I love Middle-Earth, but…
It’s no secret that Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit has taken a lot of flak. Since the release of An Unexpected Journey in 2012, there has been a lot of controversy about why the film trilogy turned out the way that it did. While some might blame New Line Cinema for trying to stretch one book into three movies, there are many different aspects of the writing that cast a shadow over the film series and made it fall short of The Lord of the Rings.
Now that there has been some distance between the release of the movies and the present day, here are the five most important ones.
1. Tauriel Wasn’t A Bad Idea. The Love Story Was.
Who knew that emotion could be completely unearned?
Tolkien purists had a problem with more than a few of the revisions in Jackson’s adaptations, but the addition of Tauriel is perhaps the most controversial. While some might criticize the very concept, I had no problem with it because it kind of lived up to the spirit of characters like Eowyn and Arwen. The trouble is that the “love story” that she found herself in with Kili was so poorly written that it would make anyone’s eyes roll so hard that they could see their skulls.
But why is that?
I think the principal issue is that we never got a sense of these characters and how they developed feelings for one another. In a sense, the production staff tried to copy some of the Aragorn and Arwen romance from the original three films. However, they missed the point of what made that experience so special. Right from the moment that Liv Tyler stepped on screen, any viewer would get the sense that she and Aragorn knew each other for years, if not decades. Even after the Fellowship left on their hellish quest, Arwen continued to look after her love, but she also grappled with the idea that she would actually have to die to be with him.
Tauriel and Kili’s character development amounted to nothing more than a joke about Kili’s junk, some concern after he was stabbed, and crying after his inevitable death because her feelings were real. They were so very real.
Ugh.
2. Thirteen Almost Indistinguishable Dwarves.
Who the what now?
One thing that separates the two Tolkien trilogies is how The Hobbit struggles to separate its’ main characters from one another. And to prove that, how many dwarves can one name in the story without looking at the source material or the movie?
Off of the top of my head, there’s Thorin, Kili, Balin, and Gloin.
As for the Fellowship that we all know, there’s Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir.
How is it that one group can be entirely memorable, but the other can’t? A part of it stems from the fact that the characters in the Fellowship of the Ring each have distinct personalities and character traits. The writing gave us a sense of their courage and resolve, but also their doubts and worries. And since we were able to sit with them through an apocalyptic war, it allowed us the chance to see what each of them are made of.
The same cannot be said of Thorin’s company in the slightest. If we cannot remember who they are, how can we remember their hopes and dreams? It’s not possible.
3. Dragon Sickness.
Remember, kids. Money makes you evil.
One of the biggest wastes of screen time in The Hobbit trilogy arguably came during The Battle of the Five Armies. As you can probably guess from the title, five armies converge on the Lonely Mountain to claim the gold inside for themselves. However, Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) had somehow tainted the gold with a curse before he was slain. This had the unfortunate side effect of turning Thorin from a well-meaning dwarf into a bitter asshat…
…until he just decides he’s not sick anymore and joins the fight outside.
This is arguably one of the biggest cuts that could have been made to that movie. It didn’t need to be there and had no profound effect on the character of Thorin. Therefore, why would the writers even bother other than to pad out the run-time of a bloated movie?
By the way, that’s not the only useless part of the trilogy.
4. Unnecessary Songs.
GET ON THE ROAD!
Even at the start of An Unexpected Journey, there are several useless scenes that do not help in any way to shape the narrative. The most glaring example is when Thorin and the gang break into song in Bag End. I get that Jackson and the team wanted to add some history and culture to the story, but they forgot that film is a visual and action-oriented medium.
Segments like this added nothing to the film that couldn’t be explained on the road. Speaking of which, they needed to get on it by this point in the film!
5. Gandalf Knows That Bilbo Has A Magic Ring.
If Sauron is right there, we should start looking, right? Nah!
Lastly, we come to a plot hole so glaring that it arguably threatens the fabric of the movie universe. At the end of The Battle of the Five Armies, Gandalf and Bilbo return to the Shire and remark on their adventure for a little while. And then, Gandalf drops a bombshell. He knows that Bilbo has a magic ring in his possession that helped him out on their journey. To make matters worse, the wizard says this after he found out that Sauron is still alive!
I want people to imagine something for a moment. What if Gandalf investigated Bilbo and discovered that he was carrying the One Ring? Well, that would mean that events of The Lord of the Rings would have never happened. However, the story has to happen because three movies were already made.
So naturally, Gandalf and his wizard friends forget about everything, allowing Sauron to build up an army and murder who knows how many people.
How amazingly competent of them.
It’s obvious that you never read the books. Aside from Tauriel and Kili’s ridiculous love story. Every other event you criticised was very much in the books. Including your so called “plot hole” Gandalf states there are many magic rings in the world. None of which ahould be used lightly. At the very end of the third hobbit and beginning of the fellowship of the ring. meaning with lots of magic rings floating around, assuming bilbo just happens to have the most powerful one would be a little excessive. He also figures it out fairly quickly in fellowship after doing research on it. Meaning he is not all knowing, he just knew he had a ring. Now granted the first hobbit did drag on forever beforw they evean began their journey. It also did so in the books. The Hobbit book is also divided into three sections. Named just as the films were.