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

[Persona]

That was great!

 

[ThePhantasm]

Also, by gosh, they need to take it easy with Legolas' makeup. Is Bloom really that much older? Yikes.

 

[Zeus]

Also, by gosh, they need to take it easy with Legolas' makeup. Is Bloom really that much older? Yikes.

How about that really creepy look of Legolas twitching his eye at the camera/audience?

Completely awkward...Should be used as a photo bomb for images

 

[Zeus]

You guys listen to Peter Jackson?

Peter Jackson reveals where he would have split 'The Hobbit' if it'd only been two movies
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/12/13/hobbit-peter-jackson/

 

[Octoberist]

The polarizing is bittersweet. Vengeance if you will, from the Star Wars fans!

 

[ares834]

Why would the dwarves even make harpoon anti-air turrets anyways? Are they being attacked by flying creatures all the time? (the answer is no)

It's just a fancy ballista.

 

[ThePhantasm]

Also... molten gold doesn't work that way.

 

[ThePhantasm]

The barrel sequences post mirkwood and the hand to hand melee in general is a mess. Its just a damn mess with elbows and knees and legs and random orc, monster, and dwarf parts felling around. Just holy **** how did this get approved!?

Yeah, I don't get why the barrel sequence is getting such praise in the reviews I read... it was really hard to tell what the heck was going on. Honestly I was just confused while watching it.

 

[Octoberist]

The Barrel Sequence is the new Pod racing.

'Now that's what I call Barrel Sequencing!' - Bilbo Baggins

 

[ThePhantasm]

Best thing about the movie: Martin Freeman's Bilbo. He deserved a better set of films than this.

 

[Zeus]

The dwarves, Bilbo, Bard, Gandalf, Smaug's voice are great...The rest, not so much.

How is it that this film has such a high rating on rotten tomatoes and on IMDB? Very surprised.

 

[DACrowe]

That movie was painful to sit through. And I love Lord of the Rings and the book.

But that just was a very dull experience. And yet it still couldn't find an ending after what felt like 30 minutes of filler action. What a shame.

 

[Drz]

Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug - Film Review

Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the 2nd part of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. The 1st film has a quote from Gandalf regarding storytelling: “Well, all good stories deserve embellishment.” If that was the case for “A Long Journey,” then “Desolation of Smaug” is where young Frodo Baggins has to interrupt Bilbo; “Bilbo! Stop smoking Pipe-weed! Legolas can’t do all that!” because, this is the most over stretched fantasy action movie that just never seems to end.

There really isn’t much of a depth story. You have the two central plots. Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Thorin (Richard Armitage), Balin (Ken Stott) & the rest of the Dwarves are on the quest for Erebor to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the Dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). The secondary plot is Gandalf’s quest to find out the truth behind Dol Guldur & who really is behind all this evil.

I can’t say any of the characters I mentioned get any sort of development, besides arguably Kili (Aidan Turner), because he is introduced into a love triangle between him, Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) & Legolas (Orlando Bloom), but there is no advancement to the character. Speaking of Legolas, why did Peter Jackson ever think we needed him in this movie? It’s one thing to have fan service, but when you make Legolas & Tauriel the ones with most action sequences, with the elves pulling so many over the top stunts, surfboarding not only on shields this time, but on Spiders, Barrels, Orcs & Dwarves. I guess Jackson tries to compensate since Thorin gets to surfboard on melted gold, because why not? Stories deserve embellishment?

The biggest issue the movie has is its excess amount of action sequences from the Orc raiding party led by Bolg. Why an issue? This legion of Orc horde can infiltrate the Kingdom of Mirkwood, go unseen by anyone in Laketown, how did Sauron manage to have an army of Ninja Orcs and why didn’t we see the Orcs pull off these tricks in the Lord of the Rings? How can hundreds of Orcs manage to be so unseen when the 13 Dwarves are always spotted instead? There had to be at least over 300 Ninja Orcs, since Legolas kills about 180 of them during the course of this movie.

What Peter Jackson always does best is showcase the gorgeous landscapes of Middle-Earth. Beon’s Hall, Mirkwood, Laketown & Dol Guldur all looks beautifully detailed. The new characters also look stunning: Beorn is a behemoth, Bolg’s huge stature mixed with his destroyed face makes him the brutish Orc you’d never want to see & of course how could I not talk about how magnificent Smaug looks like? The eyes, the glorious wings & every little detail about him is just what the fans wanted, his booming voice with the Englishman mannerism is perfect. It’s just the biggest insult for the character to be completely humiliated, because Jackson felt the need for the 3rd act to have some big action sequence, so Smaug is trying to play cat & mice, only the mices outsmart the heck out of Smaug, making him into a bitter sad fool.

“Desolation of Smaug” is also a badly paced film; it doesn’t have a conclusion of its own, which is disappointing because this means the first 40 minutes of the 3rd movie “There and Back Again” have to be spent on concluding the story arcs of this movie.

If “A Long Journey” is a drinking game where you have to take a shot whenever Gandalf saves everyone with deus ex machima, then “Desolation of Smaug” is a drinking game whenever the heroes get captured.

 

[CGHulk]

One of my complaints with the film was the Dwarves' battle with Smaug. It was bad enough that it was choreographed the same way the droid assembly line battle was in Attack of the Clones, but that it had to incorporate the most ridiculous Rube Goldberg contraption and derived a scenario from Season 1 of Game of Thrones. However, I loved the river sequence: it was pure blockbuster cheese.

I was coming here to say this. With all the dwarves running around they should of played the Benny Hill theme. Legolas was just there to kill stuff (spiders and orcs). The Tauriel healing scene seamed weird. Bolg and all the CG orcs looked really fake, I thought Weta was better than this? I guess ridiculously large and over conceptualized effects sequences out weigh the need for realism!

 

[Ajendo]

Wow, some of the things ice read are overly critical of this film. I, on the other hand LOVED it! Great movie, fun and epic ride and I was never once confused by any if the action set pieces, especially the barrel/stream escape. I'm seeing this movie again today and probably twice more over the next week.

 

[regwec]

Well, having read the views of all the posters I most respect here, my mind is made up: I'm not going to bother with this.

Instead, I am going to read the book again over Christmas. I can sit by an open fire with a nice glass of port. I'm looking forward to it already.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Even The Two Towers had them cutting away from Helm's Deep.

A very different kind of scene. Also, Helm's Deep wasn't the only relevant storyline. In this case, Smaug very much was. But if they wanted to cut, they should have started at very least waited until after Bilbo and Smaug's conversation.

Yep. And Legolas actually balances himself on the heads of two dwarves in the middle of a raging, swirling river and shoots some sick 'rows at kill-fodder orcs.

The fascination with Legolas in this franchise borders on fetishism.

Don't understand that here. He was very much a supporting character here. He basically there to provide badass fighting and jokes with a bit of foreshadowing. I really, really, really liked him here.

And while I didn't love him having [BLACKOUT]Orcist[/BLACKOUT], which I assume he will be giving back come the final film, when he decides to use it against Bolg... pretty awesome imo. Same with his reaction to his [BLACKOUT]own blood[/BLACKOUT].

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Well, having read the views of all the posters I most respect here, my mind is made up: I'm not going to bother with this.

Instead, I am going to read the book again over Christmas. I can sit by an open fire with a nice glass of port. I'm looking forward to it already.

I seriously think you should go and see it, if just for the characters. Honestly, Bilbo, Thorin, Smaug, Balin, Dwalin, and pretty much all the performances are worth seeing. There will definitely be things that make you upset. Possibly very upset, but I also think there are things that will make you smile quite widely if you let them.

Smaug and Bilbo's conversation, the barrel sequence, the naming of Sting, Gandalf the Wizard.

Yeah, I don't get why the barrel sequence is getting such praise in the reviews I read... it was really hard to tell what the heck was going on. Honestly I was just confused while watching it.

I honestly had not one problem following.

The only thing I found odd were the shoots from a clearly different camera. Those few moments took me out, but the rest was easy to follow imo. I did however roll my eyes then entire time with the Kili situation,

The Barrel Sequence is the new Pod racing.

'Now that's what I call Barrel Sequencing!' - Bilbo Baggins

As I am a fan of Pod racing and the droid factory scene, I guess I am right at home.

Best thing about the movie: Martin Freeman's Bilbo. He deserved a better set of films than this.

I do agree with this.

 

[terry78]

I do like how Pace played Thranduil as such an unfeeling jerkass. He's technically one of the good guys but you really don't like him all that much.

 

[Hush]

I do like how Pace played Thranduil as such an unfeeling jerkass. He's technically one of the good guys but you really don't like him all that much.

He played him perfectly, you knew something was off but that overall he was doing what a King would do for his realm and the protection of his people.

 

[jacobed]

Well, having read the views of all the posters I most respect here, my mind is made up: I'm not going to bother with this.

Instead, I am going to read the book again over Christmas. I can sit by an open fire with a nice glass of port. I'm looking forward to it already.

I'd say see it but a matinee, cheap matinee

 

[DarthSkywalker]

He played him perfectly, you knew something was off but that overall he was doing what a King would do for his realm and the protection of his people.

I wouldn't say that. He was written more as a selfish coward imo.

 

[Hush]

As a Huge fan of Tolkeins work I would say this film is just awesome but as was the problem with the first one it lack a certain something that made the other triology so damn good. I feel this story is a bit stretched and it would be nice if they had the rights to the Silmarillion so the story could be more fleshed out by actual Tolkien work rather than Philipia Boynes and Jackson doing essentially high budget fanfiction but Warner Bros demanded 3 films so they had to do 3 films and we are the ones that have to suffer some silly story beats but oh well. If you like action films and enjoy the middle earth that Jackson has created I would go see this.

 

[Hush]

I wouldn't say that. He was written more as a selfish coward imo.

I didn't see that as the case. I don't think he was shown as a coward but more as someone who knew that evil was coming and he needed to protect his Kingdom and damn the consequences.

 

[jacobed]

Has it been confirmed that Wb demanded 3 instead of 2. I feel like Jackson has a bit more say in things like that.