[two-star-rating]Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch[/two-star-rating]
J.R.R. Tolkien’s creations are so well loved by so many that it genuinely hurts to say this film could be much, much better. Sure, every frame is amazing to look at, and the action sequences are a blast. But this epic tale’s emotional core is more hollow and dead than the Lonely Mountain the sepulchral kingdom of the dwarves.
Like Peter Jackson’s first Hobbit film, too much of this feels episodic and incomplete, without any deep realization of character.
Thorin (Armitage), the heir to the dwarf throne, is still traveling with his band of brothers to recapture the deathly kingdom under the mountain from a gold-hungry dragon (Cumberbatch). Along for assistance are Gandalf the wizard (McKellan) and the burglar Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Freeman). In hot pursuit are some ugly orcs, at the bidding of a great evil that is making its presence known across the lands.
By that very description, it sounds like a Dungeons and Dragons caper invented by 12-year-olds running around a neighborhood woods, hopped up on soda and sugar. The story never rises above that level, nowhere near what director Peter Jackson was able to do with the Lord of the Rings series.
It’s all obviously expensive; too much of Hobbit 2 rests on visual effect and battle sequences. What it lacks is heart, arc, and epiphany. I was reminded of the 1940 kids’ film series where there was a cliffhanger at the end of each half-hour episode “Tune in next time!” These bit films are sure entertaining in their trite, lively way. They don’t, however, help us fall in love with the players or get us to feel deeply for their triumphs and perils. And they sure don’t inspire us to hang on for well over two hours.
At least audiences get to know all 14 major players slightly better; I can finally tell some of the dwarves from others.
[rating-key]
Jackson and his coworkers must have known that there wasn’t a lot of transformation in this tale. They introduce a new elf (Lilly) and give her a light little romantic triangle to tiptoe around. That’s not enough to feel the entire film arrives anywhere.
So, instead there’s a barrel ride that feels ready for a theme park treatment. There’s a lot of running across wide-open spaces. There are a lot of scenes in cabins and hidden cities. Villains give long, long lectures when they could just outright kill a hero and add some grit to this endeavor.
For a supposed journey, both Hobbit films feel random and distracted. At least, the goofy plate-tossing scene in the first film is not repeated. The heroes can still cut through most orcs like a spoon through custard, so their threat still doesn’t seem all that horrible. The miniscule self-discoveries of the first film are also not at all built upon. And our heroes are still traveling, not having grown, ever the same.
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