrée and a link between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were not a good start. Although Tolkien's book is filled with a brilliant narration, Jackson dished up several invented and unnecessary scenes, some of which were like a sore thumb (e.g. the one with Radagast). The saddest thing is that scene with Brown wizard corresponds to the humor of the book - but surrounded by too serious scenes creates a incoherent whole. I don't want to be that negative .. Martin Freeman seems to be really excellent choice for the character of Bilbo. In my humble opinion, the best scene of the movie is 'riddle game' with Gollum. Andy Serkis deserves great appreciation and I must say it is a great pity that he did not receive the Oscar already in the original trilogy. Although he was absolutely breathtaking here probably nothing will come of it.. :( Nevertheless Peter Jackson is definitely a maximalist and will probably remain one.