‘Flawless masterpiece’ better than Game of Thrones | Films | Entertainment
A ‘flawless masterpiece’ that starts a series of films based on one of the most influential novels is currently surging up the Netflix charts.
At the time of writing, two entries from The Hobbit trilogy currently hold places in the top 10 most watched films among subscribers.
That includes the first entry in seventh place and second title in 10th. The concluding third film, is probably not much behind those two.
Peter Jackson returned to direct the films once again set in Middle-earth following the success of his Lord of the Rings trilogy. While The Hobbit only consisted of one book, the story was split into three titles to make another epic on screen saga.
They hit the big screen between 2012 and 2014, with all three now streaming on Netflix. That includes An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies.
The films are based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1937 novel The Hobbit. However Jackson also took inspiration from the appendices to his 1954–55 The Lord of the Rings series, which expand on the story told in the original book.
According to its synopsis, the over arching story across the three films sees Bilbo Baggins join a hardy group of dwarves on a dangerous quest to reclaim their lost kingdom. On this journey he comes across Orcs, the fearsome dragon Smaug, and even meets a strange creature named Gollum along his way.
Former Sherlock and The Office actor Martin Freeman leads the cast as Bilbo Baggins. He is joined by some recognisable names, even though their characters might mean their faces are not the most familiar straight away.
Star of multiple Harlan Coben adaptations Richard Armitage also stars as Thorin, who leads the Dwarf company. Other Dwarves in the group are played by the likes of Graham McTavish, Aidan Turner, Ken Stott and James Nesbitt.
A number of Lord of the Rings stars also return to reprise their roles, either in special appearances or cameos. That includes Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, Lee Pace, Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee to name a few.
While the Hobbit films did not manage to register a high a score as the Lord of the RIngs trilogy according to their Rotten Tomatoes ratings, there are still fans that rate it just as highly, if not more.
One fan went so far to post on Reddit claiming: “Despite their flaws, the Hobbit trilogy is better than the Lord of the Rings trilogy.”
They explained: “The main reason is because the characters are better adapted from the books. Martin Freeman was perfect as Bilbo; he feels like a faithful portrayal of Bilbo from the book. He shines every scene which focusses on him, though he gets sidelined too much.”
While a fair amount of people disagreed with this post, someone else offered a slightly different viewpoint. They suggested: “Watched The Hobbit recently, the production, the directing, the fighting scenes, I was like this is better than Game of Thrones.”
One fan seemed to acknowledge that it might not be better but should still be considered higher than some view it. They replied: “The Hobbit is an underrated gem that gets overshadowed by the greatness of Lord of the Rings. I would score this a 9/10 and strongly recommend it.”
Another added: “An almost flawless masterpiece. Captured the feeling of the book and transcended it onto a screen. The acting was amazing – perfectly fitting into fantasy style. The chemistry between actors was more than just the obvious – you could actually feel their interactions and live the story. Yes, it was that good.”
The Hobbit collection is streaming on Netflix
