[Macros]

First ever time in an IMAX theatre, first time I've actually been impressed by 3D in a film. There was actual depth (although the extensive trailer for star trek look great as well) and didn't give me a headache. I dont know if this is because 3d was well done of sometihng IMAX provided.

3D didn't bother me (it was a concern of mine going it, I hadn't seen well done 3d until tonight and it ususally just bugs the shit out me and gives me a sore head)


The film, as per expected, a solid realisatoin of the novel, any changes that were made I'm sure were made for filmish type stuff reasons, be it flow, pace or visual. Only book - film grip, Glamdring and Orcrist didn't glow (I'm struggling to remember if Glamdring shone in LotR, if not it would explain why they omitted it here.
Slight over powering of Gandy in the goblin nest but it did make for a fun sequence.
I think the inclusion of Azgoth (sp) so early in the story is to give us a credible leader of the orcs in the Battle of the five armies, there has to be a recognisable villain for the masses, and its much easier to give us this build up than just the cold flashback that Balin gave us. It will make for more drama on the high seas and Beorns intervention more meaningful (IMNSHO) I'm not one of those purists who think everything should be by the book, (although Helms deep still pisses me off, the book version would just have been so much more awesome)
Goblin King was suitably grotesque and hammish, the chase was obviously much more dramatic and over the top but that what works on screen and showcases the visual aspects of the set, where as the books tense chase through the tunnels is great, it just wouldn't have fitted with the tone of the rest of the movie.

Loved to see the pine cone interpretation and the nod to the butterfly from LotR. Also in Rivendell you can nearly see Galadriel not trusting Sauruman completely, loved that.



over all, I'm suitably impressed with the visuals, soundtrack was mostly spot on and really evoked memories of the trilogy. Its great the way it flows from character to character and each setting, really aids in keeping me involved in the fast changing landscape.
Storywise, not many quibbles, I think they picked an excellent break point after a (by necessity) slow start.
Casting, maybe a bit too much foolishness from the dwarves but thats they way they were always going to be played after Gimli at helms deep, but overall, grand. Nice to see Nesbitt on the big screen, Thorin plays the slightly paranoid aloof very well.


Not going to rate it, its very obviously the first movie in a set, a lot of background and set up going on, roll on the summer, can't wait to see how they handle Beorn and the barrel riding

[Illuyankas]

Sebastian is the best character.

[worry]

Saw it today, kinda loved it, warts and all.

[blackzoid]

I saw it. Looong. Very Looong.
Padded. There may be enough in the book to justify the length but it doesn't make a well flowing movie as a result.
Still good though, very nice and familiar. Good effects. Saw it in 2D. Bit ridiculous in the Goblin cave, but this is more of a children's film than LOTR so I didn't mind. The kids in the cinema loved that part. The main Dwarf theme was overplayed, as was the hobbit theme, but I didn't mind that so much as they are good musical themes. Middle Earth still very pretty. Gollum and Bilbo scene was fantastic. And, I liked the Radagast scenes cos of the Necromancer. Wasn't expecting that.

So...when we getting a 3 film Silmarillion eh?

This post has been edited by blackzoid: 17 December 2012 - 10:52 AM

[QuickTidal]

Christopher Tolkien never sold the rights to THE SILMARILLION...and considering his vehement dislike of PJ's adaptations, I doubt you'll see him selling them any time soon.

Though I'd be really excited to see such a film trilogy.

[Stalker]

Yup, it's a shame, but probably will not happen anytime remotely soon, if at all. The fix is to read the fantastic book again. I already pulled out the Hobbit to read through Beorn's part to the end. Planning to follow it up with the Similarion, and potentially LotR.

[lastname]

Watched the 3D version yesterday on an Imax screen and enjoyed the movie immensely. It's probably the first 3D movie that I've ever seen that didn't make me nauseous and headachey.

Didn't mind the liberties that PJ took with the book even though pretty much every change (bar the elimination of the scouring of the shire) in LotR bothered me. The Gollum-Bilbo scene was terrific. Loved the score (even though a good portion was a reprise), especially the dwarven song. That one gave me goosebumps.

[HiddenOne]

I watched it Sunday and loved it. Not sure about the frame rate, but I felt like I was watching HD on a plasma, and my eyes hurt for a little bit and were very tired at the end, but I may have stopped blinking somewhere in the middle.

CG orcs would have benefitted from real actors, but it didn't bother me very much. No complaints about music, or length, other than that my butt was getting tired by the end.

Storywise, I haven't read the book in many years so I didn't have that sense of comparison that can ruin adaptations.

Anybody who misses this in the theater is making a huge mistake.

[RetiredTalon]

I watched it on Sunday in the local theater. Was hoping to see it in 48 fps, but there was not a single cinema in the entire State of West Virginia showing that version.

I had started rereading the book in preparation for the movie and was worried that stretching a 300 page book into a trilogy would make it tedious. I was pleasantly surprised! I enjoyed every minute of it, and didn't mind when things differed from the book a bit.

The mountain giants scene kicked ass and watching the dwarves coordinate so well (be it doing the dishes or fighting trolls) was awesome. I may go watch it again in 2D tonight if my uber-preggo lady is feeling up to it and I definitely can't wait for the Desolation of Smaug

[QuickTidal]

Agree!

I love that little fight sequence in Goblin Town where the dwarves are shown to work as a team when they fight...and of course Balin being a little dwarf version of Yoda, spinning and jumping and such. Great stuff!

I'm going to see this again on Thursday night.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 18 December 2012 - 03:17 PM

[worry]

Just as a refresher, are goblins the equivalent of orcs for dwarves, or are they just basically a different breed of orc (and therefore elf-based too)?

[QuickTidal]

Goblins were the result of the first Dark Lord Morgoth, corrupting captured elves and turning them evil, denying them the sun, stars ect, and keeping them penned up in Angband...the descendants of these are the goblins in THE HOBBIT and LOTR...Orcs, on the other hand were also made from corrupted elves...but these were of a sturdier, more powerful and resilient stock that Sauron himself bred to be stronger, faster and altogether more threatening.

So they are TECHNICALLY the same race...but one is the evolutionary remnant of a bygone darkness...and the other is a current incarnation of evil.

which is why the Goblin King especially in THE HOBBIT is seen as a bit of a non-threatening joke. They are only threatening due to their numbers.

Hope that helps.

[worry]

Yah bigtime.

[Morgoth]

I saw it and thoroughly enjoyed it. At first the 48 thing made it seeem (at least to me) as if the film had been sped up somehow, but I got used to it within the first few minutes and after that it worked great.

A beautiful film for sure, and though I still would have preferred real actors as the orcs, they were of exceptionally good quality all the same.

And the singing was awesome, I wish they would have had more of that.

When that is said, I do think the movie suffered a little from the relatively limited source material. I love the Hobbit, and know the book practically by heart, but there were times when I felt the streching a little too much. 300 pages for almost 9 hours of film is a little ridiculous, and there's a limit to how much they can padd with flashbacks.

[Tristan Jay]

 blackzoid, on 17 December 2012 - 10:45 AM, said:

The main Dwarf theme was overplayed, as was the hobbit theme, but I didn't mind that so much as they are good musical themes.

I'm surprised somebody felt that way about that Misty Mountain musical cue, because I felt exactly the opposite. It felt like Howard Shore held back from opening up with it. It very much felt like a counterpart of the Fellowship's theme. The parallel scenes that show the Dwarf company on the march and the Fellowship travelling are telling: the whole musical cue plays out over the first clips of the travelling Fellowship in FotR, boldly; we hear it more softly prior to that (hinting that the Fellowship is building) and it continues to be used throughout FotR and the subsequent movies at appropriate moments. Yet, with the Dwarf theme, Howard Shore seems to be constantly holding back from doing a full quote of the Misty Mountain theme. It came close, but Shore always seemed to be veering away from completing the cue. And compared to how much Shore used the Fellowship theme in FotR, he was incredibly sparing with it's usage of the Misty Mountain theme in The Hobbit movie. Also, compare how many times that Ringwraith theme cued up in FotR; that theme bordered on overuse (but I loved it, so I never objected). No, I strongly disagree, and I would have liked to have heard the Misty Mountain theme a little more, but I'm fine with what was there in the movie.

Someone else commented on the curious moment were that Ringwraith-associated theme music showed up when Thorin went out to face Azog the Defiler. A lot of people are saying it doesn't fit, when I was watching it, it drew my attention to focus on what it's significance was for Thorin's character. It struck me as a deliberate decision, probably specifically intended by Peter Jackson, or Howard Shore (or both). There is darkness in Thorin's character, and without the music, an audience might well think he's being a brave leader, stepping out to defend his fellow company in a noble, self-sacrificial way. The music suggests that he's not being noble, that he's being gripped by darkness and madness. That's how I read it.

I haven't resolved my reaction to the additions to The Hobbit. I liked seeing Radagast (played by the seventh Doctor Who Sylvester McCoy as wildly eccentric), and I liked seeing the White Council meeting and getting a feel for their dynamic amongst each other (I thought it was funny how Galadriel and Gandalf tune out Saruman's bureaucratic chatter for a more to the point interior conversation!). The Frodo and old Bilbo framing device felt like something that belonged in the "Extended" versions that PJ always releases (I'm positive I read someone else say exactly that, which is exactly what I thought while watching). In fact, the whole movie struck me as being the "Extended" version. Makes me wonder if PJ left anything out.

I kind of feel like I would like to have seen the story material structured differently. They long talked about The Hobbit and another movie that bridges the gaps between TH and LotR, I would like to have seen that version. The Hobbit as it's own entity, with hints about other stuff going on; and then as a framing device Bilbo asks, "Gandalf, what were you up to all that time when you went away?" and then cue to the movie that collects all those story elements together as a movie that is both "side"-quel (rather than a sequel, a story that runs side by side with the other story) and bridging story. I'll take what we've got, it's okay so far.

This post has been edited by Tristan Jay: 19 December 2012 - 05:16 PM

[QuickTidal]

 Tristan Jay, on 19 December 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

Someone else commented on the curious moment were that Ringwraith-associated theme music showed up when Thorin went out to face Azog the Defiler. A lot of people are saying it doesn't fit, when I was watching it, it drew my attention to focus on what it's significance was for Thorin's character. It struck me as a deliberate decision, probably specifically intended by Peter Jackson, or Howard Shore (or both). There is darkness in Thorin's character, and without the music, an audience might well think he's being a brave leader, stepping out to defend his fellow company in a noble, self-sacrificial way. The music suggests that he's not being noble, that he's being gripped by darkness and madness. That's how I read it.

This is how I saw it as well. Thorin's journey from broken son of a vanquished and exiled (and now dead) father/king to leading the band here doesn't make him the hero. In fact, right now he's still on the tipping point and could go dark very easily...and it's his choices that move him one step closer t that darkness or one further away....he makes them throughout the HOBBIT, and I expect that his musical cue's will change in the second and especially third film to end up with heroic music instead when he charges into battle, especially at the battle of the Five Armies.

I read that musical cue that exact same way.

[LinearPhilosopher]

 QuickTidal, on 15 December 2012 - 04:33 PM, said:

 BalrogLord, on 15 December 2012 - 02:53 PM, said:

So i saw the movie. It was Ok i guess. I may need a rewatch.

There were definetly some good parts to the movie and i like some of the creative license that was taken in this movie. But there were a few scenes/things that just hurt the immersion thing.

Spoiler

Dwarves being able to outrun the wargs for that long in the open? yeah right.
Roller Coaster ride down the mountain
That scene with the orc king in the mountain was laughable. he wasn't menacing in the slightest he was too comical.
And the music is epic and all. But the main song was OVERPLAYED!. The soundtrack was either overused or not diverse enough.

Spoiler

answering your points: 1. Actually the wargs were stopping with the orcs command as they kept taking stock...so they weren't chasing them the whole time. 2. Action set pieces are fun, in Middle Earth one does not have to be super realistic. 3. The GOBLIN king (I think you mean)...and he's not menacing in the book either, he's a laughably ridiculous and only threatening because he's got thousands of Goblins backing him up (and Goblins in general aren't remotely as scary as Orcs are...it's why Gollum is not afraid of them either). In the book he's so fat he barely moves. 4. The Hobbit's theme (CONCERNING HOBBITS) is peppered throughout LOTR too...it's part of how Howard Shore does things...and it's a feature that is taken from musicals. I hate movies without a throughrunning theme....I thought it was deftly used here throughout.

Sorry for late reply, i've been getting re acquainted with Skyrim.

1. uh huh, right they're able to keep pace with radagast who's flying around everywhere but can't get close to the dwarves on foot. Yeah... that scene could have been better planned
2. The problem is that this scene comes out of nowhere. Aside from the magic ME the hobbit seemed to go with physics and real danger. Then this get's thrown in like an afterthought, as if "hey wouldn't it be cool if we ripped off bugs bunny". Pick the type of movie you're going to make,
3. So what? we're talking the movie not the book. You don't have to adapt every scene word for word. You have this thing called artistic license, because let's face it if it was just a boring word for word adaptation of the book it would be pointless. Nothing on the screen can match the awesomeness that is my imagination so i don't want them to copy paste the book. I like making changes.
4. It was not deftly used, it was overused. Fight scene happen? cue epic music? epic vista? cue epic music. OVER and OVER and OVER again. The LOTR soundtrack while not being the subtlest at least didnt get on my nerves. This time it did.

Ultimately my big gripe is that this movie doesn't seem to know if it wants to be serious or it wants to be a warner brothers cartoon.

[Macros]

Its pulling in some stuff from the silmarion as well as expanding oj some stuff only aluded to in the book.

[Avatar]

Just came back from the cinema, loved it! It has been ages since I read the book, it seemed like there was a load of extra scenes and characters in it that the book didn't have. For me, it worked, always loved LotR more then the Hobbit because of the depth of the story. Visually very nice as well, first time I see a fantasy movie in 3D. Great stuff.

[Salt-Man Z]

 Macros, on 20 December 2012 - 06:19 PM, said:

Its pulling in some stuff from the silmarion as well as expanding oj some stuff only aluded to in the book.

No, Jackson only has movie rights for The Hobbit and LotR; Tolkien's estate won't give him The Silmarillion. The extra stuff would come from LotR, either stuff mentioned in-story, or from the appendices of RotK.