For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, Warner Bros. made TV spot #12 available on their facebook page today. This spot is mostly a re-shuffling of previously seen footage, but we do catch a glimpse of wargs being ridden and Gandalf striking the ground with his glowing staff. The length of this TV spot is similar to most of the others, weighing in at 34 seconds. This is just the thing to get you through to the movie openings which start in less than 48 hours! Have a look.
Category: Martin Freeman
Just when we think we’ve seen the geekiest of Tolkien/Hobbit geekiness, it gets even geekier! Ringer and international attorney, Scott Maucere, couldn’t resist applying his legal expertise to the analysis of Bilbo’s contract with Thorin and his party of dwarves in his legal blog. Per Scott: “here is likely the only legal analysis of Bilbo’s contract you will ever have the pleasure (or pain) to read.” Scott makes it clear that he’s analyzing the contract in the book, not the one in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey but, of course, there are many parallels. One disclaimer Scott makes: “Keep in mind that while I practice international law, Middle-earth most certainly falls outside of my area of experience.” Fair enough, Scott, fair enough. Read more…
Editor Note: Arathorn was an original staffer of TheOneRing.net back in the early days of the site. His involvement in the site has waned in recent years due to professional and familial responsiblities. His perspective on ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ is unique as he has remained completely unspoiled and out-of-the-loop for nearly 10 years. Spoilers Ahead!
So, the question you probably want to hear answered is how The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey compares with LoTR. From my perspective, it’s pretty favourable – it worked much better for me than RoTK and FoTR, and probably slightly better than TTT. For context however, this is coming from someone who seriously undermined their enjoyment of LoTR by spoiling themselves rotten – whereas I’ve deliberately kept myself unspoilt for The Hobbit.
The pacing of The Hobbit: AUJ is gentler and more consistent than LoTR – the storytelling unfolds at a much more metered and less rushed pace. At no point did I feel bored – it felt like a leisurely but appropriate telling of the story. Also, where story padding is added, it generally feels that it’s actually dramatically required in order to provide additional context for the ‘real’ story, rather than a jarring and illadvised substitution from the books. For instance, the presence of Radagast is a much-needed and legitimate extension to portray the rise of evil in Mirkwood and Dol Guldur which would otherwise have to be shown as a slightly forced flashback.
Continue reading “Unspoiled for ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ – Arathorn’s Review”
For most folks, this is it: this is the week when we finally get to go back to Middle-earth, and experience Peter Jackson’s first Hobbit movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Some of us, however, have had the great good fortune of seeing the film already, at press events around the globe. I was one such lucky viewer – and I present here my more-or-less spoiler-free review of what I saw.
Walking through the morning commuting crowds, heading to the cinema, it was slightly bewildering to think that I was finally going to see this movie. It’s been YEARS – hoping since The Return of the King that we would get to go ‘back again’; handing out ‘Make the Hobbit Happen!’ buttons at conventions; watching the ‘snakes and ladders’ game of waiting for that greenlight; eagerly taking in every moment of Peter Jackson’s production diaries… And now, at last, here it is. Would the anticipation prove too much? Would I be disappointed?
As the opening credits came up, I knew immediately that the answer, whatever was in store, would be NO. I was revisiting old friends – and what a great pleasure it was. I wanted to cry, as Frodo does in The Fellowship of the Ring, ‘It’s wonderful to see you Gandalf!’ What a treat to be back in the Shire, and to delight again in its green beauty. What fun to explore Bag End some more, and to see Ian Holm and Elijah Wood back where they belong – in furry feet!
Continue reading “‘The Long Expected Movie’ – another TORn staffer Hobbit review”
Continuing our series of reviews of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, TORn staffer Arwen chimes in with this SPOILER-HEAVY review of the action. I suggest that if you don’t want to know about how the story plays out, what the key plot points are, and what happens at the end of the movie, then this review is probably not for you! On the other hand, if you’re not afraid of reading all those things, dive on in! Continue reading “TORn staffer Arwen reviews The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
SPOILERS! Just a week before the worldwide release ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,’ EW.com has acquired some amazing new images from both ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug‘ (Dec 13 2013) and ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again’ (July 18th 2014). The first pic showcases Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman and Orlando Bloom reprising his role as Legolas taken from what looks to be a battle prep scene in ‘There and Back Again.’ Check out the EW.com article for some insights into the photo from Peter Jackson himself. [here] The second image features Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in ‘The Desolation of Smaug‘ climbing on a great pile of gold. If you look closely, it looks like he is wearing The One Ring – but it could also just be a gold piece covering his hand. Jump over to EW.com for more details about the pic and talk of how The Hobbit is not just about a quest to regain gold from Smaug. [EW.com]
