I REMEMBER IT WELL: leaving a friend’s birthday party, the drive with a friend to Dallas to watch the  midnight premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring, fearing that my friend would back out at the last minute.  And then we were there and it was midnight and this story that had been a part of my life for a long time in some form or another was now a major motion picture.

I also remember the drive back from Dallas that night, my friend and I trying to process what we had seen: a great movie that wasn’t quite what we expected/had seen in our minds’ eyes.  That was the beginning of my “if you’ve read the book, you’ve got to see the movie twice” rule.  The first time you’re trying to reconcile things, guess what the movie-maker is trying to do.  It’s usually the second time around that you sit back and enjoy the story for what it is.

The Hobbit has been a slow burn for me.  It’s not my favorite Tolkien work.  It lacks the gravitas that I love so much about The Lord of the Rings.  Bit by bit, though, I have found myself more excited about things.  But the more I’ve read the thoughts of fans, the more excited I’ve gotten.  I’m curious to see how Peter Jackson works in other material.  I’m curious to see how he ends the first movie.  Then this review (some vague spoilers here, beware) really got me into all that I’m about to see.  And so it’s another midnight showing.  Probably the first of a good number of viewings.  And, at least now, well before I have to stay up hours after I usually go to sleep, I cannot wait to a kind of “far green country” full of familiar faces and hints of hope and high adventure.  That and the promise of a very long Friday at work . . .

(image courtesy of listal.com)