Sméagol Posted October 1, 2013 Posted October 1, 2013 Last year I went to London just to see The Hobbit (in HFR & Atmos). We now have an Atmos theatre close-by, but it only shows films with intermissions. I may make another trip to London again, if the right theatre is showing it, and I can afford it.
Daft Posted October 1, 2013 Posted October 1, 2013 I'm excited. Kind of wish they'd reshoot all of Lord of the Rings, though. In five parts. Yeah, I said it.
Cube Posted December 14, 2013 Author Posted December 14, 2013 I saw Desolation of Smaug today and I loved it. I did have a few problems: some scenes are over a bit too quickly, like Beorn and the Mirkwood parts - hopefully there is plenty of material for the extended edition. Also, the song they chose for the credits is an awful, cheesy, pop song instead of the epic, powerful dwarven-sounding song from the first. I actually liked the changes they made to the book because, while the book is one of my favourite books, it does have problems which would have intensified greatly in a film. These are mainly for events that will happen in the third film, but I can see that the additional stuff lays down the groundwork to make these moments more mure meaningful. Reveal hidden contents In the book, Fili and Kili die. This was pretty much of a "ok, next line" kind of thing as you don't really know or care much about them. The extra focus on them will give their deaths a much bigger significance. Also, in the book, Bilbo speaks to Smaug then Smaug vanishes. He's then killed by some random guy we met earlier in the film. Not only has this character been given much better characterisation in the film, but now the dwarves get to encounter him and fight in. It's also obvious that the dwarves who stayed in Laketown will have a large part in helping Bard take down Smaug. This is a change for the better. The action scenes were brilliant, Beorn (what little we saw of him) was awesome, Gandalf's story was certainly very interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing it's conclusion. Smaug looked and sounded incredible, too. Overall, I found it to a brilliant film and I can't wait for the next.
ReZourceman Posted December 14, 2013 Posted December 14, 2013 Yeah loved it too. I loved how Catching Fire and this both ended really abruptly. I love the excitement that that builds.
bob Posted December 14, 2013 Posted December 14, 2013 (edited) Overall I thought it was great, but the fact that I kept expecting it to end at some point, but not exactly when meant that the whole second half felt a bit long and drawn out. If I went to see it again knowing exactly when the split was, I think I'd enjoy the second half a lot more. Edit: Also, I found it funny near the end when Boern grabs the black arrow, and his son is all like 'Da, I didn't know you kept one!' and i'm all like 'Bitch, it was hanging in the kitchen next to some herbs. Use your eyes.' Edited December 14, 2013 by 130131301364
BowserBasher Posted December 16, 2013 Posted December 16, 2013 I saw this yesterday too, loved it. I thought the way they made the spiders talk, was very well done, as many times in films, talking animals just don't come across well. Smaug was done pretty much perfectly, great design, great voice and that fire which he breaths was amazing, the way you saw it build up from inside him. Great build up to the end of the film too, really was the perfect place to stop it, as it had me and my friend both shout out "noooooo". I can't wait for the final part next year.
Cube Posted April 24, 2014 Author Posted April 24, 2014 The extended edition will have 25 mintues of new footage. Also, the final film will now be called "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies". Peter Jackson said that "There and Back Again" didn't quite work as they were already there, but he did hint that it will likely be used for the box set.
Sméagol Posted April 24, 2014 Posted April 24, 2014 I wonder why they even bother with extended editions.
Cube Posted April 24, 2014 Author Posted April 24, 2014 Sméagol said: I wonder why they even bother with extended editions. Because the version in the cinema wasn't long enough. And, no, I'm not being sarcastic. I want the longer versions.
Sméagol Posted April 24, 2014 Posted April 24, 2014 But unlike LotR, they didn´t cut out any major plotpoints.. In fact, they added in a couple. Maybe there will be some more character development or something, more dialogue.. But again, unlike LotR, I personally don´t feel anything´s missing.
Daft Posted April 24, 2014 Posted April 24, 2014 OMG, not another 25 minutes of this gash. Christ alive...
flameboy Posted April 25, 2014 Posted April 25, 2014 Cube said: The extended edition will have 25 mintues of new footage. Also, the final film will now be called "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies". Peter Jackson said that "There and Back Again" didn't quite work as they were already there, but he did hint that it will likely be used for the box set. I have to say I am intrigued by the The Battle of Five Armies as a new title and what it potentially adds. It's clear the film is going to build up to this and it's going to be a much bigger focus than it was in the book even though it was an important event in the book. I hope they just don't make up too much crap...
Cube Posted December 14, 2014 Author Posted December 14, 2014 I watched The Battle of the Five Armies yesterday and was really disappointed. It started off pretty well, but the last hour or so just seemed like a mess. Reveal hidden contents The part at the start regarding Gandalf was good (even if there was a really poor life-size Gandalf doll they used in some shots), as well as the events of Laketown, as well as the build-up to the battle. The big problem...was the battle itself. It was just messy. First of all, the scene I was looking forward the most never happened: Gandalf appearing between the elves and dwarves shouting "HALT" and letting off a massive flash of light from his staff. Instead, it cuts to Azog announcing his armies arriving. Oh, and for some completely unknown reason, the leader of the dwarf army (Dain) is completely CGI. He looked awesome, but odd. I can understand CGI enemies and stuff, but a Dwarf leader? Why? Anyway, the battle is split up into different areas: the Dwarf army fighting orcs in front of Erebor, elves and men fighting orcs in Dale and Thorin and a few dwarves fighting the orc leaders up a mountain (oh, and Legolas and Tauriel pop in there, too). First up: the battle at Dale. lots of crowded streets and it just looked like a mess. You had trolls (which looked rather poor) attacking with catapults on their backs, committing suicide rams on walls and stuff like that. There seemed to be no flow at all to the fight. On top of that, you had "comedy" moments with Alfrid being greedy and cowardly. There's no resolution and no character development, and it seems like characters went out of their way to save him a couple of times. Then the fight up the mountains. First of all, Thorin and some of the dwarves get mountain goats from absolutely nowhere and jump up the mountain (more awful CGI) and it's all done seemingly so they could set up two 1v1 battles: Thorin vs Azog and Legolas vs Bolg. I thought that both of these fights were poorly done, including some ridiculous moments from Legolas. These fights would have been much better if they had taken place in front of Erebor. Here, they felt distant and unimportant. Finally, the Erebor fight. It started off well, then came the great moment when Thorin and all the dwarves join the fight. Then we see Thorin fight for a bit then...that's it. It was perplexing. Apart from Thorin and two other dwarves, we don't see any of them do anything good in the fight. Most of them just seemed to vanish once they entered the battle. Anyway, things look bad for everyone and (like the books) the eagles and Beorn came. Then it kind of just faded to black with everyone saying "we won". We don't get to see Beorn fighting mass amounts of orcs, we don't get the dwarves, elves and men seeing the eagles, gaining confidence and fighting back. We also don't get to see any of the aftermath of the battle. It's odd, Return of the Kind was criticised for too many endings, while this was lacking loads. No funerals, no crowning of a new king, no endings for Bard, Tauriel, Alfrid or the dwarves. What we got was Bilbo saying goodbye and going home. Or, and random part where Thranduil tells Legolas to search for someone called "Strider". In a way, the ending is rather fitting: Bilbo gets home, most of his stuff is gone so his house is just...empty. Which was kind of the feeling I got from watching it.
Phube Posted December 14, 2014 Posted December 14, 2014 And that's why you wait for the extended bluray version! I myself loved it. Really enjoyed it.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 14, 2014 Posted December 14, 2014 Phube said: And that's why you wait for the extended bluray version! I myself loved it. Really enjoyed it. Yeah, I enjoyed it as well. I just wanted a big battle, especially after sitting through the boredom of the first two films, so when the action kicked in I was a happy chappy. CGI was awful at parts though. Then again, all 3 of the films have looked very cheap in terms of costumes, CGI, make up etc.
Cube Posted December 14, 2014 Author Posted December 14, 2014 Phube said: And that's why you wait for the extended bluray version! I watched the extended version of Desolation of Smaug and was very pleased about most of the additions, including some great parts of the book.
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