[QuickTidal]

Here is the first production shot of Legolas and Bard the Bowman from THE HOBBIT: THERE & BACK AGAIN (the 3rd film)

Yay!

 original.jpg (129.25K)
Number of downloads: 1

[QuickTidal]

and here is a brilliantly written article from Twitchfilm on HFR.

http://twitchfilm.co...the-masses.html

[Destiny]

aahhhh I can't believe it's finally here!!!

My sister is about to watch it now (she had tickets to the midnight screening), but I still have to wait till Friday. Damn uni takes up up so much of my time *sigh*

[Traveller]

I saw it today.

My brother had texted me to tell me the reviews weren't great, but that meant I had low expectations to start with. Also, I haven't seen anything in 3D at the IMAX before, as I'm not a big fan of 3D, but I thought it was time to give it a go.

I won't write a review or anything, but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I would put myself up there as a big Tolkien fan. The 3D thing was a bit off-putting at first, as it seems to only have part of the screen in focus at one time, so even on a big screen, I found I was only looking at a small part of it, as the rest was blurred. It worked better on the wide shots, and some of the deep caverns looked good, but... I'm still not a fan of 3D I guess.

It was definitely well-padded, but as even Gandalf (aka Peter Jackson) says not so subtly at the beginning, all the good stories get embellished in the retelling. And this one has been well embellished. I didn't mind though, as most of it was based in Tolkien lore; I just found that like in King Kong, some of the action sequences were overlong, to the point of getting a bit.. silly. I went with it though, it was just the bit where

Spoiler

they all took a drop on a falling platform, down a huge chasm, not only surviving but staying upright all the way down, like a big comic toboggan ride

where I thought it was just unecessary. They could have all just left the mountain without it happening at all.

And story wise, again I had only problem.. they followed the book faithfully with Bilbo's character; being 'more of a grocer than a burgler', and generally being a fish out of water until he finds the ring and gets all stealthy. But then, suddenly and out of the blue they have him

Spoiler

stabbing a warg in the head, before jumping on a HUGE orc and stabbing it repeatedly until it dies.

Which seemed a touch out of character, and out of place, and also totally unecessary. Peter Jackson really needs to learn that less is more.

Anyhow, I really liked it overall, because it was long, it was more Middle Earth on the big screen, and the music was awesome. And that scene from the trailer with the dwarves singing in Bilbo's house gave me goosebumps, I loved it. The Necromancer was introduced into the story well, it was good to see Radagast at last, and a scene with Elrond, Galadriel, and Saruman, all giving Gandalf a bit of a telling off was great, and not just because it was good to see all those actors at the same time. I can totally see how they're going to get three films out of this, I just hope that the time is spent on reproducing the book scenes in full, like Bilbo's house, and less of the unecessary 'filler' action scenes, like the warg battle.

I might think of more later. Did I mention the music? Howard Shore just nails it again. (Oh, and I didn't see it in the new framerate because they had a problem loading it, but I'm really not bothered.)

EDIT. Just read a few reviews, one of which was complaining about the length of the scene with the introduction of the dwarves at Bag End. I say bollocks to this, as instead of having a cut down film version, it actually felt like the whole chapter from the book was there. Including a couple of songs. If I was going to complain it would be that the songs had more verses than that...

Ah shit, how could I forget? When Bilbo leaves the cave with the ring, and has a choice to make. If you know the story you'll know the bit I mean..

Spoiler

the look on Gollums face. He looks so utterly crushed, so vulnerable, and as his face relaxes, he looks like Frodo.

Best bit, I think.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 13 December 2012 - 09:28 PM

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 14 December 2012 - 01:37 AM, said:

Is Christopher Lee Sauraman again?

He is, flew down there to shoot it even though health is bad.

[Defiance]

Were the CGI orcs disappointing compared to the actors we saw in LotR? Granted, I haven't seen the movie yet so I can't accurately judge, but from the previews I've watched the orcs/goblins in this look kind of disappointing. Nowhere near as menacing and obviously computer animated. I think part of what made the orcs in LotR so awesome and terrifying was that, despite how inhuman they looked, we still knew that there was an actual person there.

CGI does some great things, but I'm not a big fan of it when it's used to entirely replace some human actors (granted, there are exceptions like Gollum, as I can't imagine an actual actor working).

[amphibian]

QuickTidal, on 14 December 2012 - 03:59 AM, said:

Briar King, on 14 December 2012 - 01:37 AM, said:

Is Christopher Lee Sauraman again?

He is, flew down there to shoot it even though health is bad.

And Gandalf (McKellen) has cancer now too.

[Sinisdar Toste]

yeah, saw it last night. the main antagonist is a cgi orc. just not as believable as the uruk-hai. the other orcs were obviously cgi as well, but were less, sort of, 'shiny' in that computer animated sort of way. although the goblins were freakin awesome. still, woulda been better to have a real actor in the main antagonist's role.

other than that, peter jackson and howard shore have created the perfect atmosphere once again, and i love seeing all the threads that are being woven here that eventually go into LotR. i'm pretty sure some of the footage used in the hobbit are unused shots from the shooting of LotR. like when we first see gollum in the cave, it's almost the identical shot from the trilogy. that whole seen was brilliant as well. andy serkis is a genius.

This post has been edited by Sinisdar Toste: 14 December 2012 - 06:46 PM

[Traveller]

Sinisdar Toste, on 14 December 2012 - 06:43 PM, said:

i'm pretty sure some of the footage used in the hobbit are unused shots from the shooting of LotR. like when we first see gollum in the cave, it's almost the identical shot from the trilogy. that whole seen was brilliant as well. andy serkis is a genius.

I thought that they definitely tried to reproduce that shot of Gollum from FotR, but extended it to turn him into the more familiar figure towards the end of the shot. I was really hoping they'd try the same with the shot where Bilbo picks up the ring - it would have been good to see Freeman picking the ring up from the same angle that Ian Holm did, in the same way, but they didn't try to make that link.

As to Cg orcs - all i can say is, the Cg is pretty amazing really, way better than the stuff from the original trilogy.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 14 December 2012 - 10:13 PM

[Stalker]

The movie was very enjoyable. I saw it in the higher frame rate, and it was odd for the first 5 minutes. After that, it was awesome, seriously. Everything looked incredible, and combined with the music, the world felt real.

This post has been edited by Stalker: 15 December 2012 - 01:02 AM

[QuickTidal]

Saw it, loved it...but our theatre had trouble with the film stopping in the previous two screenings at 48FPS at the two hour mark and freezing....so they only showed us it in 24FPS 3D...

Wonderful film and feels like we've not even been away from Middle Earth. Fits decadently into the existing movies.

Oh and there was a NUMBER of SILMARILION mentions...Ungoliant, and Gondolin were the most prominent.

The dwarves are all awesome and I am now fully behind PJ stretching the story to 3 films...there was lots of peripheral stuff in here. Flows really well.

Going to see it again, likely in 48FPS.

[QuickTidal]

Oh and I liked Bilbo's progression...

Spoiler

the first time he uses sting, he is forced to do so and basically just defends himself...not that hard to do if your life hangs in the balance...and then stabbing down on an already prone Orc doesn't really take a warrior...so I really thought they worked up to it nicely

[LinearPhilosopher]

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.

[QuickTidal]

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.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 15 December 2012 - 04:34 PM

[Stalker]

I think he was referring to the new theme that goes with the dwarf song/poem Over the Misty Mountains Cold. While it did play frequently, it was the main track, so it was going to be played as the company treks across the wild. This should be no surprise, as it is how the soundtrack worked (and worked well) in LotR. Each movie had its own theme throughout the movie, with throwbacks to older music from the other movies. The Hobbit did this too, and did it well. There were echoes of Concerning Hobbits, the Kazad dum chanting, and a few others, mixed with the new theme and new tracks.

[QuickTidal]

Stalker, on 15 December 2012 - 05:35 PM, said:

I think he was referring to the new theme that goes with the dwarf song/poem Over the Misty Mountains Cold. While it did play frequently, it was the main track, so it was going to be played as the company treks across the wild. This should be no surprise, as it is how the soundtrack worked (and worked well) in LotR. Each movie had its own theme throughout the movie, with throwbacks to older music from the other movies. The Hobbit did this too, and did it well. There were echoes of Concerning Hobbits, the Kazad dum chanting, and a few others, mixed with the new theme and new tracks.

I know he was.

[Traveller]

The soundtrack was good I thought, as Howard Shore has themes for everyone - the Fellowship, the Hobbits, the Nazgul etc, and the way he uses it - like when the Fellowship sets out, the theme is powerful and strong, and when it breaks up, it is faint, slow, and mournful. The new dwarf theme fitted in really well, and I liked the way it was created through the process of music to Tolkiens own lyrics.

The only bit that didn't work for me, was when Thorin charged the pale orc at the end of the film - to a theme that sounded almost identical to the Nazgul theme from the trilogy. Seemed a bit out of place for him.

Ok, the Goblin King was fat and comical, but look at the book, seriously, he's just the same there. I couldn't even complain about the Mountain Giants sequence, because although it was a bit overlong, they are right there in the book too, chucking rocks at each other. So are the refs to Ungoliant and Gondolin, although i'm sure Glamdring and Orcrist glowed blue too.

I don't agree about Bilbo's progression though, he was never up to Orc and Warg killing that early on, if ever? He kind of gets to use his sword for the first time in Mirkwood against the spiders, which is why he names it Sting.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 15 December 2012 - 11:10 PM

[HoosierDaddy]

This thing gave me a headache and had me shaking my head to try to stay focused.

I enjoyed it, but Christ almighty it was rough.

[Brujah]

Took my son to see it last night in 3D, and I thought it was awesome. I wasn't really expecting it to be anything more than an ok film, but I'd give it a 10. My son thinks it's the best movie he's ever seen. So I guess Jackson is winning his Target audience, as well as keeping it very entertaining for those of us 'older' folks, who grew up with these books.

[QuickTidal]

Brujah, on 16 December 2012 - 07:43 PM, said:

Took my son to see it last night in 3D, and I thought it was awesome. I wasn't really expecting it to be anything more than an ok film, but I'd give it a 10. My son thinks it's the best movie he's ever seen. So I guess Jackson is winning his Target audience, as well as keeping it very entertaining for those of us 'older' folks, who grew up with these books.

I think that's key. It maintains the kids sensibility that the book has while entertaining us older fans. A feat if I do say so.