Let me start off by telling you that like many other people, I too was waiting for what felt like a lifetime to see this movie.
And yet I felt almost sick when I entered the cinema yesterday evening. I was so tense, so nervous, so desperately hoping that I will love it, and that the feelings I started having in 2001 would come back to me all over again.
It's only natural that in all those years of waiting & hoping, you are bound to have expectations that will be impossible to meet.
I tried to prepare myself for that; keeping in mind that the experiences I had with „The Lord of the Rings“ will never be repeatable. It was a truely magical time, and the same magic never happens twice.
So what I wanted from „The Hobbit“ was not a repeat, but an addition. A different path back into the fictional world I love the most, and have loved for almost half of my life now.
And what can I say?
Peter, Philippa and Fran did it!
It was not perfect, it was not everything I hoped for, but boy, did it feel good to watch!!
From many critics I read the complain that the atmosphere seemed off somehow, not LotR-y enough.
Those people need to understand that „The Hobbit“ takes place in a different time; and by acknowledging that, LotR itself reaches an even deeper level through the new movie(s).
What „The Hobbit“ shows us is not an end-of-all-things apocalyptic Middle-Earth. But it is infact the Middle-Earth the Fellowship is trying to save 60 years later. And that is a part of Tolkiens world – with the big exception of The Shire - we haven't seen in Lord of the Rings before.
We've seen Rivendell in its last days, with all its people leaving for the west.
We've seen Rohan burning and with a poison-minded King.
We've seen Gondor weak, grey and with no King at all.
And the only glimpse we've seen of the kingdom of the dwarves was the grave that is Moria.
But now „The Hobbit“ makes us see the world how it was during the long peace; and how it shall be again after the War of the Ring.
Life is joyful, it's a bit safer, it's simply not that dark yet and that is how it should be! I imagine that when in 2014 we have all 6 movies to watch, we will clearly see the transformation of Middle-Earth that goes hand in hand with the rise of Sauron.
So while for example the dinner scene in Rivendell, with the musical elves and all, seems a bit awkward at first, I quickly accepted it! Life used to be good in Rivendell and damn well I enjoy seeing that!
( Let's get into spoilery details now!Collapse )
