The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

I watched "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," part 1 of a film trilogy by Peter Jackson, released in 2012, based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Hobbit."

I rate this film overall as a good film worth watching.

I enjoyed the acting by Morgan Freeman, who played the main character, Bilbo Baggins in a thoughtful manner, and subtly when called for.  A host of actors joined in recreating roles they played earlier when Peter Jackson filmed the follow-up story, "The Lord of the Rings, in a previous film trilogy.  They included Ian McKellan (as Gandalf the Grey),  Andy Serkis (as Gollum), Kate Blanchett (as Galadriel), Hugo Weaving (as Elrond), Christopher Lee (as Saruman the White), Ian Holmes (as Old Bilbo Baggins), and Elijah Wood (as Frodo Baggins).  Having played these parts in three previous films, these actors honed their roles, and deliver wonderful performances.

The riddle game b/w Bilbo & Gollum

I most enjoyed the scene where Bilbo meets Gollum in a cave, and engages in game of riddle, which follows the book closely at this point.  They agree that if Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him the way out of the cave, but if Gollum wins, Bilbo will allow Gollum to eat him - a high stakes game.  Both Morgan Freeman, and especially, Andy Serekis (portraying Gollum in a CGI performance) deliver an outstanding portrayal of this scene.

However, I thought the film dragged at some points, which seemed a bit odd.  When Peter Jackson filmed the first film, "The Fellowship of the Ring," in "The Lord of the Ring" trilogy, over a decade ago, the film had great pacing.  In this first part of "The Hobbit" film trilogy, the pacing seemed off.  Great filmmakers have a good sense of pacing for a film.  It's somewhat disappointing to see a filmmaker who had a great sense of pacing begin to lose some of it over the years.  For example, the scenes at Bilbos' home with the dwarves seems to go too long.  The same goes for the scene with the battle of the stone giants in the Misty Mountains, as well as some other scenes.

It's telling that while the "Fellowship of the Ring garnered 13 Academy Award nominations, winning 4 Academy Awards, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey garnered 3 Academy Award nominations, with none winning an Academy Award.

Yet, overall, I enjoyed the film, and highly recommend it.

If you are interested in differences between the book and the film, see my post, The Hobbit (the films).
If you are interested in my review of the book, see my post, The Hobbit (the book).
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Islam

Islam represents the 2nd largest religion in the world - with around 1.6 billion adherents worldwide (roughly 23% of the world's population), though many only follow a loose folk type version.  To many outsiders, they associate Islam with a radical Muslim version of it, though this represents a minority view.  Though many think of Muslims as living in the Middle East, only around 20% do so.  The rest largely live in Southern Asia or Africa.

In a religious context, the word Islam roughly means voluntary submission to God. Its monotheism roughly reflects both the Jewish and Christian faiths, though it holds a distinctive view.

Given the events since September 11, 2001, many tend to think of Islam as representing an open warfare against the West, against America, and especially against Christianity, as well as against the Jews.  I want to address these issues by answering some basic questions about this religion, using a format set forth by James Sire in the latest version of his book, "The Universe Next Door: A Worldview Catalog."

1. What do Muslims consider prime reality - the really real?  For Muslims, Allah (the Arabic word for God) represents the prime reality.  Allah is far above everything else, as well above any other views about God.  For most Muslims, Allah remains a distant figure.  They tend to be offended by any concept of having a close relationship with God (and especially calling God the Father - Abba - an Aramaic term for Father similar to Daddy) as repugnant which they usually reject as degrading God (a notable exception are Sufis, who call God a friend)
2. What is the nature of external reality, that is, the world around us?
   For Muslims, God created the world out of nothing (which Jews and Christians agree with).  But for most Muslims, it's unclear if humans have free will, or are simply subject to the divine decrees of God.  In contrast, most Christian traditions emphasize the free will of mankind (though to varying degrees).
3. What is a human being?
   For Muslims, human beings stand as the pinnacle of God's creation, above the angels.  Thus, they must submit to God.  Muslims have no conception of original sin.  Instead, they believe all humans are born in a state of purity and innocence.  They only need redemption if they specifically disobey God's law (as set forth in the Quran and the Hadiths).
4. What happens to a person at death?
   For Muslims, everyone will be judged by their deeds.  They have no conception of God's grace - God might be merciful, but they have no guarantee of this, even for Muslims who receive commendations died very worried if they would reach paradise.  Three exceptions exist: (1) Children before puberty; (2) the mentally impaired; and (3) martyrs, including those engaged in a holy jihad.  Radical Muslims interpret the Quaran and Hadiths to mean those who kill Christians and Jews meet this exception.  (Most Muslims do not.)
5. How is it possible to know anything?
   Most Muslims believe rationality can distinguish truth from error, though they assert rationality needs help from revelation.  They believe humans have distorted the revelations God (Allah) delivered through many prophets, including Jesus.  For Muslims, Mohammed is the seal of the prophets, so the Quran is preserved free from error.  Those who do not recognize the truth of the Quran do so because God prevents them from doing so.
6. How do we know what is right from wrong?
   For Muslims, we can only know right from wrong from the Quran.  However, since the Quran can be ambiguous, we also should look to the Hadiths (a collection of actions and sayings of Mohammed).  However, many Hadiths exist, and Muslims do not agree which ones should be followed.  Therefore, while Muslims agree they must follow Sharia (the religious law), they adhere to different Sharias since they tend to follow various Hadiths.  They also acknowledge Christians and Jews follow their own sharia.  (But for radical Muslims, their interpretation of the Qumran and the Hadiths they follow means the eradication of Christians and Jews.)
7. What is the meaning of human history?
   For Muslims, human history is like a long final exam - we have to get it right to be accepted by Allah.  Part of this goal is to set up an Islamic community (an umma), a political community as well as a community of believers.  Most Muslims believe this can be achieved by peaceful means, though radical Muslims believe this can only be achieved through violent force.
8. What personal life-orientating core commitments are consistent with this worldview?
   Devout Muslims strive to follow the divine law, as they best understand it, for even the smallest parts of their lives.  While they do this out of gratitude, this gratitude does not derive from sins forgiven, or out of any notion of a close, personal relationship with God.

      The close personal relationship we as Christians believe we can have with Jesus Christ, with God the Son, through grace, likely presents a tension for Muslim believers, who tend to view their relationship with God as distant.  As Christians, we have a challenge to present the gospel to our Muslim friends in a manner they can grasp and understand.  It helps if we understand their worldview to begin with.

The Hobbit (the film trilogy)

Peter Jackson directed a film project to turn the book, The Hobbit, into a film.  (He also co-wrote and co-produced it.)  However, instead of one film, he turned it into 3 films:
1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and
3. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Many criticize Jackson for turning a relatively simple children's fairy tale into a monstrosity of 3 films.  In addition, many also criticize any deviations he made from a story they love.

However, films always deviate from book derivations.  So filmmakers call them film adaptations - they adapt the book to the medium of film, which has different demands and calls for artistic interpretation when adapted.  Faithful readers of the book almost always complain about deviations from the text of the book, especially beloved all-time best selling books.

Next, The Hobbit appears as a simple children's fairy tale (or fantasy), but it has a much more rich depth to it.  Tolkien began writing the back story for it, The Silmarillion, in 1914, in a grand plan to write a background mythology for England.  The Hobbit was a small part of that great story, which wasn't published till after Tolkien's death in 1973.  (His son finally published it in 1977.)  Many who read The Hobbit have not read The Silmarillion.  Jackson incorporated aspects of The Silmarillion into the films.

Also, years after The Hobbit, Tolkien wrote the follow-up book, The Lord of the Rings, which became so long, he divided it into three books.  Originally, Tolkien wanted to finish The Silmarillion as the follow-up book, but his publisher insisted on more about hobbits.  Tolkien incorporated much of The Silmarillion into The Lord of the Rings.  In addition, he added lengthy appendices to the last book of the The Lord of the Rings, which helps to explain why it took over a decade between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins

Jackson (and his team) wanted to incorporate this great story background into the much smaller story of The Hobbit.  I applaud this attempt, which was largely successful.

However, since Jackson previously directed the three films which follow the three books of The Lord of the Rings, he also wanted to use The Hobbit films as a sort of prequel to those films.  I think he made a mistake by taking this effort further than he needed to in order to set it up as a good prequel.

You can follow the links above to see my thoughts on each of the films of The Hobbit.

The Lewis-Tolkien Friendship