The lack of intermediate goals is a problem.

Rating: 5/10 (12 June 2013)

I'm having difficulty sitting through these recent Peter Jackson films without getting bored out of my mind. Maybe I should just skip the rest, but virtually every one of them is tauted as one of the greatest films of all time, so my curiosity gets the best of me. In terms of positives, "The Hobbit" has a good lead actor (Martin Freeman) and the opening 30 minutes are engaging, but much of the rest of the film drags in the most painful of ways. There are a few decent (albeit short) fights during the middle (with a few longer fights near the end), but there are too many side plots and too much filler material to slug through. The script is completely unfocused and unengaging.
I think one of Peter Jackson's big problems is his failure to set-up intermediate goals for the protagonists. Instead, he sets up a long-term goal and has the protagonists walk around for 6 hours while they fend off random attacks. This creates a monotonous, dull framework that cripples the enjoyability of the film.
Compare this to Clash of the Titans (1981), which laid out a series of fascinating obstacles that were accomplished throughout the course of one 2-hour film.
--Capturing and taming Pegasus.
--Seeking the blind Stygian witches and coercing information out of them.
--Venturing to the Gorgon island and defeating the canine guardian Dioskilos.
--Entering Medusa's lair, defeating her, and retrieving her head.
--Defeating Calibos and his giant scorpions.
--Facing the Kraken.
I think Clash of the Titans is a true epic adventure because the long-term goal requires a plethora of intermediate accomplishments. They're not just arbitrary dangers that the protagonists encounter along the way. Many of these goals are necessary steps that must be taken in order to achieve the final long-term goal. When all is said and done, I can look back and admire the difficulty and complexity of the journey. Each individual success becomes a memorable event.
Such is not the case with The Hobbit, which basically has the protagonists walk around and fight villains without any interesting identifiable purpose other than reaching the dragon's lair – an event that will likely occur in the 6th hour of the trilogy (if we're lucky!). It just feels like a series of meaningless clashes that become conflicts because the protagonists were not lucky enough to avoid them along the way to reaching their long-term goal. The obstacles feel arbitrary and there's no anticipation or build-up to any of them. There's no sense of accomplishment to the protagonists' actions.
After finishing this movie, it felt like the characters made very little progress. I suppose they got a little closer to the dragon's lair, but after watching 3 hours of film I expected a bit more detail and drive regarding the primary quest. Near the end I remembered that there was a dragon in the story. I had completely forgotten.
The action choreography is not impressive enough to make up for any of the flaws. The escape thru the lair of the Ballsack Chin King is pretty good, but a bit too tension-less. Gollum shows up and is annoying as usual. Gandalf uses the same three tricks that he used in LOTR. Can Peter Jackson please give us a few cool magic spells for a change? I don't think I've ever seen such a lazy attempt at wizardry in my entire life.