The Official "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" movie thread *SPOILERS*

[empacker04]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

As I said in my long winded summary I dug Radagast except for his bird poop. He was what I thought he would be if he was on screen. Azog to be was totally badass looking and for me the cgi was awesome. I will buy statues of both for sure.

Erebor was amazing. The scenes we saw of it just dropped my jaw.

For me this movie was a 9/10.

I want a Thorin PF. Does Sideshow have the rights to The Hobbit?

 

[The Josh]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

I want a Thorin PF. Does Sideshow have the rights to The Hobbit?

They announced today they got something for The Hobbit. Not sure what it is yet. Caught me off guard.

 

[CelticPredator]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

*fixed*

Thanks bud!

I said no such thing.


Hey wait...where are my posters? SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN...GUY!

WE HATES IT! WE HATES IT FOREEEVVERRRRRR!!!

 

[intothevoid]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

Just got back.

The Good
Overall I really enjoyed it.
Martin Freeman was perfect
Gandalf was perfect
Thorin was perfect
Gollum's CGI was a lot better than the original trilogy
Scenic shots were majestic

The Bad
Definitely dragged in many bits. I felt at least 20-30 mins could be cut out and the film would benefit from it and feel a lot more coherent. For example I didn't think the Radagast scene added much at all. Also the battle in the Goblin lair, while a lot of fun, just seemed to go on forever. Bilbo's interaction with Gollum too seemed to drag a bit, I felt that scene could have been interspersed with the Dwarves battling the Goblins just to change things up a bit

The CGI apart from Gollum was a big step down from the original. Problem compounded/highlighted by the HFR. Azog looked like he came out of a video game - after seeing the amazing practical effects heavy orcs in the original, that was a pretty glaring drop in quality/believability for me.

The Ugly
I can't say enough about how silly and unnatural the HFR makes certain scenes look. Any shots of Bilbo walking about in the Shire at his home looked absolutely hilariously bad I have to say. Looked super sped up. So too did a LOT of the aerial panning shots, looked like the crane/helicopter was in a bit of a hurry most of the time.

In non-motion heavy scenes the HFR no doubt gives a really great sense of reality and that looking out the window kind of effect, so that's what it's got going for it on the + side. But when things start moving it really is bad. Looks worse than cheap TV films.

The Meh
The score. There was the one main new theme which is the song the Dwarves sing. It's a great theme and very memorable, but it re-occurs far too often for my liking. I was expecting there to be some more new stuff but most of it apart from that sounded like a re-tread of the original trilogy score.

Overall purely on the quality of the film, i'd give it a 8.5/10. Very good, very enjoyable. But not quite up to the originals. I understand this is not meant to be as epic a tale and the tone is meant to be different etc, but it doesn't make for as compelling a film, especially with what is IMO an over-stretched run-time.

Accounting for the HFR and CGI issues though, I would be forced to take my score down to an 8.

 

[meth head]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

I thought Radagast was terrible. The scenes with him looked like they would have been better suited in a HP movie.

Not sure why the dwarves didn't kill the pale Orc the first time round?

Not sure there was the need for so many dwarves if half of them didn't have dialogue

All in all I was glad to be back in middle earth but left a little deflated. I wanted to feel like I was watching The Fellowship all over again but sadly it was far from it for me.

I will say Freeman was SUPERB as Bilbo!!!

 

[intothevoid]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

Not sure why the dwarves didn't kill the pale Orc the first time round?

I wondered that myself actually

 

[CelticPredator]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

Funny, my friend who loves LOTR hated this. But I loved it, and I'm not a big fan of LOTR. Weird

 

[JonWes]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

I enjoyed The Hobbit a lot. I'm not sure it's highest highs are as good as the best of The Lord of the Rings, but I found it hugely enjoyable. I thought the movie breezed right by. I worry about the attention spans of some of the professional reviewers who said it dragged. I didn't get that at all. Funnily enough, while there is a good amount added in, there isn't a TON. Believe or not, most of the run time is just taken from the book. People talk about how short the book is, but really that's partly because Tolkien would summarize whole battles or events in a sentence or two. So long to wait for the next one...

Also, I LOVED Radagast. I thought he was a lot of fun. After hearing people compare him to Jar Jar Binks I was freaked out. But I found him highly enjoyable.

 

[intothevoid]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

Funny, my friend who loves LOTR hated this. But I loved it, and I'm not a big fan of LOTR. Weird

Not that weird actually. LOTR has a very different feel to this. This is much lighter hearted, and the stakes are not nearly as high.

 

[Deadly Dagger]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

I think that beyond the CGI issues in the sled scene, it just bugged me that Radagast was supposed to be leading the orcs away from the dwarves, and instead he kept circling back around. Every time a dwarf walked around a rock, there was Radagast again leading the wargs straight into their path. Thanks a lot, Radagast. Go back to eating mushrooms.

lol

I enjoyed the movie...did not like the bird poop on Radagast....can't wait for an Azog statue.

I give the movie a solid 8.5

 

[The Josh]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

I wondered that myself actually

Well, they drag him back in at least for what the movie shows. Also, they could not retake Moria and go after him because of the Balrog.

Not sure there was the need for so many dwarves if half of them didn't have dialogue

Because they're all in the book. Jackson has already given some of them more personality than Tolkien did.

All in all I was glad to be back in middle earth but left a little deflated. I wanted to feel like I was watching The Fellowship all over again but sadly it was far from it for me.

There in lies the failure of many viewers not realizing this is NOT Lord of the Rings.

 

[intothevoid]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

Well, they drag him back in at least for what the movie shows. Also, they could not retake Moria and go after him because of the Balrog.

Right, but someone who isn't familiar with the book wouldn't really necessarily make the connection to the Balrog at that point.

I read in your review that you would have preferred that Azog was killed at that point and the Balrog is then explicitly shown as the reason that Moria can't be retaken.

I think that would have played out better.

 

[The Josh]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

Right, but someone who isn't familiar with the book wouldn't really necessarily make the connection to the Balrog at that point.

I read in your review that you would have preferred that Azog was killed at that point and the Balrog is then explicitly shown as the reason that Moria can't be retaken.

I think that would have played out better.

Well, I would hope they would remember Moria in Lord of the Rings but I think that's solved when Balin says they had to retreat due to major loss of Soldiers. So that's why they didn't go after him within Moria.

Yeah, I really would have loved to see that book moment come to life. So while what they went with wasn't my #1 choice I didn't hate it either.

It would have been awesome no doubt.

 

[carbo-fation]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

Hey carbo glad you liked it! When you going again?

Next weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Can't go this weekend anymore because of exams.

My friend who bought me tickets for Christmas saw the HFR last night and hated it so badly he changed our tickets for tonight to IMAX 3D 24fps.

Guess that gives me an excuse to see it a third time.

You need to defriend him asap!!

As I said in my long winded summary I dug Radagast except for his bird poop. He was what I thought he would be if he was on screen. Azog to be was totally badass looking and for me the cgi was awesome. I will buy statues of both for sure.

Erebor was amazing. The scenes we saw of it just dropped my jaw.

For me this movie was a 9/10.

The prologue, Riddles in the Dark (though it wasn't very dark WTH?!!?) and the Roast Mutton scenes were my favorite. Very well done.

I'm just back from seeing it in no frills 2D. Film of the year for me hands down and I often can't make that call straight away. Some reviews complained about the length but tbh this flew in for me.

Almost every scene is so faithful to the book but fans get all the extra goods thrown in. Undoubtedly there are some bad cg shots here and there but nothing that ruins the movie, they could have worked on Azog a bit more. Are they adding bolg to this trilogy or is azog just filling that role too?

Armitage ****ing nailed it as Thorin, what a badass!

Glad you liked it but didn't you accuse some of us being 'idiots' if we claimed this movie to be the best of the year?? Unless it was someone else.

 

[intothevoid]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

Well, I would hope they would remember Moria in Lord of the Rings but I think that's solved when Balin says they had to retreat due to major loss of Soldiers. So that's why they didn't go after him within Moria.

Yeah, I really would have loved to see that book moment come to life. So while what they went with wasn't my #1 choice I didn't hate it either.

It would have been awesome no doubt.

Oh I didn't hate it as it was, but it did raise a question in my mind. Plus showing the Balrog would have tied things into LOTR nicely like the stone trolls for example.

 

[ExMem-LarjaThwei]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

Was Legolas in the movie?

 

[The Josh]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

The prologue, Riddles in the Dark (though it wasn't very dark WTH?!!?) and the Roast Mutton scenes were my favorite. Very well done.

I think the prologue in this next to the FOTR one was the best one we've seen. Riddles in the Dark was amazing and I felt really ripped from the book. The interaction felt like what comes across between Bilbo and Gollum. Roast Mutton was cool minus the snot gags. I think there were a lot of fantastic moments.

 

[CelticPredator]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

No. Legolas was not in the movie.

 

[carbo-fation]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

Right, but someone who isn't familiar with the book wouldn't really necessarily make the connection to the Balrog at that point.

I read in your review that you would have preferred that Azog was killed at that point and the Balrog is then explicitly shown as the reason that Moria can't be retaken.

I think that would have played out better.

You need to get on that!! You can't tell me you've read all the nonsense about Nolan's movies and yet never read the Hobbit?? Unacceptable!!

 

[intothevoid]

Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread

You need to get on that!! You can't tell me you've read all the nonsense about Nolan's movies and yet never read the Hobbit?? Unacceptable!!

I've got a pile of about 20 books on my bedside table I need to get through first

And no, none of them are about Nolan