The Hobbit (2012/2013)

[Yegolev]

Watched it last night.  Entire family enjoyed it.  Changed parts were generally agreeable, and the backstory additions were quite welcome.  Full giant scene was not needed, just some noise and silhouette would have been perfect.

I actually didn't like the change to a trap door on the Front Porch.  As for parts that were silly, I'd put Dame Edna as Goblin King over the Rhosgobel Rabbits.  Because Radagast.

I also read some of this thread just now.  I'd recommend a re-read of the book for most everyone, which should clear up a lot of gripes outside the staunch neckbeards and can't-rescind-my-opinion-because-i'm-always-right.

[Ironwood]

Just Back.

In two minds.  Film going part of me thought it could do with a trim but was highly entertained.

Tolkien fan part of me was utterly horrified.


Hot Dwarf kept throwing out my suspension of disbelief.  Bad mistake that, I think.

[Hawkbit]

Just Back.

In two minds.  Film going part of me thought it could do with a trim but was highly entertained.

Tolkien fan part of me was utterly horrified.


Hot Dwarf kept throwing out my suspension of disbelief.  Bad mistake that, I think.

I just got back, too.  And I came to say the exact, exact same things.  Some of the dwarves just looked... wrong. 

[UnSub]

Saw it the other day. I agree with everyone who said it could do with a trim.

Although it shows the polish of experience, I feel that the wonder has worn off a bit and the expectation of what is going to appear on screen - orks aren't new, Gandalf whispering to a moth has a known result and it hits a lot of the same pacing as the first LOTR film.

But I enjoyed it and will be back for the rest, so mission accomplished, I guess.

[Ironwood]

Also :  Galadriel and Elrond.  MUCH better this time.  Pretty much spot on perfect.

It was a hugely pleasant surprise not to have to hate Blanchett this time around.

[Tannhauser]

Yeah, that was one of my favorite parts of the movie; seeing the elves in their full power and also someone I didn't expect to see
As for the handsome dwarves, well, they all can't be fat-asses.  I really didn't have too much of a problem, I was more bothered by Bilbo being in such great shape.  But by the troll scene I got over that and I have to say Freeman really became Bilbo to me.  He was Arthur Dent after all!

[RhyssaFireheart]

Yeah, the different looks of the dwarves I just put down to age.  The older the dwarf, the more sterotypically "dwarfish" he looked, with the big nose and overdone beard.  Kili and Fili were young (yes, and rather hot looking), Thorin was in his prime and the rest were in various stages in between.  I was actually fine with how they all looked, although I can't imagine how much time a few of them spent on those elaborate beard/hair braid getups.

The two "repeat" scenes from LOTR I rather liked, simply because they were shoutouts to LOTR.  Sure, it was a bit corny in a way but I didn't mind at all.

The only place I could see a trim being needed was the stone giants storm fight.  That was pure hokey garbage and felt more like it belonged in a comedy rather than this film.

[Hawkbit]

I saw no blue beards tucked into golden belts.

[Ironwood]

I was more bothered by Bilbo being in such great shape. 

See, you could see that in the garden they made some effort to stuff his waistcoat, but it didn't really work - If they'd done that and had him lose some weight due to the journey, that'd be fine.  I can't really fault Freeman at all though - I think everyone involved in this was really acting out their skin and it was really impressive.

[Mrbloodworth]

Finally got to see this, this movie was fantastic, and most of you are crazy.

[croaker69]

I thought it was a better film version of a Tolkien story than any of the LoTR films.  I am dreading the length of the Battle of Five Armies based on where we already are in the story. 

[Nebu]

Saw this with my daughter last weekend.  How many parts are they breaking the book into? 

I thought the movie was entertaining and did a pretty good job of capturing the book without being too nerdy.  This coming from someone that read the Hobbit many times as a child.  It was my favorite book and I still enjoyed the movie.

[Merusk]

I thought it was a better film version of a Tolkien story than any of the LoTR films.  I am dreading the length of the Battle of Five Armies based on where we already are in the story. 

I think based on the nonsense at the end of ROTK you should dread the "wind-down" after the battle more.  The battle happens in chapter 17, "The Clouds Burst" and there's 2 more chapters after that - ASSUMING - that Jackson only shows to the point Bilbo is knocked-out.  (He won't.)

Which means the battle will happen, then we'll get another 45min- 1 hour of nonsense about the repercussions of the battle, setting up the kingdom, Bilbo's travel home, Balin going to Moria, etc.

[shiznitz]

I fail to see how experiencing Jackson's vision of Balin returning to Moria will be nonsense.  I hope we get to see the story behind the remains found by the Fellowship.

[croaker69]

I thought it was a better film version of a Tolkien story than any of the LoTR films.  I am dreading the length of the Battle of Five Armies based on where we already are in the story. 

I think based on the nonsense at the end of ROTK you should dread the "wind-down" after the battle more.  The battle happens in chapter 17, "The Clouds Burst" and there's 2 more chapters after that - ASSUMING - that Jackson only shows to the point Bilbo is knocked-out.  (He won't.)

Which means the battle will happen, then we'll get another 45min- 1 hour of nonsense about the repercussions of the battle, setting up the kingdom, Bilbo's travel home, Balin going to Moria, etc.

I'm also more interested in the Moria stuff and some tie in to the other films in Rivendell and Hobbiton on the way back than more than 15 min of CGI battle at a time.  I have TW Shogun 2 for my tiny guys running in the grass fix.

[Merusk]

You guys are Tolkein geeks.  I don't really care about it.  It's enough for me to know, "Oh hey.. that's Balin. He dies in LOTR."

We'll see what audiences and critics have to say in 2 years.  I expect a lot of the same complaints about the end of ROTK.

[WayAbvPar]

Saw it on NYE with my lovely bride. Thoughts below.

Wow, I need to re-read The Hobbit. Been at least 30 years and I don't remember dick about it.

Nearly every scene/plot point had me mentally checking my watch. Way too much bloat. Easily could have done it in 1 LONG movie or a pair of well paced movies.

Ian McKellan really looked OLD. Jarring seeing Gandalf of 60 years younger looking far older and frailer. I am now guessing that has something to do with the 48fps stuff you lot were nattering on about. Well that and the fact the he IS ~ 10 years older.

Too much silliness for too little gain. Would have preferred more tension broken up by the silliness instead.

Can't decide how much I liked it. Bits I REALLY liked (Rivendell was awesome, and whoever designed it for LOTRO should get a prize, because I recognized it instantly from there...same with The Lonely Lands or whatever the zone SE of Bree is...the running from the orcs scene looked just like that area). If I had to grade it I would give it a C+, I think.

[Tannhauser]

I drove 55 one way miles to see it again, this time in 3D.  Liked it even more and it looked awesome.  I know it's not cool to like 3D around here, but this and Avatar looked amazing.  Rivendell and Goblintown in 3D were stunning. 

[Teleku]

3D is fine, its only for movies that tacked it on, which looks horrible.  Movies that were shot for 3D in mind when they were filmed look great.

[Arthur_Parker]

I really liked it, I've not been following this much at all but I wouldn't be surprised if the Scouring of the Shire is filmed in the third one.

[Ironwood]

Um ?

[shiznitz]

Um ?

How polite that was.

[Arthur_Parker]

Yeah I know it's from the LOTR but the whole Hobbit was filmed as a flashback, which included a further flashback to a Thorin's Moria battle.  So he could do it and I won't hear reasons otherwise.

[Khaldun]

Problem with that is that Bilbo is flashing back from a pre-LOTR Shire, and the post-ROTK Shire has already been shown to us in the same narrative frame as not having any such Scouring whatsoever. There's no space for Jackson to fit it in, at all. It's the one thing he's boxed himself out on. He's even got some narrative room to fuck around with Barrow-Wights and Bombadil if he wants (on Bilbo's return) but Scouring is right out.

[eldaec]

That, and none of the characters involved in the hobbit are in any way involved in the scouring.

And Scaramanga died at Isengard.

And don't be retarded.

[Ironwood]

 

[Tale]

Yeah I know it's from the LOTR but the whole Hobbit was filmed as a flashback, which included a further flashback to a Thorin's Moria battle.  So he could do it and I won't hear reasons otherwise.

Reason you won't hear #1: it would be a flash forward, not a flashback, and Flash Forward got cancelled.

[Arthur_Parker]

I don't know why you all bother, the scouring is going to be great.  He can tweak things to get it right and sell a directors cut blu ray box set of all 6 movies.

[Ratman_tf]

I don't know why you all bother, the scouring is going to be great.  He can tweak things to get it right and sell a directors cut blu ray box set of all 6 movies.

I just want to see Merry or Pippin shield surf down a flight of stairs while Frodo does a backflip and cuts Saruman's head off. Then Sam can deliver the zinger. "Scour that!"

[Arthur_Parker]

That's a point he could cut the Oliphaunt themepark ride out of the Return of the King and fix the horrible CGI ghosts at the same time.  I suspect Jackson only took on the Hobbit to make up for his past crimes.

[palmer_eldritch]

It really comes across as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings, which The Hobbit actually isn't (by which I mean the book called The Hobbit, not the bits in the Lord of the Rings appendices which relate to it).


That's fine by me but I wouldn't have minded a movie which was a bit less ambitious and just told the basic story of Bilbo and his adventure.

I don't get the complaints about the rock giants, that scene only lasted 60 seconds? Maybe I dozed off.

[HaemishM]

I don't get the complaints about the rock giants, that scene only lasted 60 seconds? Maybe I dozed off.

It looked utterly retarded? It was jarringly out of character with the rest of the story? Did I mention it looked utterly retarded? It felt like a tacked on excuse to film some 3d themepark ride shit.

[WayAbvPar]

What he said. Also, in a movie that was already grossly overlong, it was just another couple of minutes to pointlessly endure.

[Samwise]

Every now and then there needs to be a loud noise or something, or you might forget you're watching a movie and fall asleep.   

What really strikes me about a bunch of those scenes is that they overdo it to the point of destroying any tension they might have otherwise had.  At no point during that whole thing was I thinking "oh no, somebody might fall or get hurt!"  I was just waiting for it to be over.  Every 5 minutes in these stupid movies there's somebody dangling off the edge of a cliff, but nobody ever falls.

[Nevermore]

So I saw this and I enjoyed it.  I actually liked the slower beginning/middle parts better than the end.  The meeting with Gollum was great, but the goblin city part stretched on way too long, and then immediately jumping right into the orc part at the end on top of that just gave me action fatigue or something.  Like Samwise said, there just didn't seem to be much tension at the end despite all the action, so that was the only part I felt dragged on.

Taken by itself, I didn't think the rock giants were bad.  They actually looked kind of neat (maybe because I didn't see it in 3d?).  But the whole scene had absolutely nothing to do with anything in the rest of the story so there was really no reason for it to be in there.  Oh, and those dwarves clinging to that flailing limb or whatever they were hanging on to while being smashed against the side of the mountain but everyone being unhurt was probably the most  part of the movie.