The Lord of the Rings films are some of my favourites of all time. Last year I had the fortune of seeing them all back to back at the IMAX theatre at the London British Film Institute, and what I felt while watching them bordered on euphoria.
When I first saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, I loved it. I’d have given anything to immerse myself in that universe one more time. I thought The Desolation of Smaug was even better. However, when I saw Battle of the Five Armies, I hated it. So much so that it really made me question my opinion of the others. I realised more and more that my own infatuation with the universe was blinding me from heaps of issues.
Video reviewer Chris Stuckmann coined the phrase “Phantom Menacing” to describe a film that you’re so excited for that when you see it, you’re blind to all of its flaws. It took years, but I realised I was experiencing this very effect. Obviously the phrase derives its name from the first Star Wars prequel, a film that, upon release, wasn’t panned as harshly as it is today.
Now I want to start by saying that I don’t think The Hobbit films are quite as terrible as the Star Wars prequels. My point here is to show you how the shortcomings of The Hobbit films mirror those of the prequels to such an alarming degree that you’ll wonder how on (Middle) Earth the same mistakes were repeated.
Let’s begin with one of the most glaring issues that fans have been hungry to point out since the beginning.
#5 – Practical Special Effects vs CGI
The original Star Wars films were bound by the technology of the time to use practical effects. Every ship is actually a model filmed in front of a blue screen. All the lasers and lightsabers were painstakingly rotoscoped (hand drawn onto the original film). Hell, even the famous opening crawl was actually printed on a plate and filmed:
The Lord of the Rings took a similar approach. They filmed on location in the beautiful and diverse environments of New Zealand whenever possible, built entire sets (sometimes twice, in two sizes), and made miniatures of the fantastical cities and buildings. Every close-up you see of an Orc, Elf, or Uruk-hai is a person in make-up.
I don’t need to go on about the overreliance on CGI in the Star Wars prequels. They built barely any real sets, instead relying on shoddy blue screen environments that didn’t even look great at the time, and created whole characters and armies using CGI, immediately dating the films.
The same is true in The Hobbit. Sure, the backdrops look a lot flashier but give it a few years and they’ll stand out as phony. One of the main problems is how The Hobbit uses lazier, digital effects to create the same illusions that LotR did using clever set design and camerawork. For example, LotR famously used effects like forced perspective and doubles to trick us into thinking certain characters are radically different sizes, like in Gandalf’s first scene in The Shire:
However, in The Hobbit, the scenes were shot separately then digitally scaled and put together. You see how it doesn’t really look like Bilbo and Gandalf are actually stood talking to each other? That’s because they aren’t. Watch the clip and see for yourself:
It detracts from the immersion in scenes like that because we’re aware that the actors aren’t actually interacting with each other, or with anyone at all, like in this prequel nonsense:
See how Obi-Wan doesn’t even react to the four deadly lightsabers spinning in his face? That’s because Ewan McGregor has nothing to react to. Our immersion is broken at times like this. It also breaks due to the physics-defying nature of CGI-rendered objects.
In Star Wars – the Stormtroopers feel like real soldiers doing battle, just as in LotR all the close-ups of the action involve actors in makeup and real stunts. The prequels have hordes of CGI clone troopers going against hordes of CGI droids. We’re less invested in the latter case because we don’t believe our characters are actually being threatened.
Similarly, The Hobbit shakes away the magic of LotR to bring you battle sequences where endless waves of cartoons assault our heroes, and at no stage do we feel like they’re ever really in danger. Why? Because of shit like this:
Hmm. Kind of reminds me of something…
So you see the problem here is twofold. First, the newer films look the most dated. But more importantly the reliance on CGI prevents us from ever being immersed in the film. And for fantasy adventure films, immersion is key.
Equally important is how, despite these fictional worlds being completely make-belief, they can still contain characters we care deeply about. The prequel trilogies lacked this kind of investment…
#4 – Dull Characters With Poor Introductions
In Star Wars we are given a protagonist who has a clear arc over the course of the films. The supporting characters are given clear motives and introductory scenes that tell the audience exactly who they are. Take Han Solo. He shows up in a sleazy bar, brags about his ship and piloting skills, and coldly kills a bounty hunter who has him at gun point.
Fellowship had the challenge of giving the audience nine whole characters to care about and understand throughout the film. They’re introduced gradually, starting with protagonist Frodo and his best friend Sam, who act due to their trust in wizard Gandalf. Shortly after that they run into bumbling fools Merry and Pippin, who already showed us their mischievous nature in the firework scene.
When threatened they are forced to rely on the mysterious Strider, who provides our heroes with answers and protects them from deadly enemies. In Rivendell, Boromir and Strider have a short but revealing scene, showing us their various allegiances. In other words, by the time the fellowship forms, we already have rich understanding of seven of the nine members.
And notice how Gimli and Legolas have very active roles in the council of Elrond scene? Gimli tries to smash the ring with an axe and reveals his prejudices towards elves in the company of tons of elves – he’s brash and believes in actions over words. Legolas defends Elrond’s arguments and reveals Strider’s true name – he’s smart and respects Aragorn’s bloodline. See how we are shown who these characters are through their actions and decisions?
Compare this to The Hobbit. After showing how Bilbo and Gandalf meet, we have a handful of dwarves with mostly interchangeable personalities enter Bilbo’s house for supper. We are told about their character traits more than we are shown. The old dwarf (Balin, in case you forgot) literally says to his friend that he’s “sharper than both of us”, at which point we all say “oh, so he’s the smart one”. Shortly after, eight or so dwarves collapse through the door and what character development do they get? Well, one of them burps loudly, one of them is fat, and they all like food. Why do we give a shit about any of them?
The only character who is given a decent introduction is Thorin. We learn the reasons for his quest and understand his plight. But it still takes too long and with too many flashbacks that it’s frustrating to watch.
This is similar to the Star Wars prequels – we are told about character traits. We are told that Mace Windu is powerful. Obi-Wan tells Qui-Gon: “Don’t defy the council, not again,” when nothing beforehand suggested Qui-Gon didn’t respect his superiors. Obi-Wan and Anakin tell us about their adventures together but we never see any of it.
Nobody explained the character issue better than Mr Plinkett in his review, when he asked a simple question: “Who is the main character in The Phantom Menace?” If you think about it, there really isn’t one. And with nobody to latch onto, we don’t care about what happens to them.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s another issue with the characters that prevents us from caring…
#3 – The Characters are Inconsistent
So in both The Hobbit and the Star Wars prequels, we don’t care about or understand any of our characters. The problem gets worse when the characters aren’t even consistently written. I’ll use one example from each trilogy.
Attack of the Clones establishes Obi-Wan is a wise master who’s collected, respects the Force, and thinks before he acts. Anakin is brash, inexperienced, and arrogant. Most of all, Anakin has a raging hard-on for Padme. They are tasked with protecting Padme while she sleeps. A robot shits toxic worms in the room and our heroes save her. Given what I’ve just told you, who would you expect to recklessly leap through the window and grab the robot? Anakin, right? It’s Obi-Wan in the film.
Now, throughout The Hobbit films, Balin (the smart dwarf) is always presented as Thorin’s closest friend. He’s the one who witnesses Bilbo’s contract and tells Bilbo why Thorin hates orcs. He’s there in Thorin’s times of need, like when they consult Elrond to decipher their map and when they can’t open to door to Erebor. He even has a memorable line that shows his devotion to their leader: “There is one I could call King.”
In Battle of the Five Armies, Thorin comes down with dragon sickness. In a scene that shows his madness, he lashes out at one of his friends who’s only there to calm him down and make him see reason. And surely, that dwarf is Balin, right? Nope, it’s Dwalin. Who the fuck is Dwalin, you ask? It’s this guy:
Oh wait, no it isn’t, it’s this guy:
Why does this matter? It’s hard to care about characters if you don’t really know them – their motivations and behaviours. We can’t invest in a master-apprentice relationship when Obi-Wan makes the kind of ridiculous, cocky decisions that he chastises Anakin for. Similarly, we don’t have the emotional payoff of Thorin lashing out at Dwalin because in the previous films it was Balin who was always at Thorin’s side. Thorin even screams, “I am your King!” to which Dwalin replies: “You were always my King.” You see how much more impactful that would have been if it was Balin in this scene?
And the payoff is really where these films suffer. Because of these inconsistent characters that we don’t appreciate, the final act of both trilogies carries no weight at all.
Remember the ending of LotR when the Fellowship reunites? We get a sense of relief and joy, closeness – they’ve been through so much together. This is similar in the celebratory scene at the end of Return of the Jedi. What do we get at the end of Battle of the Five Armies? Bilbo turns to see this:
And nobody gives a shit. Go on, for each of them, give me their names and three of their defining attributes. You can’t. In all of eight hours, we never get a feel for who these characters actually are or their relationship to Bilbo. Just as in Revenge of the Sith we’re supposed to feel for the tragic turn of Anakin and his betrayal of Obi-Wan. But we don’t, because we don’t believe that they ever had a good relationship.
Now you’re thinking, “alright Magoo, so these trilogies aren’t very good. So what?” And sure, who cares? I mean, thank goodness we’ve always got an amazing original trilogy to go back to that cannot be harmed by the newer films. Guess again – we’re about to enter some troubling territory…
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