The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

[The Chev]

Spoiler

I believe he named as his special arrow that never missed its mark but otherwise other than the color there was nothing particularly unusual about it.

HUGE potential spoiler for Smaug's fate in the next movie:

Spoiler

I think that PJ just might be sneaky enough to have Bard load that big crossbow thing with the "black arrow," fire it at Smaug, and miss. All hope will appear to be lost until out of desperation he picks up his regular bow and shoots one of his own arrows into Smaug's heart just like the book.

Spoiler

That would be pretty intense. Or Legolas just shoots an arrow from 200 miles away and hits his mark.

 

[galactiboy]

Man I got behind on this thread

How do you think it compares to LOTR and AUJ?

I don't think it quite stacks up... overall I think it's a good movie and think the Hobbit as a series will be a win. But I think the films (so far) try a little too hard to entertain.

Spoiler

Extra love scenes (which LOTR had as well), Giant Golden Statues, extra battles with Smaug, etc.

And the additives don't really affect the story or it's path, for instance:

Spoiler

Smaug just shakes off the gold as if nothing happens. You'd think he'd be even more pissed and just bring down the whole mountain or make damn sure nothing survived after that. But no, gonna go kill the humans now

With that said I'd still probably rank DOS over AUJ, but both would be behind LOTR for me.

Saruman's Death is a must and Mouth of Sauron is by far one of the creepiest things put on film.... Both make the EE the preferred cut... yet at the same time some of the other scenes bring down the quality of the film.

Still a great movie either way.

I was happy to see the inclusion of Saruman's death, but I don't think they did it very well. I was still hoping for it to appear during the cleansing of the shire... but past that would have preferred him to happen on the ground as they walked out of the tower, than the way it went down.

No, That didn't bother me. I totally knew that was coming. I mean how out there the battle with Smaug was.

It was when put with the Bombur bit. I think you need one or the other but I will say I enjoyed them more tonight.

It was definitely too much... however I will admit I found it pretty damn fun and entertaining in the theater. I do have a feeling that "rolling the barrel" may soon replace "jumping the shark" and "nuke the fridge".

In essence that's another scene that a lot was added too and it's not terrible that they did it, but I'd have been fine if it just played out like it did in the book.

Yeah, the battle with Smaug was filled with hits and misses.

Here is what bugged me the most about it.

Spoiler

Dwarves Hiding behind the individual gate pillars to avoid Smaug's fire was ok, but then they all ran to start the furnace out in the open and instead of Smaug shooting fire at them again, easy kill, he instead wastes time trying to knock down the gate.

Wut.

Yeah, in essence that whole sequence was not needed... and led to a lot of ridiculousness IMO.

I wonder if PJ shouldn't have shown

Spoiler

Bard racing to get in position with the Black Arrow

at the end of the movie.

After we saw it my wife was able to correctly guess what is going to happen to Smaug because of it. I think that's something that would have been better for people to anticipate in movie rather than between films.

Agreed... too much obvious foreshadowing on that one and:

Spoiler

The arrow does not have the same feeling of meaning as it did (or I recall it did) in the book. The speech about how the arrow always flew true and was always recovered will not fit in this one. "Arrow!" said the bowman. "Black arrow! I have saved you to the last. You have never failed me and always I have recovered you. I had you from my father and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true king under the Mountain, go now and speed well!"

As cheesey as it is... when I think of the Hobbit it's hard for me not to think of the Rankin/Bass film. It's certainly not perfect, but they hit almost all of the high points and tell a pretty accurate tale. And being so short they didn't add a lot of extraneous stuff or make things overly complicated

I think that version may still be my preferred one even after this series is done

 

[pixletwin]

Spoiler

I believe he named as his special arrow that never missed its mark but otherwise other than the color there was nothing particularly unusual about it.

HUGE potential spoiler for Smaug's fate in the next movie:

Spoiler

I think that PJ just might be sneaky enough to have Bard load that big crossbow thing with the "black arrow," fire it at Smaug, and miss. All hope will appear to be lost until out of desperation he picks up his regular bow and shoots one of his own arrows into Smaug's heart just like the book.

Damage, if that is not what happens now I will be disappointed.

 

[The Chev]

As for Smaug..

Spoiler

deciding to go destroy lake town and not finish off the dwarves. Bilbo pleading with Smaug not to go there made smaug want to destroy Lake-Town even more. He wanted revenge after the Golden pool. It really isn't that far-fetched.

 

[jye4ever]

I will say seeing both of them in HFR last week was a little overkill. I did start to notice things I knew I wouldn't otherwise. I will see TABA in the HFR just to see all of them that way I will say I do prefer 24fps as the way I want to see movies.

Imagine LOTR in 48.

Spoiler

I believe he named as his special arrow that never missed its mark but otherwise other than the color there was nothing particularly unusual about it.

HUGE potential spoiler for Smaug's fate in the next movie:

Spoiler

I think that PJ just might be sneaky enough to have Bard load that big crossbow thing with the "black arrow," fire it at Smaug, and miss. All hope will appear to be lost until out of desperation he picks up his regular bow and shoots one of his own arrows into Smaug's heart just like the book.

This must now happen.

 

[galactiboy]

That's a good one Khev, I really hope it plays out that way

 

[Sachiel]

Imagine LOTR in 48.

 

[Khev]

That's a good one Khev, I really hope it plays out that way

Thanks guys. No matter what I'm sure the finale will be cool but it just won't be as badass if

Spoiler

Bard takes out Smaug with what is essentially an artillery weapon. I think calling the ammunition "black arrows" might be PJ's way of making people familiar with the book assume that that's how the dragon is going to go down. I really hope Bard still gets his "David and Goliath" moment with his personal longbow. He established how badass a shot he is with the bow when he first met the dwarves but any further mention of Bard's archery has been conspicuously absent.

 

[The Chev]

Thanks guys. No matter what I'm sure the finale will be cool but it just won't be as badass if

Spoiler

Bard takes out Smaug with what is essentially an artillery weapon. I think calling the ammunition "black arrows" might be PJ's way of making people familiar with the book assume that that's how the dragon is going to go down. I really hope Bard still gets his "David and Goliath" moment with his personal longbow. He established how badass a shot he is with the bow when he first met the dwarves but any further mention of Bard's archery has been conspicuously absent.

I hope you're right. It is strange how obvious it was being set up.

Spoiler

Then again, like I said before, PJ and company may have decided to let the drama be seeing if Bard can take his shot at all.

I'd rather go with Khev's idea. lol



I'm curious to see what the Prologue for TABA will be. DoS had a very low key one, and I'm curious if TABA will have the same thing.

 

[Darth Waller]

As cheesey as it is... when I think of the Hobbit it's hard for me not to think of the Rankin/Bass film. It's certainly not perfect, but they hit almost all of the high points and tell a pretty accurate tale. And being so short they didn't add a lot of extraneous stuff or make things overly complicated

I think that version may still be my preferred one even after this series is done

I rewatched that again last night. I still love it! It's a great 78 minute version of the book. John Huston's voice as Gandalf was spot on.

 

[Adolfo]

Spoiler

Yeah, I actually feel they let on a little too much what was going to happen.

Also, in the book, was the arrow that big? I can't remember, but I thought it was just a regular arrow.

Spoiler

The Black Arrow was a regular Arrow that fits on a Long Bow but was specially forged in Erebor and was passed down from Generation to Generation in Bards Family

 

[galactiboy]

I rewatched that again last night. I still love it! It's a great 78 minute version of the book. John Huston's voice as Gandalf was spot on.

Yeah, as much as I love Ian McCellan I still hear Huston's voice when I think of Gandalf... at least with any lines from the Hobbit

Even the silly stuff like the plate song works better with an animated film as it's all a bit silly and fun.

 

[The Josh]

As cool as Khev's idea is I prefer that not to happen. It's an important event that he kills him with the black arrow.

 

[jye4ever]

Did/Does Bard lose family to Smaug?

Would add some weight to him being the person who takes out the beast.

 

[jye4ever]

As cool as Khev's idea is I prefer that not to happen. It's an important event that he kills him with the black arrow.

Party p o o p e r.

 

[Khev]

Party p o o p e r.

Well I don't want to get my hopes up for something that won't happen so I'm going to do my best to assume that things will play out as the film is currently suggesting.

I'm sure it'll be awesome either way.

 

[The Ween]

Hobbits or hoes?

Or both?

Deers.

 

[The Ween]

Godzilla, the rest all crap.

I didn't see the Godzilla one.

 

[The Ween]

I can't remembr all of them, but Godzilla, Interstellar and Edge of Tomorrow stick out.

Edit - Oh yeah, and ASM 2, which was preceded by a short intro by Emma Stone letting you know the trailer you were about to watch was of Spiderman, this intro illicited much unintended laughter in he theater.

I remember seeing Spiderman and Edge of Tomorrow.

 

[The Ween]

Lesson here is to stay away from HFR.

I did it out of morbid curiousity.

I didn't mind it at all! But then, I just get into the film, I'm not looking for such things. The only part that I didn't care for was the "golden idol" (for lack of a better word) part. That looked straight up cartoon.