All in all, the story is nicely
interwoven with The Lord of the Rings
through a shared moment. Bilbo and Frodo are preparing for Bilbo’s one hundred
and eleventh birthday as Bilbo decides to write down his adventures in a book,
with the intriguing opening: “My Dear Frodo, you asked me once if I had told
you everything there was to know about my adventures. While I can honestly say
I have told you the truth, I may not have told you all of it…” However, the
story takes a long time to gather speed. In an effort to draw us right back
into Tolkien’s fantasy world, the film opens with an impressive battle sequence
that tells the background story of the dwarves that are soon to appear. I would
have liked for the film to have started of differently though, with the joyful
wit that is so characteristic of The
Hobbit and separates the book from its big brother. That playfulness
luckily comes into play when we revisit Hobbiton and the thirteen dwarves start
tumbling through Bilbo’s door, figuratively and literally. The strength of the
book and of Bilbo as the unlikely hero, lies in the growth of the character
from a homebird with childlike qualities to an epic hero without ever losing
his charm and humouristic appeal. The filmmakers and actor Martin Freeman
succeed in bringing this transformation to the screen, but in my opinion, it
would have been more true to the heart of the story and more beneficial to its
progress to allow for the film as a whole to develop in a parallel way from the
start on. The Riddles in the Dark scene was one of those scenes strongly
anticipated by many Tolkien fans and as such also by me. I have to say that I
was not disappointed and might even say that the long moment when Bilbo looks
into Gollem’s eyes and makes the fundamental choice without which the whole
further history that is The Lord of the
Rings never could have ended well, is one of those scenes that will stick
in my mind forever.
As we visit a lot of the same places
we did in The Lord of the Rings, a
large part of the music in this film is reminiscent of the existing trilogy at
many points. The themes for the Shire and Rivendell have remained the same,
with some minor arrangements here and there to keep it fresh and when Galadriel
appears we even hear parts of the old Lothlórien theme. The “In Dreams” melody
also makes a comeback, but the music that accompanies the dwarves is an
entirely new theme, characterised by the use of brass players, translating the
robust nature and mighty history of the dwarf folk, but also the nostalgic
longing to regain that history into music. This history and sense of longing is
very clear in the dwarf song that is integrated in the trailer and consequently
in the film. The song is an original poem from Tolkien, as included in the
first chapter of his Hobbit book, put to music and a beautiful accolade to the
writer’s poetic talents. However, for me, the one scene where music and image
reach their full potential has to be the one where we as viewers are soaring
through the air together with the mighty giant eagles and the music brings such
a calm and peace, as if there are no dark forces and no wars to be fought and
there never were.
Laura Van Wymersch
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