The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

[jye4ever]

A lot of them are just cgi heads but still guys in suits.

 

[ExMem-LarjaThwei]

Wow, that's why he's no longer in Game of Thrones? To play a video-game CGI orc in The Hobbit? Lame. He was perfect as The Mountain.

 

[TheProcrastinator]

He was perfect as The Mountain.

Definately made a bigger impression than that guy from second season, whom most people didn't even notice

As for Conan - make up or CGI, he wouldn't be recognised anyway.

 

[crows]

The main problem with "Guys in the suits" today, and I think one of the main reasons Jackon relies on CGI so much this time, is that 48fps and digital cameras make even best make up and rubber suits look cumbersome and fake. Some filmmaker commented on this before, that today even the best prostethic art rarely lives up to the scrutiny enforced by the newst HD filming techniques. Plus a guy in a suit, doesnt have the same vitality of movement that a director could squeeze out of a digital model.


I agree that there's definatley too much CGI and green screen in this trilogy. But when it comes to orc characters - I havent yet seen Bolg - but I was perfectly fine with Azog. He looked realistic enough, but most importantly the actor performance showed through.

okay. that makes sense. Thank you for explaining that to me

 

[Fritz]

Swag from Cineplex...

 

[The Ween]

That's not fair! All I got was a small poster of the original one sheet. I want a Thorin cup!

Loved the movie btw, but it's 3:30 and I'm heading for bed. And I'm frozen!

 

[The Josh]

Loved it! I gotta wrap my head around some of what I saw. Lots and lots of changes but it was really good. A little heavy on some of the action sequences.

Dad says he liked this one more than the first.

 

[Nuka Cola Kidd]

Loved it, but come on did it really have to smash to black then...ugh! Another year to wait.

And, Evangeline...swoon.

 

[The Josh]

Swag from Cineplex...

I bought the cup and toppers on eBay. They arrived today.

 

[SithThundercracker]

Well I'm really disappointed by this DoS.
The first part was much better: 90% book and 10% added stuff almost always from canon material.
This second part is like butter scraped over too much bread: 60% book, 10% added canon material and a good 30% of totally unnecessary fan service, ridiculous action scenes and filler people or situations.

And way tooooo much CGI. How can they say a guy with prosthetics is not realistic while this movies are filled with totally fake orcs? And everyone has ninja powers!

 

[TheProcrastinator]

How was Smaug himself guys?

 

[Njits]

What I'm wondering is where the hell is Howard Shore in all of this? I haven't seen him once yet in any of the behind the scenes material for tDoS. Where the hell is he? He composed it, he wrote it. And yet there's some other guy that actually made the score in the Wellington Town Hall. So....where did Shore go?

 

[SithThundercracker]

Smaug was great IMHO. They found the right balance between an unstoppable huge death machine that actually...talks and moves the mouth like a human. It wasn't so easy.

 

[hoodonit00]

what the hell... this pisses me off

Spoiler

https://badassdigest.com/2013/12/12/see-the-awesome-practical-orc-who-was-painted-over-in-desolation-of-smaug/

Exactly the problem I had with the villains from The Hobbit. There was no reason to go CGI with the villains in either film when the practical villains look much more bad ***. I will still enjoy the film. I just don't find myself immersed as much as I was with the Trilogy.

Really, this

looks better than this?

 

[guyver1]

For those who saw it, did the ring play any part in this?

 

[SithThundercracker]

As I said, another major problem of massive CGI use, for me, was the fighting scenes. In the OT you had realistic fight most of the time, and superhero powers appeared a couples of time only (Legolas surfing on a shield in Helm's Deep or killing an oliphant just by himself). In DoS the whole river scene (or the spiders' scene) is completely unbelievable...we have ninja elves, ninja orcs and ninja dwarves.

 

[Adolfo]

Cgi is the future guys. Old days are over. Plus as computer advancements are made as well as costs being manageable CGI is here to stay forever. I do agree that cgi is overused and that a combo of reality(guys in suits) and CGI works best. For those that hate all CGI well then you couldn't have many great films since T-2. Guys in suits especially in some big scenes probrably cost more now budget wise than CGI too. I've learned to accept some of it. But makeup and prosthetics has come along way too and should never be disregarded

 

[hoodonit00]

Cgi is the future guys. Old days are over. Plus as computer advancements are made as well as costs being manageable CGI is here to stay forever. I do agree that cgi is overused and that a combo of reality(guys in suits) and CGI works best. For those that hate all CGI well then you couldn't have many great films since T-2. Guys in suits especially in some big scenes probrably cost more now budget wise than CGI too. I've learned to accept some of it. But makeup and prosthetics has come along way too and should never be disregarded

I don't hate CGI at all. Just like you posted, I just think it's used to much. Big action scenes? Most definitely. Huge creatures? Bring them on. The main normal sized bad guy though? I haven't liked the look of Azog from the start. Maybe it's not so much the CGI as it seems like it looks worse now than it did 10 years ago. How does Gollum looks so real and Azog looks so fake to me? As someone posted, Azog looks like a video game character.

 

[Deckard]

CGI can be a problem when you don't have the budget to back it up.

Watch The Thing(2011) when Carter things out on the chopper, attrocious cgi vs the amazing practical effect you can see in the special effects company's private video of the same scene. Sometimes, I find particularly with gore or blood, practical is almost always more visceral.

On the other side of the fence, you have men like Jackson who have way waaaaay too much money and resource and they get carried away with the cgi. The first Hobbit is one of the best examples I've seen recently. You have a fairly grounded travel adventure for the first half and than all the sudden this Goblin escape that's just nonsensical and way unbelievable with one over the top completely impossible superhuman feat after another for 10 minutes straight.

To quote Ian Malcom "your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

 

[Adolfo]

I'm waiting for the day they make a John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart film or some old time great late actor from Hollywoods great past using CGI. It will happen when they perfect CGI. That will be a scary day but I have no doubts they will do it