par Killbush » Mer 28 Nov 2012, 19:03
La critique de Scalp en avant première
'The Hobbit' delivers only Halfling-sized thrills
Wellington, New Zealand, 28-Nov-2012
I write this review with great sadness and anger, having just left the premiere only an hour ago. Tolkien fans – prepare for a level of horrific disappointment that will make George Lucas’ ‘Phantom Menace’ seem like an Oscar contender!
First off, the much-vaunted ‘HFR 3D’. What a disaster! The poorly-applied makeup effects on the dwarves looked like something out of a primary school play. Instead of the film flowing more smoothly, the added frame rates only serve to amplify the pathetic production value of the sets. Jackson abandoned the ‘bigatures’ he used in Lord of the Rings, betting everything on this new technology. The set pieces look like something you might see on a recent Doctor Who episode, without the benefit of the quirky man from Gallifrey. It really appears as if a Form 5 student with an HD camera created this cinematic abortion as a project for his film class.
The acting was dismal. Martin Freeman deserves a Razzie for his wooden and stilted performance here. The dwarves prance and gibber like Monty Python-esque caricatures in a low budget remake of Time Bandits. It’s hard to blame the actors, however, when they have a script like this to work with. Every line is without nuance. It is as if each character is pretending they are Legolas from the Lord of the Rings - making continually obvious statements without a trace of heart.
At almost three hours, it’s a bloated, gargantuan mess. I counted three people actually asleep in the theater by the time Bilbo meets Gollum in the cave. To be honest, I was also nodding off a bit by that point. Howard Shore’s yawn-inducing score is beautiful, but only if you enjoy being soothed into a death-like state of transcendental meditation!
Jackson and crew phoned this thing in. Period. This was a pure money grab unlike anything I have seen in my lifetime (20-plus years) of cinema review work. It was not memorable or moving. He has taken Tolkien’s vibrant, lighthearted children’s tale and transformed it into some sort of lukewarm melodrama. I left the theater weeping openly, thinking only of the legions of innocent fans so full of hope for this dark nightmare.
I would not be surprised if they simply release the next two installments ‘direct to video’. The pending financial losses may well bankrupt New Line and Warner Brothers.
Condolences, Ring-fans, but this series has already sailed into the West.
Starting to see pictures, ain't ya?