An abomination

Rating: 1/10 (28 March 2014)

I couldn't force myself to watch this film for more than 30 minutes. I had watched An Unexpected Journey, so naturally my expectations were extremely low, but at least I was hoping I could bare to watch it until the end. Nope. It was enough for me to see the scene with Beorn, to realize how bad this movie is going to be. Beorn is a bloody joke. I mean no offense to the actor, but his performance seemed extremely unconvincing to me, and the visual style that they chose for him is so... different from the book, I just couldn't get into it. The point where I stopped watching was in the halls of the elven king, where the king and Thorin have a conversation. The king's face suddenly turns into an ugly, disfigured shape and then turns back to normal again, apparently to stress the idea he was expressing at that moment. My question is - why? Why would you do that? It just feels out of place, like one of those one-too-many cgi things that are there only for the purpose of being CGI and looking "cool". The performance of the actor, who played the king, was also lackluster, in my opinion. I don't get why elves can't act like elves - immortal beings, that are wise and ancient. In this movie they act more like teenagers who have just reached puberty. There's even some romantic implications between a female elf and a dwarf... I mean, I have no words for that. This movie blew me away with how little it has in common with the book or the Tolkien's universe in general. It's an abomination of the work towards which the author had devotes most of his life and it's sad to see that it's so popular and will forever be engraved in the minds of the masses as The Hobbit - a film based on professor Tolkien's book.