There have been quite a few things on my mind as of late. I suppose not having to do research to expose the insidious and corrupt underpinnings of one’s “Movember” fluff piece has that effect, but that’s quite beside the point.
The point is that shit is happening. It’s the end of the year and stuff is rapping up faster than a Christopher Nolan film after it has squandered its first two and a half hours on cryptic dialog and awkward action sequences. Things are swimming around in my head and I feel like I should start putting some of that stuff down in written form.
Ya know… like a blog! Odd that I’m just now figuring out how to use one of these things. Anyway, this one’s dedicated to something very near and dear to my heart, and one of the things I’m most excited for in 2012.
THE ‘OBBIT
Rollin' Deep
It’s probably no secret to any and all interested that this week marked the release of the trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, part one of Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. Since this duology was anounced, I’ve been hyped beyond belief. This is because, following the release of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, I threw myself completely into the mythos of Toliken’s Middle-Earth. For me, the series was this generations’ Star Wars (you know… because the prequels were YOU KNOW YOU KNOW).
In fact, the only thing I DIDN’T like about the series were the books that spawned the movies. That sounds incredibly asinine and insipid, but I’m sure 90% of people who attempted reading the LOTR books following the release of the first film will agree whole-heartedly. What book I DID thoroughly enjoy, actually, was Tolkien’s The Hobbit. It was a much more straight-forward and simple fair that allowed a greater use of one’s imagination to glean what locations and characters were supposed to look like. This might be because it is largely accepted The Hobbit is a kid’s book, but fuck it; I assert it’s the superior book.
Anyway, TRAILER!
My kneejerk reaction is something akin to *EJACULATION*, but I suppose I should dig into some of the stuff I noticed. For one thing, it’s tough to tell where this first part of “The Hobbit” will end. The Hobbit’s not the lengthiest book, but I suppose it could be stretched into the two films Jackson has planned, especially if the “extended universe” of Middle-Earth is explored. I just hope it doesn’t get too overblown and lose that classic/simple story.
This is also very much a “HEY PEOPLE WHO LIKED LORD OF THE RINGS MOVIES, BUT HAVE NEVER CRACKED A BOOK BEFORE! HERE’S A BUNCH OF SCENES THAT ARE CALLBACKS TO THOSE MOVIES!” That’s not a bad thing, but it also means that someone like me who absolutely can’t wait to see certain scenes unfurl on the big screen are getting blue-balled even harder. Yes, the adventuring group has a layover in the House of Elrond at Rivendell, but it’s hardly an eventful affair. It’s also just a little odd seeing old Ian Holm Bilbo in connecting scenes to “young” Martin Freeman Bilbo. I think Freeman will do a great job, but it certainly emphasizes the fact that the two don’t look (or even really sound) anything like one another! But hey… CALLBACKS, PEEPS!
I can only expect that showing scenes like this, whilst keeping scenes like the fight with the goblins or the run-in with the trolls at a bare minimum in the trailer is for the benefit of those weened onto the series by the movies, and to just up the anticipation for dudes like me who can’t wait GODDAMMIT I WANT THIS FUCKING MOVIE TO BE OUT SO BAD.
I love the look of the Dwarves, too. From the LOTR movies, it seemed that most Dwarves all looked relatively the same (hell, Gimli even says Dwarf women look like Dwarf men), but here in The Hobbit, they have wildly varying looks about them all. It’ll be cool to see each one get their own screen-time and get their own development over the course of the two films.
Lastly, I couldn’t help but feel like the Dwarves song in the trailer is intentionally reminiscent of the Rankin/Bass animated film of the 1970s. Cool stuff.
I could go on and on, but I’m guessing that after listening to that, you’re probably ready for this thing to be over. I am too, so I will simply end by saying that December of next year cannot get here soon enough.
IT CAME FROM A RED COUCH! 