Having read the book many years ago I revisited it in
preparation for watching the new film “An Unexpected Journey” directed by Peter
Jackson. Now I’ve seen the film, so I read the book again. Of course it is
common knowledge now that there are actually going to be three films to cover
the whole story of The Hobbit and I immediately thought “how on (middle) earth
is he going to manage to stretch the book out over three films?” Well,
considering the fact that the first film is about 160 minutes long and only
gets us to the end of chapter 6 (of 19) then it’s easy to see how! The film has
been tastefully padded with extra material that Tolkien covered in various
appendices, so ensuring that the new trilogy will serve as a faithful prequel
to Lord of the Rings.
In my humble opinion, ”An Unexpected Journey” is a promising start as I loved the film for
all of the richness and deeper plot threads and, inevitably, the ‘Hollywood’
moments too, but I still love the book for the slightly different path it
takes. The tale may be more straight-forward, however there is still time to
offer the reader a narrative and extrapolation that is otherwise missing from a
Hollywood blockbuster. For example, in early rich character scenes between
Bilbo and Gandalf as the reluctant adventurer is actively forced out the door
(in the movie the impression is more that he takes the decision himself). Also
in the scenes between Gollum and Bilbo (covered in chapter 5, “Riddles in the
Dark”) this is a much longer and uncomfortable confrontation in the book and
really allows the character of Gollum to come to life in the words and riddles.
Even Tolkien himself heavily re-wrote this chapter later to sharpen the despair
of Gollum and his sense of loss upon having the ring taken from him by Bilbo.
As I made progress through the book second time around I was
reading it on two levels; on one hand enjoying the story and on the other
getting so excited to imagine how these scenes will be visualised in the
subsequent parts 2 and 3 of the film trilogy. In particular I am looking
forward to the numerous scenes with Smaug around Lonely Mountain and in Lake-Town.
Tolkien has a highly descriptive approach to his writing that makes it so easy
to visualise the characters, the places and the overall landscape and context.
Despite Bilbo’s motives and actions at time being questionable, I was with him
every step of the way and willing him to come through the journey with success
in his quest.
Many other reviews may differ, however I thoroughly enjoyed
revisiting the book as well as experiencing the film at (almost) the same time
and I feel that neither one harms the other. In fact they happily co-exist and
I look forward to picking the book up again a few more times around the release
of “The Desolation of Smaug” later in 2013.
Mark R.
