The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a 2012 fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson. It is the first of a three-part film adaptation of the 1937 novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, to be followed by The Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again, due for theatrical release in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Set sixty years before The Lord of the Rings, the story is about the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is hired by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to accompany thirteen dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) on a quest across Middle-earth to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon. The film premiered in New Zealand on 28 November 2012 and was released internationally on 13 December 2012.
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On the day of his 111th birthday, with Frodo Baggins leaving to wait for Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo Baggins decides to write down the full story of the adventure he took 60 years before. Bilbo writes about how, prior to his own actual involvement, the Dwarf Thror becomes King under the Mountain and brings an era of prosperity to his kin until the arrival of Smaug the dragon. Drawn by the amount of gold that the Dwarves have amassed, Smaug destroys the town of Dale before driving the Dwarves out of Erebor. Thror’s grandson, Thorin, sees King Thranduil and his Wood-Elves up on the hillside and is dismayed to find them taking their leave rather than aiding his people. This event is what led the Dwarves to despise Elves ever since.
Sixty years earlier, Bilbo is tricked by Gandalf into hosting a party for Thorin and his band of Dwarves that doubles as Bilbo’s recruitment as the Dwarves’ “burglar” to help them steal their treasure back from Smaug. Though Bilbo refuses at first, he decides to join the company on their journey to the Lonely Mountain. During his first night sleeping in the wild, Bilbo learns about how the Dwarves met when they were fighting back for the Dwarven city of Moria that fell under Orc dominion. The leader of the Orcs, Azog, also known as “The Pale Orc,” killed Thror. Thorin, devastated, fought back with part of an oak tree trunk as a shield and succeeded in chopping off Azog’s forearm to turn the tide of the battle with the Orc chief presumed dead. The battle proved to be a pyrrhic victory, as the vast majority of the Dwarven army was killed.
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Read the full Wikipedia article here.
