Movie Review – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Eleven years ago, Peter Jackson presented the world with Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first in a trilogy of epic scale telling the classic tale from J. R. R. Tolkien.
While LOTR: The Return of the King may have ended that particular story, we know that there are more stories waiting to be told from the world of Middle Earth. That’s where 2012′s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey comes into play.
Released today in the U.S., The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first movie in a trilogy that tells the tale of The Hobbit, a story written by J. R. R. Tolkien back in 1937. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a prequel to The Lord of the Rings, with the events in The Hobbit taking place sixty years before LOTR.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey begins with Thror as King under the Mountain and leader of their stronghold of Erebor. Dwarfs populate the area and they specialize in digging for gold. One day a dwarf discovers a much bigger treasure buried within the mountain, and King Thror proclaims the treasured stone as a sign of his divinity and right to rule the area. The dwarfs continue digging for gold and Erebor is filled with golden coins and treasures.
Nearby, the town of Dale is a peaceful community filled with exotic goods from traders who have travelled throughout the region. The people are happy with their way of life. One day a dragon named Smaug arrived and brutally destroyed the town of Dale. Smaug then stormed into Erebor, killing every dwarf he could find and then seizing the stronghold as his new home.
King Thror watched in horror as Smaug defeated his men. Equally horrifying to the king was that their allies, the elves, refused to stand with the dwarves and fight the dragon. Thorin’s hatred towards Smaug equalled his feelings of betrayal towards the elves.
While in exile, the dwarves had a great war with the menacing orcs. The war culminated with the Battle of Azanulbizar where King Thror was killed and then beheaded by Azog, the orc’s leader. This beheading of their king enraged the dwarves and turned the tide of battle, giving victory to the dwarves. Thorin cut off Azog’s left arm and Azog was dragged away by his fellow orcs. It was believed that Azog later died from his wounds.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey then jumps to the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring (roughly 120 years later) as Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) are planning Bilbo’s 111th birthday party. The scenes are exactly as you remember it from the 2001 movie as Bilbo sits and begins writing his tales of adventure for Frodo. Frodo wants to read Bilbo’s works, but Bilbo refuses. Frodo runs off to meet Gandalf as Bilbo remembers the events that changed his life.
Sixty years prior to Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo Baggins, an ordinary hobbit, is visited by a wizard named Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen). Gandalf remembers meeting Bilbo some time ago although Bilbo doesn’t recall the incident. Gandalf asks Bilbo if he would like to take part in an adventure, but Bilbo declines. We see Gandalf make a mark on Bilbo’s front door as he leaves his home.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
That night, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and his band of dwarfs invade Bilbo’s hobbit home and eat all his food. Gandalf arrives again and the group of dwarves get down to business. They discuss that signs are showing that the Lonely Mountain may no longer be inhabited by Smaug. It seems that the mountain has been deserted for some time now and birds are heading back in that direction. The time has finally arrived for Thorin to take back Erebor and claim his title as King under the Mountain.
The problem is that they have to somehow gain access into the stronghold itself. That’s where Bilbo Baggins comes into play. The dwarfs are in need of somebody who specializes in burglaries and breaking into structures, and Gandalf believes that hobbits are the perfect creatures for doing so. Throw in the fact that Smaug has never seen a hobbit and doesn’t know of what to expect from one, and that gives them another advantage. Bilbo is reluctant to join the group after he reads the agreement and notices the details about possibly being burned or killed by a dragon. He thinks it over and joins the group the next morning.
The small army heads into the wilderness and begins their long trek towards the Lonely Mountain. There’s a constant threat of attack from trolls and wild creatures. In addition to those problems, there’s a slight problem with their map to the Lonely Mountain. Gandalf knows that the stronghold has a secret entrance, but he needs the help of the elves to read the hidden clues on the map. This means that the group needs to visit the Elven stronghold at Rivendell, much to Thorin’s disapproval.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
One night in the woods, two of the dwarves discover that some of their ponies are missing. Bilbo joins the dwarfs and they discover that three trolls from the mountains had taken the ponies. They’re preparing to eat the small horses for dinner. The dwarfs convince Bilbo to steal back the ponies as he’s small, smart and quick while the trolls are large, slow and stupid. Bilbo is quickly captured by the trolls, and before he’s crushed by them the rest of the dwarfs jump out and attack the trolls. There’s a big fight before Bilbo is captured again and the trolls threaten to rip off his arms and legs. Thorin and the dwarfs throw down their weapons to save Bilbo’s life.
Unfortunately, the trolls tie up everybody and try to eat them anyway. A few dwarfs are roasting over the fire when Bilbo tries to save them. He talks to the trolls, stalling them from cooking his companions. The sun slowly rises as Bilbo buys his friends some time. Just as the trolls figure out what Bilbo is doing, Gandalf appears on a large rock. He splits the rock and allows the morning sunshine to hit the trolls. The sunshine turns all three trolls into stone statues.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
The group soon encounters another wizard named Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), who warns the group of an evil presence he recently discovered. He gives Gandalf a short sword made “not from this world” as proof. Orcs have been tracking Thorin and his band of dwarves, and they attack the group. Radagast leads the orcs away as Gandalf leads his men to safety. They barely escape and arrive at the Elven town of Rivendell.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
The group is welcomed by the elves at Rivendell. Gandalf meets with Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Saruman the White (Christopher Lee), and together they read the hidden messages on his map. They also discuss the evil presence that Radagast discovered out in Dol Guldur, and the necromancer may have been Sauron, a dark lord.
While Gandalf was in his meeting, Thorin and the dwarfs left for the Misty Mountains. They camp in a cave when they’re suddenly falling down a hole and captured by a bunch of goblins. As his companions are being hauled away, Bilbo Baggins crotches down and hides from the goblins. He sneaks after them but encounters a lone goblin. Bilbo fights the goblin, but they both fall further into the mountain.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
Deep in a cave, Gollum (Andy Serkis) discovers the injured goblin and hauls him away. Bilbo watches this and notices that a large gold ring falls from Gollum’s pocket. He snatches the ring and follows Gollum into his lair. Gollum discovers Bilbo, but Bilbo holds him back with his sword. Bilbo demands that Gollum show him a way out of the cave, but Gollum refuses. He then asks Gollum to play a game of riddles. If Bilbo wins then Gollum has to show him the way out of the cave. If Gollum wins then he gets to eat Bilbo. They play their game, each one correctly answering the other’s riddles. Gollum gets impatient and demands that Bilbo “ask him a question.” Bilbo does and asks Gollum what’s in his pocket. Of course, Gollum cannot answer it correctly and Bilbo wins. It’s then that Gollum discovers that he’ missing the gold ring (his “precious”), and he becomes enraged at Bilbo, claiming that the hobbit stole it. Bilbo uses the ring’s power of invisibility to escape from Gollum.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
Meanwhile, Thorin and the rest of the dwarfs are taken before the Great Goblin. The Great Goblin recognizes Thorin as heir to the King under the Mountain and mocks him. Just as he orders for the dwarfs to be killed, Gandalf appears inside the Misty Mountains. He provides enough of a distraction for Thorin and his men to get their weapons and fight the goblins. A massive fight ensues as they kill goblins and try to escape from inside the mountain. The Great Goblin appears at the end and tries to block their path, but Gandalf kills him with his sword. The group falls into a hole and eventually escape from the mountain.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
Outside the mountain, Bilbo reunites with everybody else. Some of the dwarfs thought that Bilbo went back home to the Shire, but he claims that he stayed to help them return to Erebor. After all, Bilbo has a home in the Shire, and the dwarfs need a home to return to as well.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
The group is again pursued by Azog and some orcs, and they become trapped in some trees. Thorin tries to fight Azog, but he’s knocked unconscious. Bilbo stops the orcs from beheading Thorin, and the dwarfs join in the fight. Things go poorly and the group is nearly defeated. A bunch of giant eagles swoop down and rescue Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarfs and carry them away to safety. Azog watches in frustration as the group manages to escape.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ends with the group finally seeing the Lonely Mountain off in the distance. A great journey still awaits them, but the mountain itself is finally in sight.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
A camera pans through Erebor and we see a vast mountain of treasure in the old stronghold. Suddenly, a breath of air pushes away a few coins. More coins fall as something underneath the treasure slowly awakens. The camera moves closer and a giant eye looks right at us. It’s apparent that Smaug is still alive and well after all these years.
Is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey a good movie?
Yes, as a whole this is another fantastic movie that takes us to the adventurous land of Middle-earth. Fans of The Lord of the Ring trilogy are going to be wildly entertained by The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
From the breathtaking scenery to the booming soundtrack to the loveable (and familiar) characters to the solid action scenes, The Hobbit is a great movie. It’s also a very LONG movie clocking in at 178 minutes, just shy of three hours!
My only problem with The Hobbit was that the movie felt like it was taking the same exact sequence of events as in Fellowship of the Ring. You have the background of the story, the introduction of characters in the Shire, the beginning of adventure with some danger, meeting the elves at Rivendell, adventure underground, and then another encounter with orcs at the end of the movie.
I get it that this sequence worked great in Fellowship of the Ring. So why does it seem that it was basically repeated in this first Hobbit movie? Hopefully we’ll have more variety in the next two Hobbit movies and not repeats of The Two Towers and Return of the King.
That’s pretty much my only complaint with The Hobbit. It’s a lengthy but still highly entertaining movie. I can see there being debate now as to which Middle-earth movie is better: An Unexpected Journey or Fellowship of the Ring.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) – movie trailer
After watching The Hobbit, I’m motivated to going back and re-reading the 1937 story by J. R. R. Tolkien. It’ll help pass the time as we wait a *year* (sigh!) for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Radagast the Brown – “A dark power has found its way back into the world.”
———————
NOTE – This article was originally posted on December 14, 2012. The images were added after the film was released on DVD.