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| The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 2012 |
Coming up next we have 2012's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", the first in a prequel trilogy to the highly acclaimed "Lord of the Rings" series. Here, we find Bilbo Baggins as he sets out on the greatest adventure of his life. Along the way, he makes new friends, finds new enemies, and changes his life in ways that he can't have imagined.
The film's cast includes Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Dean O'Gorman, Aidan Turner, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, Sylvester McCoy, Barry Humphries, and Lee Pace.
Old Bilbo Baggins sets out writing the story of life his life. He wants to tell his nephew Frodo the full story of his adventures.
He begins by telling us about the dwarf city of Erebor and its king, Thror, who coveted the King's Jewel, or Arkenstone. The dwarfs had a huge empire under the mountain.
King Thror, however, became consumed by his riches, and eventually started to have a sort of sickness come over him.
A dragon named Smaug comes and takes the riches for himself, driving the dwarfs out from under the mountain. The dwarfs' ally, the elvish King Thranduil, seeing the devastation wrought by Smaug, will not risk the lives of his kinsmen to help the dwarfs. Thus, the dwarfs take on a hatred of elves.
Many years later, Bilbo meets Gandalf, who sets events in motion that see Bilbo joining a company of dwarfs as their "burglar". They intend to march to the Lonely Mountain and reclaim it from Smaug.
We find out that the company is being chased by an army of orcs led by a giant Gundabad orc named Azog. The object of this orc's wrath is the leader of the dwarf company, Thorin Oakenshield, who is the rightful King of Erebor.
Elsewhere, a wizard named Radagast is very distressed at the apparent sickness of the woods where he lives.
Radagast traces the source of this sickness to the old fortress of Dol Guldur, where he finds something very sinister. A necromancer has summoned great evil there. A blade, which Radagast later gives to Gandalf, is found. This blade formerly belonged to the Witch King of Angmar.
Along the way to the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo and the dwarfs are very nearly eaten by a group of mountain trolls. Only Gandalf's intervention saves them from becoming a late night snack.
And they are continually followed across the plains by an orc pack riding vicious wargs.
The company makes it to Rivendell, where they meet up with Elrond, who can answer certain questions about their quest for them.
At Rivendell, a council is summoned consisting of Elrond, Galadriel, and Saruman, the head of Gandalf's order of wizards. Saruman is dead set against the dwarfs' quest, and when Gandalf produces the witch king's blade, Saruman dismisses it as meaningless.
However, Galadriel gives Gandalf her blessing and urges him to find more answers about what is going on. "I fear this quest has set in motion forces we do not yet understand," she says.
As the journey continues, the company meets up with a bunch of stone giants in the midst of an epic battle. They also fall into a trap laid by goblins and find themselves in a spot of trouble. Once again, Gandalf comes to the rescue in the nick of time.
Bilbo, meanwhile, has gotten separated from the rest of the group. He finds a very interesting ring (which makes the wearer invisible), and must match wits with the creature Gollum in a game of riddles before he can rejoin the others. (Gollum's sequence in this movie is very well done.)
Just as the company escapes from one situation, they find themselves thrown right into another. The orcs have caught up with them and very nearly end the quest prematurely.
Giant eagles rescue them and bring them to safety. All together again, they look towards the Lonely Mountain as they begin the next leg of their journey.
They must be careful. Deep inside the treasure halls of Erebor, Smaug has awakened.
Cast rundown:
Martin Freeman............................Bilbo Baggins
Ian McKellan................................Gandalf
Richard Armitage..........................Thorin Oakenshield
Ken Stott.....................................Balin
Graham McTavish..........................Dwalin
William Kircher.............................Bifur
James Nesbitt..............................Bofur
Stephen Hunter............................Bombur
Dean O'Gorman............................Fili
Aidan Turner................................Kili
John Callen..................................Oin
Peter Hambleton..........................Gloin
Jed Brophy..................................Nori
Mark Hadlow...............................Dori
Adam Brown................................Ori
Ian Holm....................................Old Bilbo Baggins
Elijah Wood.................................Frodo Baggins
Hugo Weaving.............................Elrond
Cate Blanchett.............................Galadriel
Christopher Lee...........................Saruman
Andy Serkis.................................Gollum
Sylvester McCoy...........................Radagast
Barry Humphries..........................Great Goblin
Lee Pace.....................................Thranduil
And that's it for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. In the film, Gandalf is asked how many wizards there are. He replies that there are five: himself, Saruman, Radagast, and two blue wizards. The blue wizards appear in the book "Unfinished Tales", which is a collection of Tolkein's ideas and unfinished manuscripts that were edited by his son. In the book their names are Alatar and Pallando, but as the filmmakers did not have the rights to the book, they could only be referred to in the film as "the two blue wizards".
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