The teaser for The Desolation of Smaug was released yesterday (see previous post), and Geekdom has exploded. Long range telescopes confirm two chocobos, three vintage Star Wars posters, a pack of tribbles, and David Tennant’s right shoe to have passed Saturn, carried by the blast. For those of us still Earth-bound, the Great Debate has begun. There are a number of controversial elements in the trailer, and more than a few shots bound to cause mad fangirl flailing.
Let’s start with the flailing. So. Barrels. Dwarves in barrels. Happy bouncing barrels bobbing down the river. Apart from Gandalf’s introduction, this has always been my favorite part of the story. White water rafting – Tolkien style! It doesn’t look like they’re trying to stay incredibly close to the story, so the barrels are all open, but it still makes me happy. And this brings me to my next point.
The danger zone. Two things about the trailer worry me. First, one of my biggest complaints about the first film was the rampant use of CGI to add unnecessary flare and/or do things that were at least partially REAL in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. If you watch the brief opening credits, then I’m sure you’ve realized that The Hobbit has quite a few more backers than Rings, and these backers contributed no small amount of extra cash. I just watched a vlog about why it’s important for DC comics fans to see Man of Steel (Will’s War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wX-HPXY2jQ), and one of the key reasons for fans to support ANOTHER Superman film was to foster a healthy level of competition with Marvel. Why? Because we want to keep Joss Whedon on his toes. Nothing spoils a script like an entitled sense of security. “The fan base is built. I am now free to play, because everyone’s going to see this film, even if I make the Black Widow wear a pink bunny suit.”
“I am Loki, and I am burdened with glorious wads of cash.”
As fans, this is bad news, because this is when writers skip the all-too important second step in writing – revision. It’s easy money, and no one’s pressuring anyone to go above and beyond the call of duty. No one intentionally ruins a film (we hope), but sometimes studios, writers, producers, directors, and even actors need that competitive push, that shadow of doubt, to really rock the socks off an audience.
It seems that there isn’t enough competition for fantasy film these days. Honestly, Hobbit’s biggest competition is Game of Thrones, which is a) a television series, and b) targets a much narrower audience (if you let small children watch the unedited HBO series with you, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you’re a very – er – progressive sort of parent). Paired with the fact that Lord of the Rings was such a sweeping success, everyone who was working on the movie went in knowing it was going to do well. There was no doubt. There was very little competition. I know a lot of fans were not happy with the first Hobbit film, and even though I was willing to roll with the punches the first time around, I’m worried that Peter Jackson is drifting farther and farther away from the heart of the story. LOTR didn’t always follow the usual movie guidelines. Each movie was about three hours long. The extended versions (*love*) were even longer. And while we can all sit back and enjoy these magically gory memories of Helm’s Deep and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the fact is, there were a lot of “slow” points in the films, which weren’t boring, but certainly weren’t action scenes. The story was still there, and the story was still good, and the fact that the films were instant classics proves we were all okay with the pace. The Hobbit doesn’t seem to be following in its sequel’s footsteps. Things are faster, and sometimes it feels like the filmmakers are trying to pack too much into too little time. It also feels like Jackson is bowing to the pressures of ‘typical’ Hollywood demands, though it’s impossible to tell what’s in another person’s mind, so this is all maybe what he always wanted to do with The Hobbit. Personally, I think there are too many cooks in the kitchen, and too much money to fling around with too few consequences. I miss orcs with prosthetics and only a little CGI touch up. In LOTR, I could usually tell when something was CGI, but it still looked good, it still moved like a real thing, and I had no problem suspending any and all disbelief. The shots in this new trailer of the Mirkwood elves sliding around is so obviously CGI it’s almost painful. I saw someone ask in a comment on Facebook if Legolas was done entirely in CGI. It’s that bad. I’m sorry, but it is. There’s also the issue of all the extra action hinted at in the trailer (an attack at Beorn’s hall, for example). And I’m not sure what to make of Peter Jackson’s little elf maiden sidekick. He’s done this before – with Arwen – but I’m willing to suspend judgment until I’ve seen more of her. I can’t judge the portrayal of a character I’ve never met.
With my fears out of the way – I would like to wrap up with a positive note. Two, in fact. First off, James Nesbitt is back, and I think I’d watch him even if he was in a toothpaste documentary. Secondly – SMAUG! Not at all, what I was expecting, and incredibly exciting. He doesn’t have the long narrow face I’ve always associated with Smaug, but I am always open to new interpretations of an old monster. And, you know, Sherlock is Smaug. And Watson is the hobbit. My life is complete.
