The lord of the rings movies have managed to span six separate and lengthy movies over the course of the last 20 years or so. They are definitely one of those few franchises that have managed to keep a story interesting and important through so many movies, and are definitely considered one of the most iconic franchises of all time. Which I suppose is some sort of travesty that I haven't seen a single one. Well until now. And now I talk about my blind experience with "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."
So my dad made me start with the first Hobbit, even though I sort of expected to start with the Fellowship of the Ring, a la Star Wars, where you start with a New Hope because it was the first one made. So from the beginning I know I was already missing a bunch of things I would have recognized if I had indeed seen the Fellowship of the Rings, like the party starting in that movie. Instead, this movie shoots backwards in time and starts in the same house with a bunch of people who I'm hoping I'm not supposed to recognize, much like Bilbo doesn't. You get some small backstories as the movie progresses that sometimes feel like my own writing when I'm telling a story and realize I need a reason for the writer to care, or something colorful to explain the personality of a character.
I suppose it sounds like I'm complaining but I'm really not trying to. There was some decent comic relief and some pretty decent fight scenes, although I did have a problem with the fighting against massive hordes. One guy quickly slashes at some creature, can't see who it is long enough, then another does the same to another two. Etc, but it felt a little rushed and almost felt unimportant. On the other hand, when they are fighting the trolls and running through the cave, a lot of that combat felt fun and very very unfortunate for those trolls.
The scenery in the movie was outstanding, and The Shire/ New Zealand is so so pretty. That place really does a great job of portraying the wild nature and epic-ness of the adventure of the Hobbit, and I'm sure the other movies. The characters, for the most part, were intriguing and felt relatively realistic enough, although I continued to feel like I was supposed to know more about them then I did.
The only other thing that really jumped out at me was the Elvish city of Rivendale. I've heard that name before to assume it is supposed to be a very important place but in this movie, they show up for like 10 minutes and then we don't see it again. I'm pretty sure viewers of the Lord of the Rings have seen this city so many times, that they really didn't want to spend too much time focusing on it, but to me, someone who knows literally nothing, it seemed really bizarre to skip over something that seemed so grandeur.
Overall, I really can't complain. It was a solid movie, and did a really good job of pacing each scene that was used to set up the next part of the story. It did a really good job of going from A to B to C and in that aspect nothing felt out of place. The story progressed naturally and predictably, which isn't always a bad thing. Overall, I wonder what the rest of the movies hold, and wonder if they will follow the same format, or if they change it up. I'm still willing to watch, so obviously it wasn't all that bad. Until the next one, as they say, "I'm going on an adventure!"
