The Hobbit (2012/2013)

[DraconianOne]

King Kong was an hour too long and really really crappy. I watched it once, barely made it through and have no desire to ever see it again.

You're entirely wrong.


It was two hours too long.

[Azuredream]

I loved RotK even though it dragged a bit at the end, but King Kong put me to sleep.

[WayAbvPar]

Agree completely with the King Kong hate. The Jeff Bridges version is miles better. Plus Jessica Lange   

[Trippy]

Legolas to be in the movies:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110527/film_nm/us_orlandobloom

Let the nerdrage begin!

[MuffinMan]

I can just hear the neckbeards growing! They may gain sentience after this.

[01101010]

Won't matter. The movie will be released on the 21st just when the Earth crumbles into dust and the chariots come to ferry the saints off into space.

[Ingmar]

It's not a terribly tremendous stretch for the son of the king of the wood elves to be hanging about their place in Mirkwood or be there when they're fighting in the Battle of the Five Armies, IMO.

[Sheepherder]

Pretty much that.

[proudft]

I just reread the Hobbit and had forgotten that Bilbo spends quite a while skulking around the elf palace, feeding himself through burglary. So a scene where Bilbo steals Legolas's half-eaten midnight lembas snack from his nightstand is perfectly fine with me.

[Tannhauser]

Hey, Orlando Bloom's gotta eat right?

[Sheepherder]

I just reread the Hobbit and had forgotten that Bilbo spends quite a while skulking around the elf palace, feeding himself through burglary. So a scene where Bilbo steals Legolas's half-eaten midnight lembas snack from his nightstand is perfectly fine with me.

Only if he split jumps up a narrow hallway, drops on Legolas' back when he walks underneath, and chokes him out first.

[Ironwood]

While riding a shield down stairs.

 

[Sheepherder]

That's a great idea, you should be a director.

[Ironwood]

I don't really think many die-hard fans of the novels liked what Legolas did at Helms deep or with that damn Mumak.

Still, kids were cheering.  I guess that counts.

The little bastards.

 

[Tannhauser]

Yeah, I rolled my eyes at both.  But I did enjoy Bloom's slight head tilt coming off the mumak, about as much showing off as we've ever seen him do.  And of course Gimli's reply.

[Khaldun]

Going back a bit, I dunno how anyone could come up with a different vision of how to stage Sam and Frodo in Mordor. There are one or two bits of narrative excitement once they're out of the fortress and on their way to Mount Doom but mostly it's just sparse descriptions of how much they are suffering, how lifeless and unpleasant (and monotonous) Mordor looks, and tons and tons of bromantic conversations. Unless you want to completely alter the plot, that's what you're stuck with. Whenever I re-read the trilogy, I generally just skip the Sam-and-Frodo parts from Emyn Muil onward. Jackson did a pretty good job of heightening the psychological tension between Gollum, Sam and Frodo, actually.

I agree there's stuff in his adaptation of RoK that takes what works in the book (the weakest of the three) and makes it work less well. Not just Legolas showboating but the sequencing in: Grond destroying the gate, the Witch-King riding in, Gandalf standing alone, the horns blowing, the Witch-King flying off, Pippin running up, Gandalf having to save Faramir, the Witch-King's attack on Theoden and his death at the hands of Eowyn and Merry. That's pretty much the best dramatic sequence that Tolkien ever wrote, and it's perfectly cinematic as is. Dunno why Jackson fucked around with it.

What I don't get is the hardcore Jackson hating, and the stupidity of insisting that anyone who thinks the films were pretty decent is somehow a ravening fanboy. They're flawed, RoK most so, but the source material's flawed too in other ways. They were at least fine throughout and occasionally way more than fine. He'll maybe do an ok job with "The Hobbit", and if he doesn't, well ok. Getting worked up about it pro or con seems weird to me.

[Ironwood]

The RotK film was pretty much all about Smeagol.  I loved what they did with Smeagol, so I liked it more than most.

[Ratman_tf]

What I don't get is the hardcore Jackson hating, and the stupidity of insisting that anyone who thinks the films were pretty decent is somehow a ravening fanboy. They're flawed, RoK most so, but the source material's flawed too in other ways. They were at least fine throughout and occasionally way more than fine. He'll maybe do an ok job with "The Hobbit", and if he doesn't, well ok. Getting worked up about it pro or con seems weird to me.

They were pretty decent. But we get a lot of fans yarking about how they were simply amazing, awesome and piss your pants exceptional. It's fine to be enthusiastic about a movie they like, but goddamn. These movies weren't that great.

I am a Tolkien fan. I'd like to see an adaptation that doesn't make me wince too often. PJ's LOTR had too many wince moments for comfort, for me.

[proudft]

I can forgive Aragorn falling off a cliff and any number of extended endings for Gandalf stabbing the shit out of a balrog in mid-air.

[Ingmar]

I can forgive Aragorn falling off a cliff and any number of extended endings for Gandalf stabbing the shit out of a balrog in mid-air.

Also, ents.

[Tebonas]

No movie can ever compete with the pictures in your head from reading a book. Especially a book you read as many times as the average Tolkien fan read LotR. Taking into account that changes have to made for a different medium as well (movies don't work like books) the Jackson version is as reasonable an adaption you will ever get. And the fact that people squabble over really minor shit proves that point in my opinion.

[Abagadro]

I don't really think many die-hard fans of the novels liked what Legolas did at Helms deep or with that damn Mumak.

Still, kids were cheering.  I guess that counts.

The little bastards.

 

His move to mount the horse during the warg battle was pretty badass though.

[Simond]

They were pretty decent. But we get a lot of fans yarking about how they were simply amazing, awesome and piss your pants exceptional. It's fine to be enthusiastic about a movie they like, but goddamn. These movies weren't that great.

I am a Tolkien fan. I'd like to see an adaptation that doesn't make me wince too often. PJ's LOTR had too many wince moments for comfort, for me.

Consider the possibility that quite a few of the fans you're railling against aren't (or weren't) Tolkien fans, but just liked the films as well done fantasy movies. It's like complaining about the Star Wars trilogy because they're not as good as the Buck Rogers/Flash Gorden comic strips they were inspired by - you might well be technically correct, but you're sort of missing the point.

[Ironwood]

 

[Slyfeind]

I don't get the hate over Legolas's surfing stunts. Those are little minor things that had nothing to do with the story. They were just...stunts.

[Ironwood]

They were XTREME WANK.

And they totally didn't fit a scene where Fat-Elf was getting run through.

[Ratman_tf]

They were pretty decent. But we get a lot of fans yarking about how they were simply amazing, awesome and piss your pants exceptional. It's fine to be enthusiastic about a movie they like, but goddamn. These movies weren't that great.

I am a Tolkien fan. I'd like to see an adaptation that doesn't make me wince too often. PJ's LOTR had too many wince moments for comfort, for me.

Consider the possibility that quite a few of the fans you're railling against aren't (or weren't) Tolkien fans, but just liked the films as well done fantasy movies. It's like complaining about the Star Wars trilogy because they're not as good as the Buck Rogers/Flash Gorden comic strips they were inspired by - you might well be technically correct, but you're sort of missing the point.

That's kinda my point. I don't think they were well done fantasy movies. The thing that saves them from being Dungeons and Dragons The Movie is the whole Tolkien angle, which was hit or miss in quality of adaptation.

[Ironwood]

Oh, Fuck Off.

I have problems with these films too, but comparing them to Dungeons and Dragons ?

FUCK OFF.

[Ratman_tf]

[Slyfeind]

[Khaldun]

They were pretty decent. But we get a lot of fans yarking about how they were simply amazing, awesome and piss your pants exceptional. It's fine to be enthusiastic about a movie they like, but goddamn. These movies weren't that great.

I am a Tolkien fan. I'd like to see an adaptation that doesn't make me wince too often. PJ's LOTR had too many wince moments for comfort, for me.

Consider the possibility that quite a few of the fans you're railling against aren't (or weren't) Tolkien fans, but just liked the films as well done fantasy movies. It's like complaining about the Star Wars trilogy because they're not as good as the Buck Rogers/Flash Gorden comic strips they were inspired by - you might well be technically correct, but you're sort of missing the point.

That's kinda my point. I don't think they were well done fantasy movies. The thing that saves them from being Dungeons and Dragons The Movie is the whole Tolkien angle, which was hit or miss in quality of adaptation.

Just wondering what a "well done fantasy movie" is in your universe.

[Slyfeind]

I'm still wondering why Legolas surfing was out of place. NOBODY CAN ANSWER ME THOUGH, other than "It just didn't fit." Well, it did. When the first battle sequence is a wall of elves almost literally doing synchronized swimming with their mini-halberds, the heightened-reality of the elves' fighting style is firmly set. Unless, I guess, Orlando Bloom does it, then it's WRONG!

[Sand]

Oh, Fuck Off.

I have problems with these films too, but comparing them to Dungeons and Dragons ?

FUCK OFF.

 
 

[Ironwood]

I'm still wondering why Legolas surfing was out of place. NOBODY CAN ANSWER ME THOUGH, other than "It just didn't fit." Well, it did. When the first battle sequence is a wall of elves almost literally doing synchronized swimming with their mini-halberds, the heightened-reality of the elves' fighting style is firmly set. Unless, I guess, Orlando Bloom does it, then it's WRONG!

Did the forum eat my reply ?  Oh, no, there it is there.

"And they totally didn't fit a scene where Fat-Elf was getting run through."

Haldir looked like the only surfing he ever did was body surfing at the front row of the pie eating contest.  I'd hardly call a unified chop from elves 'synchronised swimming' either.  Those chaps could have been Romans, Spartans or Glaswegians and the effect would have been the same.

[Sheepherder]

Obviously we're just hating.  The concept of shooting things while surfing down a flight of stairs isn't patently fucking ridiculous.