In Defence of Peter Jackson and The Hobbit
Was the Hobbit trilogy truly as bad as the Star Wars prequels?
A surprisingly revealing video about the making of the third installment of the Hobbit trilogy, the Battle of the Five Armies, hit the internet recently and fans have, of course, had a lot to say. In the video, Peter Jackson, Andy Serkis and some of the production crew talked about how making the Battle of the Five Armies, and the Hobbit trilogy in general, was a relentless and strenuous task that left Peter Jackson exhausted. He soon asked the producers and the studio to end the shoot earlier than expected, and a plan was put in place to revisit the scenes the following year.
This wasn’t the first problem that Jackson and co. encountered; The Hobbit went through a multitude of problems before the first installment was released in December, 2012. First of all, the Hobbit was to be a two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy novel and Guillermo del Toro was set to direct with Peter Jackson attached as an executive producer. However, with filming delayed time and again, del Toro stepped down as director and Peter Jackson was hired to direct and salvage the first installment for its 2012 release date and the second for its release date the following year. In the summer of 2012, five months before An Unexpected Journey was to be released, Jackson and the studio announced that the Hobbit was to become three films instead of two, thus turning it into a trilogy and stretching the material of the short novel even further.
Now I will not try and deny that each film in the Hobbit trilogy had their flaws. Nevertheless I enjoyed them for what they were. Many people however did not, which is completely fair enough. But some have gone to the extent of comparing the Hobbit trilogy not just to the LOTR trilogy, which was always going to be an incredibly unfair comparison to make anyway, but also to the Star Wars prequels. Now that is unjust. Name one scene in the whole trilogy of the Star Wars prequels that was as interesting as the ‘Riddles in the Dark’ scene where Bilbo Baggins and Gollum, played wonderfully by Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis respectively, posed riddles to each other in the caves of the Misty Mountains? Or the scene between Bilbo and Smaug the dragon, voiced superbly by Benedict Cumberbatch, in the great halls of Erebor where Smaug toys with a terrified Bilbo who is desperately hunting for the Arkenstone?
The reason I write this is because I watched the footage of Peter Jackson and his production team try to explain why they had such problems with making the Hobbit trilogy and I felt sorry for them. They had to make a trilogy of films in a short space of time with little to no prep time before the cameras started rolling. All of the production that had already been finished was started by a director, del Toro, who eventually left the project. Peter Jackson had no time whatsoever to prepare the world that he wanted to create; he had to direct someone else’s film. Jackson and the production crew said it themselves; just rewatch the video and listen attentively to what they say.
Peter Jackson had little to no time to make the Hobbit in his own vision; for most of the shoot he was using designs that del Toro had already decided upon. All of this chaos took place because An Unexpected Journey had to be ready for its December 2012 release, and because they were determined for the Hobbit to be three films instead of two. Films these days are a business, and some films can and have been pushed out by studios in a short space of time in order to create a profit. A project like the Hobbit should have been given all the time in the world to find its potential but some studios (and fans alike) do not want to be patient. The studio knew that a new Middle-Earth trilogy would sell very well, even if it wasn’t very good. And they know that fans of the novel, or of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, will want to see it regardless.
Was the Hobbit trilogy bad? No, I don't think so. Was it rushed? Yes it was. It will not go down in history as one of the greatest trilogies ever made, but it does not deserve some of the heavy criticism that it has received. I would love for the Hobbit to be made the way it was supposed to have been, with Peter Jackson directing and as two films instead of three, but I doubt we will ever see that happen. Let's savour the world of Middle-Earth that Peter Jackson made for us as I doubt we will be heading back there any time soon.
