Re: The Official "The Hobbit" movie thread
Ween, I know you pretty well. Don't worry.
It wasn't slow though. Don't forget that the journey doesn't end with this movie. We still have two more films. Fifteen minutes is not enough time to introduce us to Bilbo and all twelve dwarves (as they arrive separately), and see their antics and the entire dinner sequence before Thorin arrives. Then there's the story of Smaug burning Erebor, and Thorin's quest to retake his home. Then Bilbo learns why they've come to him, etc, etc. Not to mention the old Bilbo and Frodo scene. None of that dragged, it's all part of the story.
If all of that had been done in only fifteen minutes it would have seemed ridiculously rushed. By the end of the trilogy you would have wished they spent more time fleshing out the introduction and recruitment of Bilbo at the Shire because it's a kind of key part of the story.
You can introduce everything you need to know about Bilbo in 5 minutes. He's prissy, he keeps to himself, he enjoys a quiet lifestyle, and he don't like no body at his damn house!
I know who Gandalf is. And I think they did a pretty mediocre job at introducing the dwarves. The trailer did it better. Some stood out, but I can't remember for the life of me what their names were. Aside from Thorin. Because when we were introduced to him a second time, they held the camera on him, and made it clear that this character is important.
Aside from the ear hat dude, none of them really stood out. I had a hard time keeping track. But that could've been the 48ps, which made everyone move like they were on crack
And you act like I should care about all those story points. I don't. The only thing that is important to me is that Bilbo goes on this adventure, and goes through personal changes, and becomes a great hero.
Goobdlity gloopta and chiawhanka tarki whatever fighting the battle of wawanka doesn't do a single thing for me. Now, if it all melds into the narrative of the main plot, i'm OK with that. But none of those council scenes were needed. And they went on for way too long. We get it. Sauron is coming back. It's in the next series. Come back to Hobbit town. But I did love the Throin revenge thing. Good stuff there. Love revenge tales.
The best stuff in the movie is once they get in that cave. From then on, it's pretty damn brilliant. It was OK before, but once it hit that point, it just took off. They kept the plot at that point simple, and too the point, they had the characters develop in that area, and had some moments of pretty good tension.
That last hour? Half hour? Is worth seeing. It's great stuff.
