Official 'The Hobbit' Thread - Part 9

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I know some people that have never read The Hobbit or seen the cartoon movie from 1977 before going into this film. Some of them liked this film as much as the Lord of the Rings.

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I must say Thranduil is probably the most convincing looking Elf in terms of how I imagined it in Jackson's universe. With a few exceptions, I always thought Jackson dropped the ball in terms of how he visualized an Elf and how he directed the actor to perform as that being. With a few exceptions, most of the Jackson Elves never really stood out from Men as a more "ethereal" being. So when I saw Thranduil in the Hobbit prologue I had to smile and think, Mr Jackson, you finally got the majestic composure of an Elf right.

Galadriel was a considerable improvement from the previous trilogy as well.
 
They don't like to get involved. The Eagles are the very definition of deus ex machina.

As regards to the Eagles in The Hobbit, it is explained in the book. In the book, they speak and help out the company when its being harassed by Wargs as they owe Gandalf a favour for saving their chief years ago. They save them and bring them to their chief who explains he's glad to repay Gandalf but will only fly them to the outskirts of any settlement as they do not want to go near any Men, who they fear will try to shoot them down with arrows in the belief they are trying to steal their sheep.

Also, it's Tolkien's birthday today. He would have been 121. Bow before the man who made these films possible :up:


It's a shame they cut out the talking about. I mean...come on, it would have been like 5 maybe 10 mins extra. That's nothing.
 
I know some people that have never read The Hobbit or seen the cartoon movie from 1977 before going into this film. Some of them liked this film as much as the Lord of the Rings.

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I never read anything nor watched the cartoon and I liked the movie more than the first two LOTR. I just had more fun and a great time with this one.
 
It's a shame they cut out the talking about. I mean...come on, it would have been like 5 maybe 10 mins extra. That's nothing.

imo they should have added a few lines after they were dropped off, with one of the dwarfs asking why they weren't taken all the way and gandalf explaining why.
 
I must say Thranduil is probably the most convincing looking Elf in terms of how I imagined it in Jackson's universe. With a few exceptions, I always thought Jackson dropped the ball in terms of how he visualized an Elf and how he directed the actor to perform as that being. With a few exceptions, most of the Jackson Elves never really stood out from Men as a more "ethereal" being. So when I saw Thranduil in the Hobbit prologue I had to smile and think, Mr Jackson, you finally got the majestic composure of an Elf right.

Galadriel was a considerable improvement from the previous trilogy as well.

I'd say Galadriel and Celeborn have that ethereal quality you are talking about more than Elrond and Arwen. But then, Elrond is Half-elven.
 
1) The three trolls. I didn't care for the Three Stooges vibe they went for. The troll with the high-pitched voice was a little much, but aside from that the scene was good.

2) A few of the action scenes went a little "too far" - in particular, the scene where the group escape the goblin city by falling/sliding for a mile into the earth was a little much for me. Cut that part in half and it wouldn't seem so far fetched. Other than that, the action was great, though.

While I enjoyed the trolls I did think the bridge sliding scene was a little ridiculous. To the point who I looked to my Aunt and said "Really?" out loud in the theater.

I loved the LOTR films (but can only watch them about once every 5 years) and I enjoyed the books. But the film is just too long and not enough happens. The only characters I liked were Bilbo and Gandalf. The new characters do not work for me, I do not care when they are in danger and the inclusion of appendix-based asides, such as the Brown Wizard's scenes, feel pointless and drag down the plot.

FOTR had a natural plotline that had rising action and made me care about the Fellowship's characters and I hadn't even read the books at that point. LOTR worked hard to earn our interest. The Hobbit feels like it's for hardcore fans only. I read the books, but a movie needs to do more than earnestly regurgitate what's in the book...and a lot more that is intentionally not.

Just my viewpoint on the film.

Well to each their own, I watched FOTR at least 20 times in 2012...no joke. Its been on TV often...Starz I think....or maybe that was Encore. And I still don't tire of it. I don't think I could wait five years of not watching LOTR. For me this was FOTR reborn anew. A unforgettable experience.

Im one of those people. The film felt like it had no drive or forward momentum. It could have easily lost 20-30 minutes and felt overly indulgent. It also only covered my least favorite parts of the Hobbit. The only moments that really stuck with me were the character moments between gandalf/bilbo, bofur/bilbo, thorin/balin. The rest of the film I couldnt get invested in. It doesnt have that strong characterization and it could have to do with the fact that I just dont given a damn about half the dwarves. They might as well not even exist. Im hoping the next film will grab me more because it has the stuff Im really interested in. The necromancer, dol guldor, mirkwood, and smaug.

That is true the dwarves didn't have strong or much of any characterization except for a few, but I was in it for the adventure more than anything else and was pleased. I do see the second part being greater, mainly do to my excitement in seeing Smaug.

I can't help but think this suffered from what Iron Man 2, Prometheus and the Dark Knight Rises suffered.

Filmmakers make movies. Audiences expect the second coming.

Yeah, I enjoyed IR2, Prometheus, and TDKR. But people do often except so much from the continuations of a critical acclaimed franchise/series. ITs understandable but also sometimes the hype gets bigger than it should of been in the first place.

Your point? I was relaying what a friend said and then I said that Jackson does what people say Lucas did.

As some who liked the SW prequels and the Hobbit, I might have more respect for Peter Jackson for attempting to direct all three films of the Hobbit after previously directing all three Lord of the Rings films while Lucas only directed 4 out of 6 films. Of course Andy Serkis probably is a big help on the Hobbit. I don't think any director is doing anything wrong and just trying to give audiences and fans more to enjoy.


Heh, thats mean. But hilarious! :D

It's a shame they cut out the talking about. I mean...come on, it would have been like 5 maybe 10 mins extra. That's nothing.

Would of been nice to have something.

imo they should have added a few lines after they were dropped off, with one of the dwarfs asking why they weren't taken all the way and gandalf explaining why.

Like that! Would be a good idea! Unless Gandalf will explain in the next film.
 
If Tolkien Estate approves that I'll be shocked.
 
Universal? Crap. I would really wanna go to a lord of the rings themed land, just much prefer to go to disney when im in orlando. Oh well
 
As some who liked the SW prequels and the Hobbit, I might have more respect for Peter Jackson for attempting to direct all three films of the Hobbit after previously directing all three Lord of the Rings films while Lucas only directed 4 out of 6 films. Of course Andy Serkis probably is a big help on the Hobbit. I don't think any director is doing anything wrong and just trying to give audiences and fans more to enjoy.

Remember, PJ almost was Lucas in that regard, too, as GDT was set to do the Hobbit. It's only because the production was a clusterf**k that we (sadly) didn't get a GDT-directed Hobbit.
 
Is that you? How wonderful! Did you have a great time!

Ha, yeah! :D I live in Canada now, but I grew up about three hours drive from Hobbiton. My girlfriend and I did the tour last year when we went back to NZ. It's pretty neat watching the movies now and being able to recognize all the places around the village. One small section was closed off because they were filming at the time. It was great fun, apparently they get a lot of people who turn up and speak pretty good Elvish -one woman, the guide told us, refused to speak in anything but!
 
I'm interested in how much of Guillermo Del Toro's influence made it into the finished film.
 
I'm interested in how much of Guillermo Del Toro's influence made it into the finished film.

Jackson
Guillermo had designed a lot of the movie . . . I looked at his designs when he took over and a lot of his designs are very Guillermo . . . it was very much stuff that you would recognize from Pan's Labyrinth or Hellboy. It was his artistic vision and I couldn't make that movie. I looked at his designs and I said the only person who can make a Guillermo Del Toro movie is Guillermo. It shouldn't be me. I can't put my head into somebody else's idea — I have to generate it from the beginning. So really I redesigned the film pretty much. Some of Guillermo's DNA is in there — there were some things he did that I thought were pretty cool and I've taken bits of pieces of his stuff — kind of altering it and changing it as I saw it. But the film was largely redesigned.

www.io9.com/5937177/peter-jackson-t...illermo-del-toros-design-dna-is-in-the-hobbit
 
So I finally saw The Hobbit. After reading quite a big of negativity surrounding the film, I walked in with no expectations and let the movie unfold in front of me. I found myself liking it more than I expected. Although I found the three hours went by rather quickly for me things definitely could have been tightened to quicken the pace and intensity. That's one of the main criticisms of the movie and I agree. Stuff like the brown wizard for example could've been cut or trimmed down. I really enjoyed Martin Freeman's Bilbo - he's better than Frodo in my book. Perfect casting. Sir Ian's Gandalf was terrific as usual. Andy Serkis' Gollum delivered what I wanted. They were serviceable but I didn't really connect with the new characters like Thorin, or the pale orc. This isn't LOTR but I didn't think the action was as good. I'm leaning at giving it a 7/10 or something like that.
 
Similar to mine, but I'm a bit harsher because I didn't care about the new characters as I don't really remember the book and the film didn't give me a reason why I should. I give it a 6/10 but we're in the same boat. I wish I liked it more.
 
Excelsior, your comment doesn't quite reflect the book. Thorin is the only dwarf crafty enough to not be taken by the trolls by surprise in the book. He gives a good fight back, though alone. In the Goblin Town he and Gandalf are the only ones who kill a significant amount of foes. He continually shows courage throughout the book, sans at Erebor, where admittedly Bilbo was by design supposed to go in alone as the Dragon doesn't recognize hobbit-smell and Bilbo was the burglar. In the Battle of Five Armies Thorin is brave (er, crazy?) enough to be ready to fight with his inferior forces before Dain shows up.
 
Excelsior, your comment doesn't quite reflect the book. Thorin is the only dwarf crafty enough to not be taken by the trolls by surprise in the book. He gives a good fight back, though alone. In the Goblin Town he and Gandalf are the only ones who kill a significant amount of foes. He continually shows courage throughout the book, sans at Erebor, where admittedly Bilbo was by design supposed to go in alone as the Dragon doesn't recognize hobbit-smell and Bilbo was the burglar. In the Battle of Five Armies Thorin is brave (er, crazy?) enough to be ready to fight with his inferior forces before Dain shows up.

He also leads the company alone on a charge against Bolg and his battleguard in the Battle of the Five Armies. Thirteen dwarvs charging the center of the orc army is plenty brave. In the book he comes across as kingly imo.
 
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Crap. I completely forgot about the Dwarf smell/Hobbit smell thing. That explains Bilbo's odyssey alone in the Dragon's den. You're both right.
 
...finally got to see this the other day. I really, really enjoyed it. I've been a long-time fan of the hobbit book and the lotr books/movies. My only real complaint is that I saw it in the "high frame rate" format and it was unnecessarily distracting. Parts of it looked great but other parts were a little jarring and didn't sync up well.

I would strongly suggest that anyone wanting to see it in the high frame rate passes on it.
 
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