(SPOILER ALERT)
I saw The Hobbit last week, and I just had a few thoughts.
The Hobbit is an interesting story, because the main characters are not driven by a noble quest to save the world against evil. The dwarves are attempting to regain their kingdom, as they are scattered. However, the ideas of evil and greed within themselves seem to always reemerge, especially in this second film.
The one scene I keep thinking of is when Bilbo kills a newborn spider because the ring has influenced him and he believes the spider is trying to take the ring from him. Bilbo is never a lovable character in the way Frodo is, which in retrospect is very interesting. Even in his actions while Smaug is awoken, he never seems overly courageous or brave. Only when Balin comments on how courageous Bilbo is to go in to the lost kingdom did I think of it. Mostly, he just seems to have been thrown in to this adventure. The first movie does a better part in making the audience like his character. This film was more about the other characters, such as Thorin, Kili, Bard, Tauriel, Legolas, and Thranduil. Which is not bad, just interesting.
One of the main things I thought about this film was that the love triangle between Tauriel, Legolas, and Kili was absolutely unnecessary. The romance between Tauriel and Kili would have been so interesting without Legolas butting in, since it made no difference in the end. A relationship between an elf and a dwarf is controversial (in the story universe) enough, and if you know anything about Lord of the Rings, you would know that. However, I suppose they put in the love triangle for those who don't know that, to give it a slight flare of drama. Whatever.
The film wanted to make it seem like it was a tough decision near the end, where Tauriel has to choose between saving Kili's life or going with Legolas to kill the orcs, but it didn't seem like a tough decision. Tauriel never seems to have any sort of romantic intentions relating to Legolas whatsoever (which is why Thranduil's warning of her giving Legolas hope where there is none was odd), whereas she has a nice something budding with Kili. I wish they had just completely left out Legolas being mildly weird, somewhat possessive, and creepily lurking in the shadows while Tauriel talked with Kili in the cell. That way, Tauriel could have a cute little thing with Kili, romantic or friendship, and could have continued being a badass. With the love triangle, her character is reduced to her romantic intentions with Kili versus Legolas. It doesn't do her justice.
Also, the gold bit at the end was kind of weird and unnecessary, since it didn't actually work. Screen time!
On another, though not completely different note, I re-watched all three Lord Of The Rings films with the boy while he was visiting this week, and it made me realize how AWFUL the Hobbit movies are! From the pacing to the costuming to the basic interest of the story, everything about Lord Of The Rings is a yes, and almost everything about the Hobbit is a big fat NO in my book. The only thing that slightly redeems The Hobbit films in my eyes is the reasonably good acting. However, while watching the Lord Of The Rings, I kept spotting or coming up with new reasons why they're ten times better films.
I wish they had just filmed one Hobbit movie and left it at that. It didn't deserve the screen time it got, especially since it's mostly wasted.
xxTanya
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