May contain spoilers
All images & review copy courtesy of Warner Bros.
The extended edition of The Hobbit: The Desolation of
Smaug is out on DVD, Blu-ray™, and Blu-ray 3D™ today! Featuring an additional
25 minutes of footage and more than nine hours of new special features (including commentary with director Peter Jackson, The Appendices – The Appendices Parts IX and X, and New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth – Part 2), this
edition is a must-have for any Hobbit fan.
While my opinion of the Hobbit films is still rather
mixed (I have enjoyed them as standalone films, but not so much as adaptations), I found I enjoyed – for
the most part – the extended edition of The Desolation of Smaug. As per usual, Peter Jackson's extras come in small pieces here and there as well as in wholly new scenes. Whatever their form, the extra
footage adds more depth to a few characters and situations within the film,
hearkening back to Tolkien's original story and enhancing the overall narrative.
One of my favourite scenes was the introduction of the
Dwarves to Beorn. Where his presence in the theatrical cut was very limited, almost
to the point of being unnecessary altogether, his character in the extended
version is deeper and more in keeping with Tolkien's distrustful skin-changer. When
he speaks to Gandalf as the Company prepares to depart for Mirkwood, it is
clear that he is not just a skin-changer, but instead a being connected more deeply to Middle-earth and fully aware of the growing darkness; hence his willingness to
help those he distrusts. Though brief, this conversation adds a heightened sense of
dread – not just to the forest but to the film as a whole – which is something
I thought was lacking in the theatrical cut.
The extended Mirkwood scenes are another important
inclusion, in my opinion. The Company's journey through the forest was so
fast-paced in the theatrical cut that it hardly felt like they had spent any
time there at all. Their exposure to the forest's enchanted waters and
their ensuing drowsiness helps to prolong the scene and create the illusion
that they have been there for an increasingly long time.
Not found in Tolkien's The Hobbit, but still a welcome addition to the story, is Gandalf's
encounter with Thráin. I think my favourite scenes in the Hobbit
films are those in Dol Guldur: Peter Jackson and his team accurately and
appropriately portray the darkness that is overtaking Mirkwood. When Gandalf
finds Thráin, he is initially under the Enemy's hold; when he comes to, he is
still deeply disturbed by whatever he has endured in the fortress of the
Necromancer, but his focus remains on his son, Thorin. For a moment or two,
we all probably hope for a father-son reunion – that is, until the Necromancer
intervenes and reclaims Thráin.
The only characters to not benefit from the extra
material are Alfrid and the Master of Lake Town. While we are given more of a
glimpse into just how greedy and materialistic the two characters are, neither
of them are in any way likeable – or even pitiable. To see an actor as amazing
as Stephen Fry reduced to a character almost as looney and repulsive as The
Lord of the Rings films' Denethor is a real shame. There is little room left
for sympathy if and when the time comes (spoiler alert!) when the Master succumbs
to the dragon-sickness and ultimately dies of starvation after being abandoned
by his friends and followers.
Overall, I enjoyed the extended cut much more than the theatrical. The extra scenes provided more character and setting development, and were engaging enough that the additional runtime is barely noticeable. While I have not yet watched any of the behind the scenes footage, I am looking forward to doing that over the next few days!
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For more details on the extended edition, please view the press
release I posted back in August!
Will you be picking up a copy of The Desolation of Smaug
Extended Edition (or have you already)? Leave a comment and let me know why/why
not!
Most accurate and beautifully said!
ReplyDeleteIakovos:)