The Hobbit

Year: 2012 (Unexpected Journey), 2013 (Desolation of Smaug), 2014 (Battle of Five Armies)
Running time: 182 minutes (Unexpected Journey), 186 minutes (Desolation of Smaug), 164 minutes (Battle of Five Armies)
Certificate: 12A (Unexpected Journey), 15 (Desolation of Smaug, Battle of Five Armies)
Language: English
Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo Del Toro
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt, Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, William Kircher, Stephen Hunter, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, Sylvester McCoy, Lee Pace, Barry Humphries (voice), Jeffrey Thomas, Michael Mizrahi, Manu Bennett, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lily, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mikael Persbrandt, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, John Bell, Billy Connelly, Conan Stevens, Lawrence Makoare, John Tui

Rivendell - tonic for the soul.

The original announcement around the adaptation of The Hobbit, produced by the team behind the wildly successful Lord of the Rings trilogy, but directed by Gullermo Del Toro, was met with great rejoicing. What might the amazing mind of Del Toro come up with when let loose in Tolkien's universe? Unfortunately, it was not to be. Contract-wrangling led to delays and Del Toro had to move on to other commitments, whereupon Peter Jackson took up the reigns. There will always be a part of me that regrets never getting to see the Del Toro version, but Jackson's no slouch.

Lord of the Rings came under some criticism from Tolkien purists for making some changes to the novel, but even so I still think it is evident it retains a healthy respect for the original story while not being afraid to make changes if it served the film. It is, frankly, much harder to make the same assertion when talking about The Hobbit. Just the fact that it is a trilogy almost as long as the Rings trilogy (as with that review, here I am talking about the extended versions available on Blu-Ray, rather than the theatrical releases) with a book only a fraction of the size is a fairly clear indication that there are many more liberties taken with the text. Of course, all of the extra stuff is mostly informed by appendices written by Tolkien himself, but there is still plenty here to outrage the purists.

Bilbo riddles for his life, while Gollum plots murder.

Before the events told in The Lord of the Rings, when Bilbo was a young man (Martin Freeman) he was conscripted by Gandalf (Ian McKellen) into joining a group of dwarves attempting to reclaim their lost homeland from the humongous clutches of the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). On the way, Bilbo meets an unusual creature named Gollum (Andy Serkis) and comes into possession of a magic ring, which just so happens to change the entire course of history in the future.

The first part An Unexpected Journey takes its time to get going, rather than diving headfirst into the adventure, spending time in Bag End with Bilbo and the dwarves. Much of the criticism the film faced was in regards to the slow pace set in these early scenes. For my money, I'm happy enough to spend time in the Middle Earth imagined by Jackson, Weta Workshop, Weta Digital and New Zealand that I'd probably be happy watching Bilbo wash up for 2 hours. The dwarves are realised in a way that is different to the book; rather than coloured hoods, each dwarf has a distinctive look, usually based around hair. I wasn't quite sure about it at first to be honest, but I soon got used to it.

Bilbo and Thorin, facing up to something awful.

Once we set off, there's no shortage of trolls, fights, elves and underground goblin kingdoms, but the absolute standout scene in the first film is Bilbo and Gollum facing off in a game of riddles in the dark. Serkis, following years of honing his extraordinary motion capture acting techniques is electrifying as Gollum; innocent and childlike one moment, intensely menacing the next. With all the adventuring going on it's easy to miss crediting some genuinely great acting from Freeman as well - he invests Bilbo with just the right mix of curiosity, stuck-up-ness and courage - during his battle of wits with Gollum and afterwards, explaining his decision to help the dwarves regain their home he is wonderful, and only very occasionally now reminds me of Tim from The Office. The ending of the first film somewhat mirrors that of The Fellowship of the Ring, in that there is a pitched battle between our heroes and those that seek to destroy them (but nothing compared to what is to come), and ends with the journey a long way from being completed.

The Desolation of Smaug bucks the trend of the middle film of a trilogy being weaker (as did The Two Towers) and is actually my favourite of the three. There is a great deal of iconic Tolkien imagery brought to life here; Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt), Dol Guldur, Mirkwood and the spiders, Thranduil's (Lee Pace) hidden woodland realm, Laketown; for someone like me who can often feel more at home in these locations than in the real world, it's a dizzying smorgasbord of visual treats. Jackson and his team take more liberties than even An Unexpected Journey did, but somehow, the film is just so much fun that most of it goes by, forgiven. The invention of an entirely new character, the female elf Tauriel (Evangeline Lily) doesn't feel out of place - in fact it highlights how starved of female characterisation Tolkien's novel was, and goes some way to addressing that. Falling for Kili (Aidan Turner) might have been a bit of a stretch, however, and featuring Legolas (Orlando Bloom), I must admit, took some swallowing.

Bilbo may have bitten off more than he can chew...But then again, he is a hobbit.

There is a particular sequence that angered many fans of the books and that is when Bilbo and the dwarves escape from the elves by hiding in barrels and riding down the river. It's an action-packed chase full of gags that bears no resemblance to the equivalent chapter in the novel. One way I can tell that movies had a bigger impact on me than books in my youth is that I genuinely love the sequence, despite the liberties it takes with Tolkien's text. Like the riddles in the dark section of An Unexpected Journey, there is a part of The Desolation of Smaug that sits above the rest of the film as a stand out sequence, and it's when we finally meet the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). Bilbo enters into another verbal fencing match, but unlike Gollum, he's no match for the wily wyrm. Following his failed attempt to first burgle and then charm Smaug, the dwarves and Bilbo have no choice but to play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse throughout the ruined kingdom of Erebor, ending in an enraged dragon bearing down on the human settlement of Laketown.

The Battle of the Five Armies picks up the thread and early on Laketown is laid waste by dragonfire until Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) brings the vengeful dragon low. The third film is about what happens around the power vacuum that Smaug left behind - the Kingdom under the Mountain, empty again, save for a massive pile of gold and jewels. The dwarves, led by Thorin Oakensheild (Richard Armitage), set up shop and barricade themselves inside. Thranduil leads the elves to the mountain to reclaim some long-lost elven treasure, while Bard brings the now-homeless survivors of Laketown to try to prevent them from starving. Both are rebuffed by Thorin, who is being driven slowly mad by the corrupt Arkenstone, a giant gem from the heart of the mountain that inflicts a dragonish greed on its possessor.

A redeemed Thorin bids his friend farewell.

Thorin's back-up arrives in the shape of an army of dwarves from the Iron Hills led by Thorin's cousin Dain (Billy Connelly). Just as the elves and dwarfs start tearing shreds off each other, a giant army of orcs show up, led by the major antagonist across all three films, Azog (Manu Bennett) - this is another fairly major change from the source material, as Azog is long-dead during these events in Tolkien's timeline. If there is one thing the original Rings trilogy taught us, it's that Peter Jackson knows his way around a battle, and the titular fight here is every bit as amazing, outrageous and epic in scale as you could hope for. Given the time he was denied in the high-pressured run-up to the film's cinematic release, the battle in the extended version is bigger, more graphic and chock-full of imaginative set-pieces.

The over-use of CGI is much-bemoaned in regards to modern films, and there is no doubt The Hobbit is bursting at the seams with digital artwork, but the way in which Jackson employs it makes it much less of an issue that it might otherwise have been. Across the whole trilogy, from An Unexpected Journey's escape from the underground goblin town, through the barrel ride and dragon hide-and-seek in The Desolation of Smaug, through to pretty much most of The Battle of the Five Armies, the film-maker is clearly the same guy who made Braindead, Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles (he is still working with some of the same people, even now). The same manic energy, gift for a surprising-yet-perfect angle and warped sense of humour is still there; he's just using different tools.

One of the most beautiful shots in the series, including Rings, is the brief, dialogue-free moment near the end, featuring Bilbo and Gandalf just sitting there, together alone. The sense of exhaustion is palpable, and one can only surmise is shared by Jackson and his crew. The effort that has gone into making these six films is momentous; decades of work, so this small moment feels appropriate, a short snippet of reflection. Like so many moments in these films, it is a strikingly constructed shot despite being so simple - a testament to the great work of the late Andrew Lesnie, cinematographer on all six films.

Bilbo and Gandalf: Palpable exhaustion.

The Hobbit is a lesser trilogy than the preceding Rings, but considering the source material, this was inevitable. It holds the novel on which it is based in perhaps slightly less esteem, but is made with an abundance of talent and is actually quite a lot more fun than Rings. If the novel isn't like a religious text to you, I think you could find much to like here. If it is, it's probably better you avoid.

Score:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: 8/10
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: 9/10
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: 8/10

As with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I seem fairly close to Empire's take on the films, as shown in these reviews by William, Nick and James. Elsewhere, there is evidence to suggest I slightly over-rate them, although not by much if these Guardian reviews by Philip, Peter and, to a lesser degree, Mark are anything to go by.