This trailer fills me with misgivings for the final movie of Jacksons The Hobbit trilogy. I give him only a C for the first two movies, because unlike Gimli, most of his dwarves (especially Fili and Thorin) look not like dwarves, but like men - how tone deaf to Tolkiens descriptions! - and the endless chase scenes over hanging bridges inside Moria were childish and boring - like a kids video game from the early 1990s - an embarrassment because they were so unbelievable. But first, the trailer: First off is the clinker of a title; Tolkien called it The Battle of Five Armies, not The Battle of THE Five Armies; why in the world would Jackson think he could improve upon Tolkiens ringing phrase? Bad call. Next is the inappropriate use of Pippins despairing dirge from The Return of the King in this trailer. Why strain so hard for a LOTR reference after two Hobbit movies, and play the song so out of context? The preparation for battle shown here should have a fierce joy, like that of the Nordic peoples upon whose mythos Tolkiens entire body of work is based. Who do you suppose invented dwarves, elves, and magic rings in the first place? Do you believe for even a moment that the Vikings didnt sing as they drove their ships toward English shores, toward battle and gold? Jackson should have introduced a new, powerful Dwarf war song from Middle Earth in this trailer, a stirring call to battle to the marching rhythm of iron-shod boots. He certainly has the budget. Tolkiens work is filled with references to song, especially from the Elves. Jackson has dropped the ball on this aspect of his source material, and over five movies, Id say its been a disappointing oversight, barely redeemed by the two songs sung early in the first Hobbit movie. A couple other bones I have to pick with Jackson - the fate of the dwarves after Smaug took Erebor was, according to Jackson (not Tolkien) to wander, homeless, making childrens wooden toys for a living. The obvious question is why didnt they go to the Iron Hills, a scant march from Erebor, where Thorins cousin Dain has a dwarf kingdom? In larger terms, were there really no other dwarf kingdoms in Middle Earth for Thorins people to flee to? The short answer is that there must be, based on the distribution of the Rings of Power. While men, who are numerous, received nine rings, and the far less common elves only three, the dwarves themselves received seven. This suggests that they are rather numerous, certainly moreso than the elves who, after all, had at least four known realms at the time (Rivendell, Lothlorien, the Greenwood, and the Grey Havens.) The final bone - Tauriel the Elf warrior-maid, many hundreds of years old, falls head over heels in love with Fili, a dwarf boy. Only once before Arwen had an elf-maid loved outside her own species, so it appears entirely out of character for this ancient lady to react like a teenager to Fili, who should be no more than a lumpy, coarse foreign child to her. Elf women can go a thousand years between children, so its obvious that they are not ruled by their passions! This entire unlikely affair is driven solely by Jacksons need to intrude a woman somehow into Tolkiens sausage fest of a book. Oh, one encore bone - think of it as a bonus bone: the often-quoted Gandalf quote that Tolkien never wrote - “Saruman believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I have found it is the small things everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love.” I find this Jackson line unworthy of being put in Gandalfs mouth, both because it is trite, but also because it felt wrong in the scene, and even Ian McKellen sounded unconvinced as he mouthed the words. He knew Gandalf would never interrupt a debate about stopping orc armies by mouthing platitudes from a Hallmark card. Jackson was less wise. However, despite my misgivings about Jacksons occasional mangling of Tolkien in The Hobbit, I plan to steel myself, don my cloak, and arrive early when this movie gets to the theatres.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 04:09:40 +0000
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