Review: The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey (third-pass)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (3D / third-pass)
Cert: 12A / 169 mins / Dir. Peter Jackson

First-pass here / second-pass here.



Watching this again on the big screen (for an 8-hour triple-bill, no less), and knowing what's to come in The Desolation Of Smaug, it really hammers home how much this film drags its heels in telling a story. When the intensity's turned up, An Unexpected Journey is highly enjoyable, but there's too much broad humour and padding-out.

That said, I'd forgotten how much fun the first ten minutes of the film are, before things slide to the point where there's a musical number centered around doing the washing-up. And I swear to God that sometimes, Ian McKellen's and Richard Armitage's overacting reaches the point where you'd think Dab and Tench were playing the parts…

Best exchange:

"That's not a thunderstorm, that's three giant stone Megatrons, like from off of The Bible!"

"You're right! And they're smacking the crap out of each other with rocks, which would be a bit like naked men beating each other up with chunks of meat, when you think about it!"

"Yay! Not weird at all!"

More or less.



Well, about half and half to be honest, but the good half makes up for the bad one.



In the grand scheme of things, yes.



You're pretty much stuck with DVD/Blu-Ray now.



Nope.



I will, but not for some time.



There bloody well IS, yes.

So if The One Ring™ is meant to turn any wearer who's not cleaner-than-clean into some sort of super-intergalactic murdering bastard, how come all Gollum does with it is live at the arse-end of a cave in his pants?
Not exactly taking over the world, is he?

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