Blog #17 Beyond the Misty Mountains: Understanding the Criticism of The Hobbit Films

I rewatched The Hobbit Trilogy recently, I find them an easy and entertaining watch. I am surprised to see these days many fans turning on the movies and pouring hatred over the screen adaptations. I’ve noticed a few trends popping up among the key concerns and wanted to break them down and ask: what does this mean about fans’ expectations?

Let’s dive into The Hobbit trilogy, what I liked and why fans are turning on it.

What I liked:

First off, let me just say I really enjoy these films. They are not The Lord of the Rings trilogy, nor were they ever going to be. They are part of a more whimsical dive into Middle-Earth and the many Ages that unfolded there. I find the Hobbit films have a few elements that work really well: the music by Howard Shore, the locations (like Rivendell and Minas Morgul), the performances by talent like Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage, the cliffhangers that keep you watching and the pacing (these films flow like a smooth waterfall). These films are long but I didn’t take many breaks watching them because once I entered the world of Middle-Earth, I don’t lose interest until the credits rolled. That’s helped by the glowing locations, which are definitely a lot more “glowing“ than the Lord of the Rings trilogy - an obvious design choice done early in the colour-grading process.

The curse of the bloggers:

Naturally, with a film this size, there is going to be a lot of attention from the film reviewing community. This film got a lot of attention organically due to the cult following of the source material and the marketing behind the movie; not to mention the hoards of fans waiting for a decent epic-fantasy movie. So… the reviewers watched the films and were quite positive I would say, with one common exception in their reviews: the C.G.I. The C.G.I. on Azog the Pale Orc was not wholly convincing and has aged poorly. Peter Jackson and co. were insistent on pushing the limits of visual effects and with Azog, they went a step too far, relying heavily on C.G.I. that didn’t hold pace with the rest of the films. The reviewing community were quick to point this out and many fans were quick to jump on the bandwagon.

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." ― Marcus Aurelius

The ensuing backlash:

While the criticisms of the reviewers was more than fair, this small caveat turned into a snowball of hatred from the bitter side of the fantasy community, who slowly bashed the film until people were openly hating on the trilogy. This is a common phenomenon: fans respect the views of reviewers and take on their views as their own, so rather than watching the films themselves and enjoying them, the fans want to seek out the correct view and align themselves with the perceived correct point of view. The Hobbit trilogy is not the only victim to this phenomenon.

Are these films a fun watch? Yes. Perfect? Not quite.

Will people care? Hmm….

It seems to me that these days, it is important to be perceived in a certain light, rather than being judged based on the quality of the product. Had the Hobbit films taken out some of the more fun elements and inserted a dark and gritty tone, would the films have been better received? Who knows…

The source material

I, like most people, read The Hobbit book when I was very young and remember little of it. I don’t remember it going like the films though and therein lies another issue that some have with the trilogy. It strays from the source material.

I am a filmmaker and I believe a book can be told differently than a movie can be. They are both stories but the formatting is wildly different. A film has visual and audio elements in it, which means a film can tell stories in different ways than literature. I’m OK with that. Even though it’s one book, the layout of the trilogy works for me as a Tolkien fan. It does swerve from the source material but source material is just that… source material. It should be taken as inspiration to create a film out of. This controversy was just another way in which people performed cinematic indifference to.

So there, I’m outed now as a Hobbit fan, I hope that’s OK.

Poster for the final installment

Thanks for reading and if you’ve any comments, let me know down below.

Good luck out there.

-D.C.