[MTS]

I was very ambivalent about this movie. I think tiam nailed it on the head when he said that these films suffer from the same prequelitis as Star Wars. The incredibly fake-looking CGI was distracting as all get out, and I seriously think they made a misstep by computer animating the orcs. I've griped about the CGI in these before though so that's all I'll say about it.

Quote

Having Balin commend the courage of hobbits was almost word for word ripped from a scene with Gandalf in Lotrs - it just seemed lazy.

This is my greatest criticism of both movies, although this one was the bigger offender. Jackson included so many references and scenes nodding back to the original trilogy that I lost count. Gandalf lighting up his staff like in Moria, Gandalf almost falling off a ledge a la Boromir in Moria, Gandalf getting captured, Gandalf breaking a small walkway in half, the Elves surrounding the dwarves in a forest like Lorien, Legolas sliding on things, Hobbit guessing the riddle of the Moon Door, Kili getting shot by an orc arrow while being badass like Boromir, Arwen I mean Tauriel with an aura around her while healing, small person being poisoned, fucking kingsfoil. I could go on. Everything had to be some nod back to the others, to the point where it feels like there's very little that's new and memorable here, barrel-floating scene aside. Couple that with some unnecessarily long filler material (Kili-Tauriel subplot, barrel scene, Smaug caper through the tunnels) and the movie ends up as a long, drawn-out nostalgia fest with a few decent scenes in it.

They should just scrap the third movie and make it a chronicle of Steven Fry's rise to power as The Master.

[Tapper]

Saw it. Some parts were good (Thranduil, barrel scene, first few Smaug minutes, the spider scene with the ring on).
Some meh (Beorn, Tauriel, elven ninja saving the day... seriously - all Sauron would need in PJs ME to conquer the world is a handful of elves).

But all that is outweighed by Peter Jackson wanting to make
A. An Indiana Bilbo trilogy that needs to conform to what he considers a checklist for a successful movie (chases, romance, combat, maligned champion of the people)
2. outright bad and unbelievable choices (dwarf-Smaug chase.... seriously, NOT eating/roasting/eviscerating Dwarf 1 & 2 because Dwarf 3 & 4 a hundred metres away shout at you?
C. His dire need to put HIS stamp on the material and creating enough filler for another 3 hour movie, as witnessed by the set-up for a mad chase through Lake Town in the next movie to first get the iron arrow, then get it to the ballista...)

[Tapper]

So all in all.... 4 barrels out of 7, of which only 3 contain a Dwarf.

[tiam]

Brent Weeks, on 23 December 2013 - 08:29 AM, said:

Graablick, on 22 December 2013 - 11:05 PM, said:

Why didn't Gandalf sword shine a blue light at the necromancer keep?

I've wondered this. Gandalf tells Bilbo Sting will glow when goblins are near yet neither Glamdring or the other one does despite also being of Elvish make... Or did I miss something? Been many years since I read any Tolkien.

Graablick, on 23 December 2013 - 10:46 AM, said:

The three swords was made of the elves of Gondlin or however you write it. So Thorin's sword is also suppose to shine.

This was raised when the first film came out. It makes a big deal about the swords, with Thorin trusting an elvish blade and whatnot. Yet theres no blue aura in the goblin tunnels yet Bilbos definitely shines blue when theyre there. I think they do it so Sting is unique maybe?

[Traveller]

I hate to suggest it but it might be one of those cases where the explanation might be 'We didn't want to confuse the audience..' which I've heard before to justify odd changes in films.

I liked the way Gondolin got a mention, but all the swords should have glowed iirrc. The Fall of Gondolin... That would be a great (single) film.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 30 December 2013 - 06:59 AM

[Silencer]

Or it's just laziness/budget? Which would suck, as it's really simple and not hard to do. It would also confuse nobody. It's a pretty stupid thing to leave out, though I can't say as I'm particularly upset about it - happened a bit in the LotR trilogy too, iirc.

[tiam]

Silencer, on 30 December 2013 - 09:55 AM, said:

Or it's just laziness/budget? Which would suck, as it's really simple and not hard to do. It would also confuse nobody. It's a pretty stupid thing to leave out, though I can't say as I'm particularly upset about it - happened a bit in the LotR trilogy too, iirc.

Exactly its the same sword in LOTR and would have been a more noticeable change if it glowed in the Hobbit era but not later on in LOTR. With Sting they had to do it. Leaving it non glowing in both is probably the best choice.

[flea]

I finally saw the movie yesterday. At first I was willing to go with Jackson's desire to portray a more complete history of Middle Earth by bringing in the dwarf/orc war, but what he has ended up doing is ridiculous. This trilogy is analogous to the second Star Wars trilogy. The main difference is that Lucas destroyed his own creation, while PJ is trashing Tolkien's.

I can imagine a nine part Silmarillion from PJ.

[Traveller]

Don't tempt fate. I hope there are no attempts at the Silmarillion until someone can do it justice without the need to 'make it their own'. And Jackson is well out of the picture.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

Finally saw this on Monday. Although I almost fell asleep during the first Hobbit movie, I have to admit that I found this one enthralling throughout. Kept me awake, even though I was probably twice as tired as compared to this time last year...

Didn't like:

1) The unexplained and seemingly unnecessary magufinnization of the arkenstone.

2) Too much time wasted on the unnecessary Tauriel / Kili romantic subplot.

3) Beorn looks like Teen Wolf, as played by Richard Kiel.

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Liked:

1) The Peter Jackson cameo at the beginning of the movie.

2) The bear version of Beorn looks cool. Looking forward to the battle of 5 armies action...

3) Nice inclusion of the one ring inscription for the true Tolkien nerds: Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

4) The expanded/added Legolas, Tauriel (except as noted above), Bard, and Necromancer storylines.

5) The barrel riding scene was much more entertaining than the running-from-orcs scene(s) in the first movie. Loved Bombur, Action Hero!

6) Legolas: [Looking at two pictures in a locket that he has confiscated from Gloin. The picture on the left has a long thick beard] Who's this? Your brother?
Gloin: That's my wife!
Legolas: [Looking at the infant in the other picture] And who's the other one? Goblin mutant?
Gloin: That's my wee lad, Gimli!

7) Radagast is useful, while being less silly.

And, in case you missed it (I did)...

Did you catch that cameo in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug?

[QuickTidal]

Kruppe, on 02 January 2014 - 05:21 PM, said:

And, in case you missed it (I did)...

Did you catch that cameo in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug?

Totally missed it, but glad to know he got a cameo. He's a total Die hard Tolkien nerd, and that gives me warm fuzzies. Merci for the linkage.

[Kaamos]

Hopping in belatedly, saw it today with a bunch of friends (who sat through it for the second time...), and in spite of all the added material, fun to watch. :-D
Had to tell the geek corner of my brain to shut up every once in a while as it kept going: Laalaa Norse mythology laalaalaa... Fáfnir guarding his hoard...Oden the gray wanderer in his floppy hat and robes...oh, those dwarf names come straight from the Edda! Aaa the leader of Lake Town lives in a Norse stave church. (The real ones usually don't have dragon-killing weapons on their roofs, however.) A girl called Sigrid! Bödvar Bjarki A giant shape-shifting man...tralalalaa...

I swear this wasn't taken in Lake Town but in an open-air museum in Oslo a couple of weeks ago. Middle-Earthers surely love the same architecture and those dragon heads. :-D

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[worry]

Wow, I'm impressed, you really seem to know your Norse mythology. So what do you think of the Candy Crush Saga? Does it really hold up to all those wonderful candy myths and legends of Northern Europe?

[D'iversify]

Kruppe, on 02 January 2014 - 05:21 PM, said:

1) The unexplained and seemingly unnecessary magufinnization of the arkenstone.

...


3) Beorn looks like Teen Wolf, as played by Richard Kiel.

Didn't have a problem with 1) on the grounds that most of the magufinnization was playing on the traditional Tolkiensian (and, for that matter, Nordic; see also Wagner's Ring Cycle) trope of dwarves as easily overenamoured by greed. But yes, Beorn did not fit with my mental image of him (I was thinking right kind of height but a bit broader and more beard and moustache rather than the overgrown muttonchops.

[Jakovasaurus]

[Jakovasaurus]

[Traveller]

It's good to see that they're continuing to fully address the problem of Tolkien's complete disregard for wacky chase scenes.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 29 July 2014 - 08:07 AM

[worry]

You cynical son of a bifur.

[QuickTidal]

Traveller, on 29 July 2014 - 08:06 AM, said:

It's good to see that they're continuing to fully address the problem of Tolkien's complete disregard for wacky chase scenes.

Seeing as Tolkien once wrote an entire (long) chapter that was entirely geography...I'm willing to let a little of PJ's poetic license ride when it comes to the visual medium.

[Silencer]

Yeah, but there's a point where you get too many cookie-cutter, overlong and relatively predictable/unexciting chase scenes. Ones that didn't need to be there. Or be so ludicrously unlikely.

XD