Tuesday, December 10, 2013


Got snuck into the preview screening of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. My girlfriend and other friends in attendance, all Lord of the Rings aficionado's, seemed to quite enjoy Peter Jackson's latest Tolkien adaptation. There was much excitement over the Hobbit souvenir cups for sale at the candy bar, and quite a few in various form of cosplay garb.

Clearly I'm in the great minority, because these movies continue to make all the money and have won a dump-truck full of awards, but they just aren't my cup of geek. To me, they feel like they are about six hours long, and have way too much walking around. Every time there's an extended scene of elves speaking their elvish language, I just get bored and distracted. The movie showcases some great action sequences...but they feel drawn out and just slapped in to try an instigate the need for another trilogy. There are a whole bunch of talented people who I really admire involved in this franchise, none-the-less I just can't raise an interest to care about them. I don't even know enough about Lord of the Rings to complain about how this trilogy is being based on one singular book, or that a bunch of characters are being inserted into it from other Lord of the Rings-y places.

I would rather Peter Jackson was spending his time doing the kind of movies he did pre-swords and sorcery success...The Frighteners, Heavenly Creatures and Dead Alive are more to my liking. Hopefully he'll be able to keep away from another Tolkien inspired trilogy another ten years from now.

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