That My Lad Was... A Dragon

The new The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug trailer has at last arrived, enjoy!

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Review

So there I sat, a happy little hobbit waiting for a film I'd always wanted to see, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey though the reality is this isn't an unexpected review!

*Warning the following review has minor rants and contains spoilers*

The film starts well with Ian Holm reprising his role as the original Bilbo Baggins alongside Elijah Wood playing Frodo in what is a nice little prologue piece linking the movie to the past Lord of the Rings trilogy via Bilbo's memoirs.

Then more back story follows regarding the Dwarven kingdoms of Erebor before Gandalf presents himself at Bag End and invites the new Bilbo (Martin Freeman) 'On an adventure'. So far, so good and it gets better when the dwarves 'come-a-knockin' at the shy hobbit's round door. The atmosphere is infectious, the dwarves are brimming with character and a couple of songs add to the proceedings and light heartedness. Peter Jackson's script writers have also injected some humour in there which works well and has the audience laughing along.

Bone of contention #1

I'm surprised that despite his eye for detail Jackson fails to explain how Gandalf and Thorin have actually met, to omit something like that didn't sit well with me. They both actually meet at the Prancing Pony in Bree before the main story begins and travel together to the Shire, both discovering mutual goals. It would have been so easy for Jackson to have inserted a brief scene of them meeting in Bree to explain things but no, you're left to work that one out for yourself.

Proceedings move swiftly on to the dwarven mission and off we trot seemingly with little deliberation for Bilbo except for a few moments of silence when he gazes around his empty hobbit hole but this is only a small gripe on my part.

Bilbo soon sets off and we are out of the Shire, which leaves me wondering why Jackson rebuilt the entire Hobbiton village again, because we see little of it, if at all, unless we see more in a future film.

So, onto the road we go, some more back story on Thorin from the excellent Ken Stott who plays the aged dwarven veteran 'Balin'. We were promised more of Middle Earth and I felt Jackson could have done a CGI Bree in the distance for a fleeting scene before the party enter the Lonelands. Suddenly its into the Trollshaws and the Trolls. 

Bone of contention #2

Balin mentions more of the back story of Thorin and the battle of Azanulbizar in which Thorin was wounded after fighting Azog (allegedly) but gains his name from using an oak branch as a shield. The film distorts this beyond belief. Page 1410, Appendix A, states that Thorin was wounded in the battle along with Thrain and there's a footnote to Thorin getting his name from the oaken branch but that's as far as it goes for Thorin in the battle, he's only a young dwarf then after all. Azog the orc is actually slain in this battle by a young Dain Ironfoot after Azog slays Nain his father. Dain despite his young years slays Azog and beheads him, he's shaken by it all but goes onto greater things, but the battle is won even though the dwarven loses are grievous (Return of the King, page 1411 appendix A). Despite all this in the movie Azog is alive and well and hungry for more despite having had his head hewn off and thrust on a stake in the book. So the stage is now set in the movie for Azog to be Thorins nemesis and for a purist like me its unforgivable. It will be interesting to see how they portray Billy Connelly who plays Dain in a later film but any credit of him killing Azog has been stolen from him by the meddling Jackson.

Moving on, we meet the wizard Radagast the Brown who is played very adeptly by Sylvester McCoy and isn't as irritating as earlier reports suggested, however...

Bone of contention #3

How does Radagast move so quickly from Rhosgobel in Mirkwood over the Misty Mountains and bump into the company? Its a good old trek and bumping into the company by chance? I think not, there's fate and good luck but come on! I'm not against Radagast's appearance in the film but in the books he barely gets a line or two and the movie embellishes his role above and beyond its need.

So the trolls dealt with we have Azog in hot pursuit and suddenly the terrain changes from woodland to barren hills in the blink of an eye, the company descend into the safety of Rivendell and we get more story distortions on the council of the wise meeting etc, though it seems to work ok.

Thorin isn't a happy dwarf and heads off as he's working against the clock mission wise. So off the party head again and set about traversing the Misty Mountains. Not a wise move but the interlude where the giants enter is vastly over emphasised and adds nothing to the movie, its not a bone of contention I just didn't see the point in mountains moving and theatrics. The party take shelter, Bilbo isn't happy and then the goblins capture all but Bilbo.

Andy Serkis returns as Gollum, steals the show again and the riddle scene is faithfully recreated. The we get Gandalf returning to rescue the dwarves and like the mountain scene an overstated scene of escape in which rickety wooden platforms and rope bridges look more like a Keystone cops caper than able dwarves escaping, it doesn't feel right at all, though Barry Humpries works well as the Goblin king and there's some chuckles in there.

Bilbo having unwittingly discovered the one ring realises that it makes him invisible and makes his escape from the now maniacal Gollum and rejoins the dwarves. Though...

Bone of contention #4

Bilbo having gave Gollum the slip actually escapes from goblins and rejoins the dwarves, The Hobbit, Riddles in the Dark pages 85-86 but this is a minor moan really.

So on escaping Azog once again gives pursuit to our unlucky band having had a seemingly easier journey thus far. The dwarves get trapped up trees just like in the book but...

Bone of contention #5

Azog and Thorin bump heads and get it on and Bilbo joins in the battle with the rest of the dwarves before they are all rescued by the eagles. They do get rescued by the eagles in the book but the skirmish never actually occurs and of course Azog shouldn't even be there!

So, that really concludes the film and I guess if you're reading this that I didn't really enjoy it. On the contrary I did but I can't abide Jacksons meddling when it isn't necessary at all, the book provides plenty of material and so do later appendices and references. On a more positive note, when the closing credits came down my friend Dominic turned to me and said 'It feels like we've never been away'. He was right, it didn't, the one good thing despite new technological innovations is Middle Earth still feels familiar and that's a boon for the viewer and casual Tolkien fan. New Zealand does capture the feel of Middle Earth well but I can't help musing what if some bits had actually been filmed here in England, it would have been nice. 

Despite the bending of the original story the film works well enough, the actors hold the film up well, Ian McKellen being especially excellent as a returning Gandalf. Freeman is a revelation as Bilbo and fits the role fantastically and the actors playing the dwarves are all very commendable too, though some get more lines than others, of course this may change. I really liked Ken Stott playing the elder Dwarf Balin. The film is a little protracted but I never really felt bored as the pace moves along fairly well with the odd pause, Rivendell being the main one.

In all honesty it felt good to be back in Middle Earth, I suspect greater things will come (well I hope so) in later films and the characters will grow even more. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey isn't an epic but its not shabby either, Peter Jackson has taken many liberties with it and some of it works and for purists like me some is just downright wrong. I can't judge a whole trilogy on one film but it isn't a bad start all said and done but its nothing earth shattering either.

I can't help wondering what another director would do with it all but I guess that will never happen in my time. If I had to rate it out of 10, then I'd give it a solid 7 but I can't help feeling a little disenchanted by Jacksons meddling. I'll go see it again in 48 frames per second I suspect. The soundtrack is also noteworthy and like the LoTR's trilogy compliments things well.

So, to end with, not a bad movie experience by any means, I'd recommend it and I'd see it again but I think it'll be better to judge it as a trilogy than a one off film at the end of the day.

The Final Countdown

The tickets are purchased and now the waiting and anticipation begins, I'm talking about The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Soon the magical story from my childhood will grace the big screen and the characters from the book will spring to life as imagined by director Peter Jackson and Co. Whilst I am excited, I am also feeling tentative because being something of a Tolkien purist I want it to look and feel right whilst keeping to the original story. 

The reviews and feedback so far vary widely. Much is being debated from technical merits to the length of the film and opinion does seem divided though it does lean towards favourable. I always expected it to get some flak, after all Peter Jackson isn't everyone's cup of tea. Of course I'll have to wait until I see it for myself, and indeed I did have issues with the Lord of the Rings trilogy which I felt had genuine moments of cinematic greatness to dull and protracted interludes that added nothing to the story. The bottom line with books that become films is that they are adapted to suit the masses.

I'm looking forward to this movie, it feels very much like the movie(s) that I've always wanted and waited and now its all reality. Bilbo Baggins maybe an unlikely hero but he's always been my hero and now he's leaping from the pages of the book onto the screen. 

As I've mentioned before in past blogs, I read The Hobbit and then read the Lord of the Rings whilst on holiday in Yorkshire aged around 14. I remember being sat outside the farmhouse we stayed in steadily reading through the book, gazing at the maps and daydreaming about Middle Earth. There were always parts I never really understood and re-read but as I absorbed the pages I was flanked by the shimmering sea to my left and rolling wooded hills to my right. I would often stop reading and imagine characters from the books walking through the beautiful countryside around me. So whatever happens with the upcoming movies I will still have the books and the memories regardless.

So the countdown until Thursday and the movie begins. I expect my excitement will steadily mount and hopefully I will be able to do some kind of review come the end of this week.

Martin Freeman is Bilbo Baggins and he's going on an adventure!

......

Tolkien Week #4

So today is where it all began 75 years ago with the publication of The Hobbit. As Tolkien would say 'The road goes ever on' and indeed it does with the forthcoming The Hobbit movie. Below, to celebrate the book are a selection of Hobbit covers past, present and foreign.

Tolkien Week #1

So Tolkien Week begins worldwide. It's seventy five years since the fantasy novel 'The Hobbit' was first published. The American Tolkien society first proclaimed Hobbit Day and Tolkien Week back in 1978 and it's been going over since, getting quite a bit of recognition by all accounts. Hobbit Day falls on the 22nd September and for those of you who haven't read the Lord of the Rings it's the joint birthday of hobbits called Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

I first fell in love with Tolkien's works back in the early 80s. How or why I came by the book titled The Hobbit is lost to memory now. I do know I found it in the school library aged around 14, of that much I am certain, whether I stumbled upon it or someone suggested it remains clouded in the folds of time.

Back then I wasn't the most academic of students but I read The Hobbit pretty voraciously being enthralled by the fantasy world Tolkien had created containing hobbits, dwarves, trolls, elven kings and mighty dragons. It awakened something inside me that stimulated me to read more and develop an interest in writing. My English went from strength to strength and I do recall coming top of my English class that year with my exam result. My English teacher was a lovely man and he encouraged me immensely though I was just at the beginning of a very long journey.

Next I read the Lord of the Rings. I remember taking all three volumes on a family holiday. We stayed in a farmhouse in the rural village of Scalby in North Yorkshire overlooking the coastal town of Scarborough. Every spare chance available I busily read through the many chapters. I can remember long walks with my dad, uncle and cousin Ben through forests and over hills and they were the perfect compliment to Tolkiens world and imagining it. Though I can't recall every detail of that holiday thirty years ago I can remember a good deal and it seemed magical.

Here I am all those years later, still reading, still writing and still in love as much as ever with Tolkien's books.

J.R.R. Tolkien I sincerely thank you !

.....

Hitchens

It is with profound sadness that I write this blog. Christopher Hitchens, one of the greatest minds of our time has passed away only hours ago in Texas of pneumonia brought on by his fight with cancer, he was 62.

I'm sat staring at my monitor wondering how I can do this great man any justice with what I now write, he after all was a man of words, a remarkable journalist, author and orator, a man as someone frankly quoted today that 'dared to stand alone'.

Only this week I was watching him on YouTube in debates, such was my interest in what he had to say, especially on the evils of organised religion. Hitchens was a shining light of reason in a world that is increasingly blinded by faith. To me he was a champion, a man of acerbic wit, stalwart debater and a great modern day thinker.

Here are some of the current Twitter tributes;

Richard Dawkins, scientist and author wrote 'Christopher Hitchens, finest orator of our time, fellow horseman, valiant fighter against all tyrants including God.'

Author and friend Salman Rushdie tweeted 'Goodbye, my beloved friend. A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops.'

Actor, author and friend Stephen Fry said 'You were envied, feared, adored, reviled and loved. Never ignored. Never bested. A great and marvellous man.'

Dennis McShane MP and friend wrote 'He could throw words up into the sky, they fell down in a marvellous pattern.'

Friends and journalist colleagues have done tributes on the New Yorker and Vanity Fair websites.

Christopher Hitchens through his books has inspired me to write and speak out against organised religion, his literary style, his pitch and prose and his words of reasoning and pragmatism will ever resound within me. Reading his books and watching him orate have often given me the strength of will to write with my own convictions against what I perceive to be wrong and how I see the world.

I've had to write some difficult emotional blogs in the past, and this rates up there with them, such was his influence in my thinking. He was a maverick, a freethinker and a man that feared nothing, not even cancer. He among others raised the banner of freethinking, he was a great champion of it and I will go on fighting for that cause with the same passion Hitchens had.

Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011

“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.”

And click 'here' for a fantastic little resume of the great man the BBC news site added later.

Articles in today's The Independent news paper can 'here' and 'here'

The Hobbit Movie Titles Announced

The titles and dates for the new Hobbit movies (yes, plural... movies) has been announced today. I've know for a while that Peter Jackson had planned to make the book into two movies though I am not really sure why, the Guardian it seems, thinks the same. The Hobbit book isn't a long read, I would say it can be covered by an adult reader steadily in an afternoon and reading it to a child as an ideal bedtime story you could comfortably do it in a week.

The Hobbit 'An Unexpected Journey' is slated for December 2012 whilst the second movie is called 'There And Back Again' and is set to follow the twelve months later. Both films are being shot back to back right now.

My concern for the new movies as with the Lord of the Rings trilogy is not the amount of time they run for but the content they contain. I do love the Rings trilogy but I feel in my heart that Peter Jackson omitted content he should really have put in. There's no Tom Bombadil or Barrow Downs for a start and crucially one of the last chapters of the books 'The Scouring of the Shire' is left out. Instead we get a lot of boring stuff about the Elves that don't really add anything to the films. The whole point of the 'Scouring of the Shire' chapter is that the four hobbits finally come of age and after all their adventures have to deal with a very big problem (Saruman) at the end without any help at all from the fellowship. It very much illustrates at the book closure what compassion, bravery and capabilities hobbits are capable of and is a fitting end to their tale.

There's shortcuts and liberties taken within the three films, things that don't happen added to it and vice versa and whilst I can see why Jackson has done it on occasions on others it just doesn't sit well with me. I guess Jackson has to make movies that will appeal to the masses and to his credit he's done a marvellous job of making the whole Tolkien world of Middle Earth come to life and be seen by the world.

The reality is, I hold the Hobbit as a very special book indeed. I read it first aged about fourteen when I wasn't doing too well at school with little interest in anything academic at all. I think someone recommended it or I stumbled on it in the school library, I can't really recall but what I can remember is the book introduced me to a love or reading and creative writing ever since. I devoured the book pretty quick and moved onto the Lord of the Rings which I took on holiday to Scarborough and read it in rustic surroundings on a farm holiday home a few miles away in the hills overlooking the coast. The surrounding valley's, woods and distant sea views of the area inspired me to absorb the trilogy and imagine the amazing adventures within its many pages.

So, I guess I am hoping for many things from the hobbit movies mainly because it's a booked etched in my mind from childhood to this present day, it is also a book I hold dear.

On the positive side Peter Jackson has assembled a great cast, Martin Freeman will make a great Bilbo Baggins and Richard Armitage I'm sure, will make a dour yet purposeful Thorin Oakenshield. Andy Serkis returns as Gollum, the enigmatic Hugo Weaving is back as Elrond and of course it would never ever be complete without the amazing Ian McKellen as Gandalf. Some other actors are reprising roles from the trilogy, it's recently been confirmed Orlando Bloom is back as the elf lord Thranduil's son 'Legolas'. It's these reprisal roles that do concern me and I'm sure Jackson will add in many backstory appendices from the Rings trilogy (Dwarven and Orc wars etc) that apply to the Hobbit book, I just hope he doesn't go too far with things in this respect but something inside tells me they will be epic movies and to be fair Peter Jackson does seem very passionate about what he does. If I ever wanted to be in a movie with my real life hobbit stature it would have been as an extra in this one, alas the modelling thing last year never really came to fruition and I heard nothing from the agency, all I can hope now is that my favourite book becomes reality on the big screen and brings my childhood wonderment to life.

Martin Freeman (above) surely is the perfect casting for Bilbo Baggins

Waterstones

I love books. Nothing beats a good book and whilst commuting to Nottingham and back this year a book of some description has been my constant companion. Often when I get chance I pop into Waterstones where ever I may be - I grab it, to peruse books which usually ends in me succumbing to temptation and buying one. This week whilst in Nottingham I had 30 mins to spare between going from one place to another so dropped into Waterstones.

I've had a mind for a while to read Lord of the Rings again, in the past I only ever got it from the library, read it and then returned it. I thought it would be good to have the three volumes for myself in some kind of hardback format as I know in the future I'll read them again or use them for reference. Ironically I did spy a nice set of them bound in a leather case in a local bookshop some months ago but when I got around to returning the bookshop had sadly closed.

So into Waterstones I went and found some lovely 50th anniversary hard backed ones with the covers made up of illustrations drawn by Tolkien himself. To my horror they only had the 2nd and 3rd volume. I searched in vain before asking an assistant. He checked the stores computer and then turned to me and said 'Sorry but we sold the last Fellowship of the Ring (1st volume) last September'. I stood and blinked and thought why haven't they bothered to re-stock it? It's not like it's an obscure book!? The chances of the other two volumes in the same range are surely unlikely to sell, so why have them out on the shelves?

I'm not angry at Waterstones (well maybe a bit) but surely in these days of technology stock should be better monitored?

You Can't Beat The Book

E-Readers, E-Books and digital books seem to be the nouveau gadget on the shelves at the moment. My friend Gary bought one when he was over from Hong Kong at Christmas. The question that hung in my mind was; are these new digital slabs that can contain hundreds of books going to replace real books, just like digital cameras largely (but not completely) replaced film based cameras for the consumer?

Personally I don't think you can beat a good old fashioned book, the smell, the well worn covers of it being read many times and the aged brown tinged worn pages. A book has so much character and nothing looks better than a myriad of book spines on a shelf. Imagine a world where there were no books, just an E-reader sat alone on a shelf - How sterile that would be?

As I gather, much of the wood used for books, newspapers and such like comes from sustainable forestry these days or is at least moving that way.

Don't get me wrong, I love my gadgets but at the end of the day but you can only read one book at a time, or if you are studying you are only going to take the relevant books with you to college or Uni.

I have several reservations about e-readers. You could spend ages putting a book collection on one, only to drop it or have an accident with it and lose the lot, you drop a book and all you need to do is simply pick it up again - unbroken. Society is ever leaning towards recycling and being more minimal but I seriously don't think e-readers will catch on, unattractive coloured slabs that strain your eyes and when the battery runs out, you have to stop reading!

They might find a niche market but for me, I love to fawn over a book, paw gently at the pages, delight in illustrations, photos and maps. Books are special, you come into contact with them as a child and new worlds of fact and fiction open up. Then of course books become a constant throughout your life. I remember when I was about 13 or 14 reading the Lord of the Rings whilst on holiday with my family in a farm house over looking the sea near Scarborough. The farmhouse was nestled beside woodland and sat at the bottom of some rolling hills, the setting was as magical as the book and in my young imagination the environment and the book became one. I spent much of the week reading in seclusion or walking with my dad among the amazing countryside, imagining the adventures of the characters in the book.

It's funny how you treat favourite or special books with reverence, gently turning the pages and caressing the covers.

I'm not a Luddite, I love my technology but I love my books too, I'm sure much of what I have read makes me the person I am today. You can't beat the book!