The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

[The Ween]

First reviews are in and not good- looks like a bad finish...we will see.

Depends on which reviews you read. Same as with LotRs.

 

[jye4ever]

That worst Middle Earth movie is still better than most movies out there.

 

[DiFabio]

As much as I love Viggo, he is a bit.......artsy, fartsy. He probably would've never even been in LotR if it wasn't for his son, Harry, who talked him into it. He prefers independent films and films that have a message. The "mess" he talked about won an Oscar and has become a treasure to many people.

He was right though.

It would have been terrible if Lord of the Rings was made today. All the orcs, goblins and Uruks would be crap. Amazing action set pieces like Amon Hen would be artificial on a set with fake trees and green screen instead of out in a real forest. The whole movie would be slathered with a glowy filter of glitzy light. Instead of huge bigatures like Orthanc or Minas Tirith made by the best artisans in the world, we'd have floating CGI locations where everything looks like a super polished HD video game.

 

[Irvy]

Agreed, so glad rings was made when it was.

The Edoras and Helm's Deep sets were amazing locations.

 

[Jokes & Bats]

Looks like the reviews are pretty bad so far. Too much artsy Elf sword twirling during battle scenes has been cited as one reason.

Shame, really. I had high hopes for this one.

 

[JonWes]

It has a 75% right now on Rotten Tomatoes (could go up or down) so that's not actually that terrible.

For perspective:
Hobbit 1: 64%
Hobbit 2: 74%

Metacritic, its at a 62
Hobbit 1: 58
Hobbit 2: 66

So, it's pretty much falling in line with the other films so far, which isn't really that surprising.

 

[TURINS~BANE]

He was right though.

It would have been terrible if Lord of the Rings was made today. All the orcs, goblins and Uruks would be crap. Amazing action set pieces like Amon Hen would be artificial on a set with fake trees and green screen instead of out in a real forest. The whole movie would be slathered with a glowy filter of glitzy light. Instead of huge bigatures like Orthanc or Minas Tirith made by the best artisans in the world, we'd have floating CGI locations where everything looks like a super polished HD video game.

Well said...agreed, to me Fellowship of the ring is prob the best of all time. Perfect balance of Cgi hardly none and practical effects. When Legolamb shoots a arrow in Fellowship it's real authentic. I like these films but he's gone a bit Lucas with the cgi. The fight scenes are bad when you make it cgi, the end fight scene in Fellowship brilliant.

 

[crows]

he loved it (spoilers)

 

[Morgul Matt]

That worst Middle Earth movie is still better than most movies out there.

I wholeheartedly agree with the giant, scaly skinned, city destroying monstrosity.

 

[jye4ever]

Godzilla, immune to critics, the worse the movie the better.

 

[The Josh]

I'm Glad LOTR was made when it was. They're damn close to perfect but I'm glad The Hobbit was made when it was as they're pretty damn good as well. there are things I would change in each film but as a whole I've been pretty pleased with how things have gone with the five films we've gotten. I wish others were as pleased as I've been would make for a little more fun discussion. As far as the reviews most of the, seem to be pretty positive with the occasion it sucks. Most likely this will fall in the same ballpark as the others by critics, which is fine really since I don't think anyof us really worry about that aspect much.

 

[jye4ever]

Wife and I are stoked to go see this, wife and I haven't been to the theater since GOTG.

She loves the love story from LOTR and this, I love it when heads get lobbed off.

 

[The Josh]

I've been to a few movies since then but I'm with you guys all the same.

 

[Irvy]

Anyone else wish they would have kept the misty mountains theme throughout the trilogy?

It's catchy as hell even more so than lotr main theme I think. Nothing I can hum that was in DOS

 

[Solidus]

Anyone else wish they would have kept the misty mountains theme throughout the trilogy?

It's catchy as hell even more so than lotr main theme I think. Nothing I can hum that was in DOS

Man, I love that song, too! I can't think of a more memorable song from LOTR/The Hobbit.

 

[The Josh]

Anyone else wish they would have kept the misty mountains theme throughout the trilogy?

It's catchy as hell even more so than lotr main theme I think. Nothing I can hum that was in DOS

I wish they had but I understand why they didn't. Since it was more a theme about getting to the mountain.

There's a few things in DOS you can hum.

 

[cmiller99]

I wish they had but I understand why they didn't. Since it was more a theme about getting to the mountain.

There's a few things in DOS you can hum.

The score from the Hobbit, while a fine score, isn't anywhere near as good IMO as LOTR's score because there's no bridging between the movies in terms of the music. It really should have the same as the LOTR score in terms of structure.

 

[cmiller99]

Not all the CGI is bad. I think Gollum/Smeagol in the Hobbit was absolute perfection. Seriously, I had this lump in my throat when he was on screen from the work they did with his life filled eyes. The skin texture, the glossiness of his skin from being in the caves for so long, were superb. In fact, the effects for him were better than what they were in LOTR. Then there was Smaug, he looked just like how I imagined he would be, but better. He's one of the best film dragon/effects creatures I've seen and had real character. There are also some locations that are completely CG that looked fantastic, the mirkwood forest being the prime example. The spiders were well done and that little moment where Bilbo is above the tree line, taking a breath of fresh air felt real.

The things that I think are awful are all the other creatures and orcs. I agree with the criticisms. The orcs and goblins look awful in these movies compared to LOTR and the lack of practical effects have a lot to do with it. I've hated the look of Azog and Co. since day one. Things like Radghast's bunny sled, the shots of huge armies, and ninja floatin' Bombur are truly horrific in my eyes and reek of Jackson being too reliant on special effects. The absolute worst thing though is the glowing light effect going on these movies. Everything from locations to character are emitting this soft, glowing light like they're all ****ing elves! Why? Because 90% of what we're seeing is green and blue screen. Fake ****. In LOTR, this was used at a minimum, especially in the first two. The only things that really emitted this light were . . . the elves. It made sense. Arwen was retouched in post production, Galadriel, etc. Nobody is denying that those films had CGI visual effects done to them, but there was a better balance. Things started to look fake and artificial towards Return of the King, especially once you get to Minas Tirith, the Paths of the Dead and Pelennor fields, but not like this. I remember cringing when Legolas did his Oliphant stunt in Return of the King (which is fortunately saved by Gimli's "only counts as one" line) and a few shots of Aragorn's coronation, but the Hobbit movies have these multiplied by 10. The color grading and effects are way too saturated in the Hobbit movies and the locations and miniatures are far and few between. It's like Gandalf the White or Galadriel are emitting in every scene in the Hobbit movies to the point where it never feels real or gritty. The great thing about LOTR is it had a nice mix of practical and CGI work. We had huge miniatures, prosthetic monsters, huge sets, and a lot of on location shooting. Think of all the hand made work and hours that went into the Uruk armor, the chain mail, the moveable masks, the performances, that are nonexistent in the Hobbit that are simply made in a computer. The main CGI elements in LOTR were characters that couldn't be done for real (Balrog, Gollum, etc.) and "doubles" like the Fellowship crossing the bridge of Khazad Dum or 10,000 Uruk Hai at Helms Deep. You know what though? Those were integrated with real settings from models, matte paintings and other tricks. Hobbit is over relies on effects and abuse them, this is especially evident when you look at the making of/behind the scenes documentaries.


Aragorn said it best,


Viggo Mortensen Criticizes Peter Jackson, CGI and The Hobbit - IGN


Sometimes limitations are good things. It forces you to be more creative and stretch your boundaries. When you can make anything you want, things will start to look sterile and unnatural. That's where the Star Wars prequel comparisons come from.

I keep getting distracted watching these movies by the fakey fakeness of a lot of the shots. While these movies aren't as bad as the SW prequels (heesh, they would have to be terrible to compare), all the green screen is really distracting and takes me out of the movie.

 

[Adolfo]

I keep getting distracted watching these movies by the fakey fakeness of a lot of the shots. While these movies aren't as bad as the SW prequels (heesh, they would have to be terrible to compare), all the green screen is really distracting and takes me out of the movie.

It is what it is, I cant look at it that way...If I did I couldnt watch another monster film pre 1970s, or any Ray Harryhausen fim... Hell I couldnt watch the original KIng Kong if I was worried about fakety fakeness...

 

[jye4ever]

Great point, some things just need to be put aside.

But watching these movies in 48 HFR is madness I tell you.