Geeks and fanboys everywhere are wetting themselves over the announcement that Peter Jackson will produce an adaptation of The Hobbit.
Sensible people, on the other hand, shake their heads and shudder.
I say this as someone who admired Jackson's Lord Of the Rings films. There was much to dislike about them, some severe failings of taste and inspiration, but for their ambition alone they deserve praise, and Jackson clearly approached the films with a distinct vision in mind. There is an authentic directorial voice to the films, something all too rare in mega-budget blockbusters.
Still, by the time The Return Of The King passed the three hour mark, Jackson clearly lost all sense of perspective, spending inordinate amounts of screen time showing us things described only in passing in Tolkien's book. The problem with that film wasn't, as many people felt, its prolonged final act, it's how long it took to get there.
The acclaim, awards and financial success of the three films obviously went to his head, as witness his dreadful remake of King Kong, which runs on and on to absolutely no purpose whatsoever.
Despite Kong's underwhelming boxoffice success and mixed reviews, which might have given a lesser ego pause, Jackon got into a pissing match with New Line Cinema over profits from The Rings cycle--untold billions apparently weren't enough for him--and refused to consider an adaptation of The Hobbit, the prequel to Tolkien's Rings, since New Line held the rights.
Well, apparently everything has been worked out--presumably Jackson is diving, Scrooge McDuck-like, into a swimming pool filled with gold coins--and though Jackson will be too busy with his dreadfully misconceived mo-capped adaptation of Tintin to personally direct The Hobbit, he will produce, supervise, micromanage and no doubt hog credit if it's any good.
Which, of course, it won't be. It would be hard to imagine a less necessary movie, a more transparent attempt to squeeze more dollars from an exhausted franchise. It's as though Jackson wanted to erase any trace of goodwill we might still feel towards his work.
Mission accomplished, sir.
