An Unexpected Journey Final Review

Overall my impression of An Unexpected Journey is a very favorable one. In reviews I read (it had very mixed reviews indeed as all The Hobbit movies did), generally, it seemed to be the least favorite of the three movies by many.

But for me I think I would say AUJ was my favorite of PJ's Hobbit trilogy. To me it seemed to have the most direct ties to the book and that's what I wanted to see. Now of course no book to screen is ever going to be fully portrayed and certainly not such a beloved book that people of read for years with strong personal images associated with it. So while I favor book scenes and quotes over anything else I do understand some liberties must be taken.

Peter Jackson himself seems to warn us of this early in the movie. And I try to remember that as I watch these films. Overall AUJ had far more hits than misses and only one truly over the top scene (Goblin Town escape) which PJ seems to enjoy.

My biggest disappointment when I first saw it centered on Azog. Truth be told there are far bigger issues to come that make Azog seem just fine. I cannot get Thorin's line out of my head when he saw Azog for the first time: It cannot be! That's exactly what I was thinking.

Chronologically (which is my thing if you've read this blog) Azog was dead for several hundred years. He should not be in this movie. Of course you need an antagonist; but for the life of me I cannot comprehend why the decision was made to forgo Tolkien's version: Bolg, Azog's son. I could have easily lived with Bolg chasing Thorin's company around Middle-earth with the totally plausible motivation of revenge. Of course, as we'll see in future movies, we will have many heroes introduced and, in the end, I suppose they all need someone to fight.

I will say this the longer I've lived with Azog in the film the more comfortable I am with him (even if he's a bit over the top). And I noticed for the first time when rewatching the movie for this blog that during Thorin and Azog's showdown the Ringwraith motif was being played. That makes sense to me. What are Ringwraiths? Neither the living nor the dead; souls enslaved to Sauron. And in his current state Sauron is a Necromancer who by definition is one who uses black magic to communicate with the dead. So; in my mind I could see Sauron raising Azog from the dead, almost in Ringwraith fashion, to lead his legions. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.