THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Evangeline Lilly, Hugo Weaving, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Orlando Bloom
As we saw at the end of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the dragon Smaug (Cumberbatch) has awoken in the Lonely Mountain. The second part in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy continues on with Biblo (Freeman) and his adventure with Gandalf (McKellen) , Thorin Oakenshield (Armitage), and the rest of the dwarves to take on the Smaug (Cumberbatch) and reclaim The Lonely Moutain.
This film will also see the return of Orlando Bloom as the Elven Prince Legolas. Evangeline Lilly joins the cast as Tauriel, a female elf, who has been created by Peter Jackson and Philipha Boyens as the character does not appear in the original Tolkien story.
Like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the second part will also be shown in the followings formats: Read D 3D, HFR 3D, and IMAX 3D.
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Hugo Weaving, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Benedict Cumberbatch
Bilbo Baggins (Holm) has had an adventurous life as he tells Frodo (Elijah Wood). He decides to sit down and write about what happened to him sixty years ago. When he was a much younger hobbit, Bilbo (Freeman) received a strange invitation from a wizard by the name of Gandalf the Grey (McKellen) that involves a bunch of dwarves. Gandalf tricks Bilbo into having a dinner party. Bilbo is taken back, to say the least, as twelve dwarves start showing up at his doorstep unannounced and ready for a feast. Gandalf used a bit of magic to mark Bilbo's door as a marker.
The dwarves are on a journey to reclaim their land. Dwarf King Thror had become the ruler under the Lonely Mountain area. The area prospered for all until Smaug the Dragon was drawn to their copious amounts of gold and destroyed their town of Dale. The arrival of Smaug drew the dwarves out of their town. Thror and his son Thrain perished, but Thrain's son Thorin (Armitage) survived as he was out hunting. Thorin arrives to see the destruction of his town and noticed King Thranduil (Pace) and his elves standing on the hillside refusing to help. This refusal led to the animosity and feud between the dwarves and elves.
After much hesitation, Bilbo joins Gandalf and the rest of the dwarves on their trek to the Lonely Mountain to reclaim their territory. All does not go safely to plan for our company as they battle the many Orcs and goblins along the way. Gandalf leads the group to Rivendell to seek advice from Elrond (Weaving), Galadriel (Blanchett), and Saruman the White (Lee). Bilbo encounters the creature Gollum (Serkis) along the way and steals the ring he is possessing after learning of its invisibility power. The presence of the mysterious Necromancer and Smaug looms in the air and could have a lasting impression on Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves.
Peter Jackson has released the movie in quite a few viewing formats: 2D, 3D, and the new HFR 3D. HFR stands for high frame rate. Jackson shot the movie at 48 frames per second compared to the standard 24 frames per second most movies are shot in. I was able to watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in HFR 3D. Not many theaters are able to show this specific format, so if you are interested you may need to check your local theater to see what format they are playing the movie in. The HFR format is getting mixed reviews. The picture quality is unbelievably clear and crisp. The easiest thing I can compare it to is as if you are watching a live recording of a show or concert on an LED HD TV. I think it enhances the 3D and gives the picture a clearer and less dark and murky quality that typically comes with 3D territory. The picture quality takes a little bit to get used to, but after ten or twenty minutes you will adjust. Everything about the picture is clear and noticeable. You may be able to notice wigs, make-up, and prosthetics more than you had before. HFR has great potential, but it will take some time before filmmakers fully understand how to use it and work with it.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first part in a new trilogy. Unlike The Lord of the Rings trilogy that was based on three different books, the new trilogy is only based on the one book plus some additional appendices and Tolkien notes that screenwriters Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens, and Guillermo del Toro are using to expand the story and incorporate The Lord of the Rings into it. This first part of the new trilogy does feel a little long and tends to drag on a bit at the beginning and in the middle sections. I was also missing an emotional connection with the characters like I did with The Fellowship of the Ring. I do not feel like Jackson and company needed to incorporate previous characters into it if they do not enhance the story or move it forward. The Frodo scenes are the beginning are completely unneeded and feel a bit awkward. On the other end of that spectrum, I enjoyed the scenes at Rivendell where we see a very different side of Saruman the White.
Will the movie appeal to movie-goers that are new to the series or people that were a little ho-hum about the first three? Probably not. You will probably find the story long and drawn out. If you are a fan of the first trilogy, you will still enjoy and geek out of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. You will not mind a bit that it will be three new movies. I adore the original trilogy and think they are stunning achievements in film making. Jackson has a way of capturing J.R.R. Tolkien's worlds and characters and makes them a visual feast. They are detailed, lush, and fully realized often times making the audience believe they are real places instead sound stages and green screens. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has it's problems and is nowhere near as perfect as The Lord of the Rings. Despite that, this fan will still be in line opening night for The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.
CLOUD ATLAS
Director: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weavig, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, James D'Arcy, Doona Bae
"Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others. Past and present. And by each crime; and every kindness we birth our future."
Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer are the powerhouses behind The Matrix Trilogy and Run Lola Run. They have teamed up to bring us the big screen adaption of the novel of the same name by David Mitchell. They each wrote and directed various segments of the movie. The movie is one hell of an ambitious undertaking. It asks the audience to go through a visionary tale of six vastly different stories spanning 472 years from the South Pacific Ocean in 1849 to a post-apocalyptic world in the Hawaiian Islands in 2321.
The stories are all different, but are interwoven and connected. There are little touches here and there that help the audience connect them. Many of them are very minor and subtle, so I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to mentally connect them. The most notable is a shooting star birthmark that many of the characters possess. The idea behind the movie will still resonate if you just sit back and watch without thinking too much throughout the movie. The basic concept behind the film as a whole is that our individual actions whether they be violent acts or acts of kindness are shaped and impacted by the past, present, and the future. All of the choices we make in our present life have an impact on a future life.
In order to address this, the company of actors including: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Weaving and Doona Bae all play various roles of various genders and races throughout each of the stories. The make-up is absolutely stunning as you try to play "Name that Actor" during each of the segments. Luckily, during the end credits they show each of the characters names next to the actor that played them. I found it intriguing and smart to have Hugo Weaving always play the antagonist, villain, or devil on your shoulder type character.
With a running time of nearly three hours, the movie asks the audience to follow each of the stories and care about each one of them in hopes you do not get bored and twitchy. I belong in the later category. I felt fully intrigued during the first hour or so as you settle into the stories and see where they are going. As the movie went on, I found myself latching on to the more realistic worlds and story lines, mainly the ones set in 1936, 1973, and 2012. The characters and emotions seemed more authentic and real. I am not sure what to attribute that to. Is it the fact the make-up and special effects are more minimal? Is the acting better? The best relationship between two characters belongs to Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw in the 1936 segment. They play so well off each other that I wanted far more of that storyline as well as the continuation of it in the 1973 segment.
I find the movie very polarizing. I cannot fully love it nor do I hate it or dislike it. I really wanted to love it, so there is a bit of disappointment to it. The special effects and make-up design are top notch. I expect it to win Best Make-Up Design at the Oscars. After giving Tom Hanks and Halle Berry six very different looks, I do not see how it could lose. Even though those design elements make the movie a stunning artistic achievement, I was the least interested by the segments that utilized those effects heavily. It was as if the emotion and story was stripped thin in order to focus on the artistry and design. There will be people coming out of the theater loving everything about it. They will be the ones enraptured for the three hours. You will have others that will feel bored and that the concept is too preachy and the movie is far too long. I am somewhere in the middle. I love the concept and idea behind the movie. I love the fact that the same actors played multiple characters throughout especially when they were of a different genre or race. I just wish I would have connected to all of the stories.
RATING: *** (3 out of 5 stars)
