Official 'The Hobbit' Thread - - - - Part 13

[Liam_H]

Doesn't seem a gushing endorsement. Perhaps you are not the sort to geek out. But is the whole of the experience just enjoyable or worth geeking over?

As I've said I'm just a casual fan of this franchise overall. I didn't even see Hobbit 1 until last week and that's only when I knew I would be watching Smaug soon. My critique of the movie is brief like a lot of my other reviews because I'm not much with words. I boil it down overall to whether I liked/loved it or dislike/hated it. Liked the first and liked this one. The latter a bit more because Smaug was more interesting than the Goblin King to me.

I guess being a little more in depth I could say things like: I liked the Tauriel character but [BLACKOUT]her romantic subplot[/BLACKOUT] not so much. I liked the barrel sequence that I believe a lot of reviews are praising but the CGI in that scene was iffy at times that kind of took me out of the movie. I loved when Bilbo first met Smaug(so arrogant and smug) but [BLACKOUT]when the rest of the dwarves show up it becomes a bit tedious with them running around. [/BLACKOUT]

 

[Persona]

i did like the use of forced perspective in the original trilogy. it's too bad that HFR 3D prevents them from using that technique much in these Hobbit movies.

on the plus side, whereas the computer scaling of characters in LotR was often egregiously bad (the hero shot of the Fellowship all together in FotR, that shot where everyone's bowing to the Hobbits in RotK, etc.) that technique has been VASTLY improved for the Hobbit films, and a good thing, too, since they have to use it so much. in the Bag End scene from AUJ you totally forget it's even happening.

 

[Persona]

also, thanks for sharing your throughts, Liam!

 

[marvelrobbins]

well it seems from what people who have seen it have said

Spoiler

Both the death of Smaug and white Council's attack on Dol Guldar,I may be spelling it wrong,are held till third film

 

[superkong 500]

As I've said I'm just a casual fan of this franchise overall. I didn't even see Hobbit 1 until last week and that's only when I knew I would be watching Smaug soon. My critique of the movie is brief like a lot of my other reviews because I'm not much with words. I boil it down overall to whether I liked/loved it or dislike/hated it. Liked the first and liked this one. The latter a bit more because Smaug was more interesting than the Goblin King to me.

I guess being a little more in depth I could say things like: I liked the Tauriel character but [BLACKOUT]her romantic subplot[/BLACKOUT] not so much. I liked the barrel sequence that I believe a lot of reviews are praising but the CGI in that scene was iffy at times that kind of took me out of the movie. I loved when Bilbo first met Smaug(so arrogant and smug) but [BLACKOUT]when the rest of the dwarves show up it becomes a bit tedious with them running around. [/BLACKOUT]

What can you say about the fight scene in laketown with legolas and tauriel fighting orcs?

 

[Drizzle]

Liam, can you tell me if the dwarves get more character development and screen time in general this time around?

 

[Moridin]

And yet in FOTR we had a special kitchen table constructed so that Gandalf would appear bigger than Frodo while they sat opposite each other.

Forced perspective doesn't work when you shoot in 3D.

 

[Marvolo]

And yet in FOTR we had a special kitchen table constructed so that Gandalf would appear bigger than Frodo while they sat opposite each other.

And yet the Orcs of LOTR were men in masks, and looked better than the CGI soap sculptures of The Hobbit.

No one is demanding that Smaug be a spray painted iguana shot 500 yards in the foreground of Martin Freeman. We just question the wisdom of using CGI where practical effects once did a wonderful job.

And Jackson Nd the crew have said why he couldnt use those techbiques this time around. Forced perspective like that doesn't work with a 3D camera.

 

[regwec]

The guy above beat you to it.

It's a shame- canning the 3d would be my solution, but it makes too many $$$ I suppose.

 

[jonathancrane]

The guy above beat you to it.

It's a shame- canning the 3d would be my solution, but it makes to many $$$ I suppose.

I would have preferred he [had] jettisoned the 3D, especially with the logistical difficulties it posed. When you're driving Ian McKellan to tears because of problems posed by the damn camera, it's time to say 'f--- it' and move on.

 

[redhawk23]

Forced perspective doesn't work when you shoot in 3D.

Which just throws that whole choice into question.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

And Jackson Nd the crew have said why he couldnt use those techbiques this time around. Forced perspective like that doesn't work with a 3D camera.

And who decided to shoot in 3D again?

 

[regwec]

Sneak preview of part 3!

[YT]4Pko6nNeOy0[/YT]

 

[jonathancrane]

To think Sauron could have been stopped if Elrond had played the song of time in reverse, and had pushed Isildur into Orodruin before he turned around and started twirling his mustache.

 

[Marvolo]

And who decided to shoot in 3D again?

Jackson. And guess what? Forced perspective and the lack of that technique hasn't been a problem in either film. To everyone, Can we take off the rosy tinted nostalgia glasses and drop the whole lets damn all new techniques and forget that old techniques had flaws too attitudes? Jackson rectified the Mckellan situation asap. We've seen other instances of Mckellan having trouble with basic direction. The man is set in his ways and has his process. Hes gonna run into obstacles. Jackson isn't the devil cause the old man cried and 3D isn't some new witchcraft. Tired of hearing nothing but *****ing in this thread about **** that's here to stay. Its driving me bonkers.

 

[regwec]

Clearly. It was Sir Ian's fault, guys! Poor PJ.

 

[ares834]

The guy above beat you to it.

It's a shame- canning the 3d would be my solution, but it makes too many $$$ I suppose.

Agreed. Both Hunger Games and Catching Fire were able to get by without 3D, I wish the Hobbit could have as well.

 

[jacobed]

Just got it of a screening of this. It was decent, much better than the first one which I thought was terrible but it still is unnecessarily long and about 3/4s of the movie I could careless what happens. I don't really like any of the characters and they're all very one dimensional. You could cut out 8 of the dwarves and It would still be the same movie. Surprised by how much I enjoyed the elves even though they don't belong in this movie and the action looks cool but it is all cg and you can tell, the cg is very bad. Rarely was I ever convinced by it. But the movie is worth it for one reason, Smaug. Holy hot damn he is amazing, everything with Smaug is perfect except how they pronounce his name. Cumberbatch knocks it out of the park. His voice, the mannerisms, the tension in the scene, even the cg isn't bad. They chose a really poor place to end the film and if he would just trim the unnecessary stuff, he would have time for a proper ending but alas he didn't know how. Unfortunately I saw it in 3d and it was terrible, hate 3d. I have a lot of complaints but the non stop action and Smaug helped me forget them. I'd say it's a solid 7-8/10

 

[superkong 500]

Just got it of a screening of this. It was decent, much better than the first one which I thought was terrible but it still is unnecessarily long and about 3/4s of the movie I could careless what happens. I don't really like any of the characters and they're all very one dimensional. You could cut out 8 of the dwarves and It would still be the same movie. Surprised by how much I enjoyed the elves even though they don't belong in this movie and the action looks cool but it is all cg and you can tell, the cg is very bad. Rarely was I ever convinced by it. But the movie is worth it for one reason, Smaug. Holy hot damn he is amazing, everything with Smaug is perfect except how they pronounce his name. Cumberbatch knocks it out of the park. His voice, the mannerisms, the tension in the scene, even the cg isn't bad. They chose a really poor place to end the film and if he would just trim the unnecessary stuff, he would have time for a proper ending but alas he didn't know how. Unfortunately I saw it in 3d and it was terrible, hate 3d. I have a lot of complaints but the non stop action and Smaug helped me forget them. I'd say it's a solid 7-8/10

Hows the action with leggy though?

 

[jacobed]

The action is great throughout something I couldn't say about the first one, its all very fake looking but it all looks very cool and made me remember why I loved Legolas in the original trilogy.

 

[superkong 500]

The action is great throughout something I couldn't say about the first one, its all very fake looking but it all looks very cool and made me remember why I loved Legolas in the original trilogy.

does he

Spoiler

decapitate some orcs ?

and the fight in laketown how is it?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The action is great throughout something I couldn't say about the first one, its all very fake looking but it all looks very cool and made me remember why I loved Legolas in the original trilogy.

The action from the trailers has looked great. Nice to see that you think it translates better then the first.

Does it have to do with the Elves as opposed Dwarves doing a lot of fighting?

 

[jacobed]

does he

Spoiler

decapitate some orcs ?

and the fight in laketown how is it?

He gives orcs the business that's for sure. Laketown was alright. A big reason the action is better is that the elves are just much more enjoyable to watch

 

[DarthSkywalker]

He gives orcs the business that's for sure. Laketown was alright. A big reason the action is better is that the elves are just much more enjoyable to watch

And you answered my question. Thanks.

 

[redhawk23]

Jackson. And guess what? Forced perspective and the lack of that technique hasn't been a problem in either film. To everyone, Can we take off the rosy tinted nostalgia glasses and drop the whole lets damn all new techniques and forget that old techniques had flaws too attitudes? Jackson rectified the Mckellan situation asap. We've seen other instances of Mckellan having trouble with basic direction. The man is set in his ways and has his process. Hes gonna run into obstacles. Jackson isn't the devil cause the old man cried and 3D isn't some new witchcraft. Tired of hearing nothing but *****ing in this thread about **** that's here to stay. Its driving me bonkers.

Its not nostalgia, the decision to shoot digitally had major implications for everything from set design to makeup and has hurt these films aesthetically. It has created situations in which the actors don't feel comfortable working on the movie. None of this has done a single damn thing to help the films. Jackson himself knew he wasn't the ideal person to make these movies. He did, and he's hardly above criticism for his choices.