“The Hobbit” opens at Our Town Cinemas and other theaters. Click for info.

It’s been a long while since I saw a midnight movie – when was the last one, anyway. But Peter Jackson’s version of “The Hobbit” was a big lure. I’m a fan of his “Lord of the Rings” series and decided I just had to join the throng of mostly college students for Thursday night’s premiere at Our Town Cinemas. At least for me, “The Hobbit” was worth the late night. (We exited the theater at 2:55am!).

To be sure, the film gets off to a slow start, as Bilbo, Gandalf and their fellow adventurers head out of the Shire and toward Lonely Mountain, which they hope to reclaim from Smaug the Dragon. Mr. Jackson clearly is taking pains to translate author J.R.R. Tolkien’s deep detail for the big screen.

The film also is probably a bit long, and of course it’s only the first movie in what’s supposed to be an 8-hour trilogy. But the action picks up, the landscapes and cavern-scapes are spectacular and the monsters pretty darn ugly. Our hero is well cast in Martin Freeman, whom some may know as Sherlock Holmes’s Watson on the BBC’s “Sherlock.” And Gandalf is satisfyingly portrayed by the movie-world’s all-purpose wizard is Ian McKellen, whom you’ll recognize from previous LOTR flicks and maybe from “X-Men.”

Those who know the book well will notice some deviations, again as Mr. Jackson tries to tell Tolkien’s incredible dense fairytale on the screen. Charlotte Observer film critic Lawrence Toppman, Hobbit purist, did not appreciate the movie’s departures from the book. Mr. Jackson has definitely taken filmmaker’s license, to make “The Hobbit” fit into his “Lord of the Rings” series.

A.O. Scott in the New York Times finds fault in another aspect – that it’s actually the first of three movies. We’re in for a road nearly as long as those travelers. The book’s villain – Smaug – appears briefly only twice: once as he terrorizes the land near Lonely Mountain, and near the end of Film 1 as an awakening eyeball only, surely meant to foreshadow the battle to come in, who knows, Film 3?

We’ll all have opinions about whether the three-part story with filmmaker’s license works. We still have two films to go.

Still, Hobbit fans will find things to like. Like “The Lord of the Rings,” its backdrops are lush and the computer-aided action intense, helping to bring Tolkien’s imaginative tale to life. My favorite scene: Bilbo’s encounter with the Gollum in a water-filled cavern is both chilling and humorous as our hero outwits the sad creature.

By the way, a friend asked what format I saw. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” has been released in standard, 3-D and IMAX 3-D. Our Town Cinemas has it in its standard form, and that seemed just right. I’m not a fan of 3-D, and this film is already so big, more special effects hardly seem necessary.

David Boraks is the editor of DavidsonNews.net and CorneliusNews.net, and is recovering from Thursday night’s lack of sleep with another day at the office.  

RELATED LINKS

See showtimes at Our Town Cinemas in Davidson at right.

TheHobbit.com is the official website.