The final cut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was only handed in last week, but since then, an assortment of journalists, bloggers, and critics were lucky enough to screen the film. They had to keep their opinions and spoilers to themselves, however. That is, until today.
Expectant fans who want to avoid spoilers and the general buzz surrounding the film before their first viewing would do well to steer clear of the reviews. As a geek of many fandoms, I know it only takes one sentence, one word, one emoticon (true story!) to give away something you can never get back. So we’ve boiled down the jist of the reviews to their spoiler-free essence.
- The film is long. The end credits alone are 16 minutes.
- The film remains very true to the source material–a choice some reviewers applaud and others admonish. When general reviewers are complaining about the slow pace, two dwarf songs, and too many characters before the journey even gets going, a Tolkien fan is going to be delighted with the detail.
- The Middle-earth represented in the film looks and feels so consistent and familiar to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Since plenty of movies have taken to poorly emulating LOTR’s quality and tone, this will be a big boon for fans of the franchise.
- The high frame rate (HFR), 48 frames per second, as opposed to the usual 24, is noticeable. Not everyone will see the film this way, but when people know they’re going to see something different, they go out of their way to notice it, see it, focus on it.
It is worth pointing out that the inconsistencies between reviewers show how entirely subjective film viewing (and reviewing) is.
We’re down to the final days of waiting for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to show up in cinemas, so if you’re hoping to walk into your first showing unspoiled, stick with us here at Middle-earth News, where we have made a No Unexpected Spoilers pledge!
2 Comments