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The Hobbit: Desolation of SmaugFollow

#1 Oct 03 2013 at 9:19 AM Rating: Good
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Trailer out...

Did I see romance brewing with Legolas? Very unTolkien that.

Edited, Oct 3rd 2013 5:19pm by Elinda
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#2 Oct 04 2013 at 1:14 PM Rating: Good
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Wait, was Legolas in the book as well?
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#3 Oct 04 2013 at 1:39 PM Rating: Good
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Mazra wrote:
Wait, was Legolas in the book as well?

Lol, Peter Jackson doesn't need no stinkin' books.

Gandalf was the only one of the fellowship that was also in The Hobbit.
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#4 Oct 04 2013 at 1:48 PM Rating: Decent
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First one was terrible. Second looks terrible. Probably make 2 billion.
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#5 Oct 04 2013 at 3:59 PM Rating: Good
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I have to say, I expected to hate the first, and I really enjoyed it. There were definitely aspects I disliked, but the unexpected party was EXACTLY what I wanted it to be.

And the scene fleeing the mountain was precisely what I wanted from a Sword and Sorcery movie.

It was a much easier time forgiving everything else after that.
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#6 Oct 04 2013 at 4:24 PM Rating: Good
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Have to agree. There were elements I disliked, but upon reflection, these were elements that were in the original work. The constant string of "hide in a cave to escape something" comes from the book. The relative weakness of the group (and silliness in some cases) comes from the book. Constantly getting overpowered/captured, only to have some incredibly unlikely thing occur to get them out comes from the book as well. It was written as a children's story, and it's ultimately hard to get around that without changing massive portions of the story.

I think Jackson did about as good a job balancing the need for heroic figures in the film with the inherent storyline elements that undermine that in the book itself as you could expect. He added some extra bits in which will allow for character development (which is presumed to happen in the book, but Tolkien never directly addresses, cause... Tolkien). I think that's a good move. We get to see the characters develop from silly/weak in the first film, to resolved but still overwhelmed by their surroundings in the second, to (presumably) heroic in the final installment.
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#7 Oct 04 2013 at 5:26 PM Rating: Good
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The biggest problem the movie faces, imo, is the fact that the Hobbit is so much less-serious a book.

So they had to make the decision to ignore that and show the true events, or try and stay somewhat loyal to the fact that Bilbo was the narrator of this story. They took the middle road. They want the movie to have the epic feel of the LotR trilogy, but you really can't get rid of the playfulness and call it The Hobbit.

I'm far from Tolkein's biggest fan, but I think it was a relatively solid adaptation.

What I WILL say is that I don't like the extra tension they've been trying to breed with Thorin, both in his story and with Bilbo. It had me rolling my eyes at more than a few points. I get WHY they did it, since they need a central antagonist for the films, since they broke them up into 3. But still annoying.
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#8 Oct 04 2013 at 8:28 PM Rating: Good
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I didn't see Thorin as a central antagonist in the first part. More like a troubled hero with trust issues. The central antagonist of the first movie was the handicapped Orc guy. At least, that's how I saw it.
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#9 Oct 05 2013 at 5:48 AM Rating: Good
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Oh, sorry, I see why it would be read that way; my bad.

What I meant is that they're trying to use the Pale Orc as a central antagonist through the whole series, so that they can turn the last movie into Return of the King Version 2.0. And to do that, they're playing up his and Thorin's conflict as much as possible, and REALLY playing up his relationship with Bilbo to milk the "betrayal" and death scene for all it's worth.

I'm not at all surprised they'd do that. I just don't like it, personally. I also still don't care. The oak shield part was cool, but it really didn't need to go on for nearly as long as it did. And the whole "charging into battle from the flaming tree" thing, which was supposed to be a climax, had me rolling my eyes so hard. The climax of the movie, for me, was firmly the escape scene from the mountain.

I was also bored with the Giants scene. That went on way too long.

I like graphics!**** as much as the next nerd, but they did a little too much in this film. I really hope they tone it down for the next one. I want Mirkwood to be all about dark shadows and unknown evils, not "YOU GET A SPIDER, YOU GET A SPIDER, EVERYONE GETS A SPIDER!" followed by a Mountain-esque escape from Thorin's palace.
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#10 Oct 05 2013 at 1:26 PM Rating: Excellent
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There were no elves at helms deep!!!!!


Also, too many spiders.
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#11 Oct 05 2013 at 1:57 PM Rating: Good
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Smiley: lolSmiley: lolSmiley: lol

I didn't mind them bringing the Elves to Helms Deep. It gave Haldir back his character after truncating the arrival in Lothlorien, which is a script change I understand.

But, yeah, spiders need to be seriously taken down a notch across the entire fantasy genre...
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#12 Oct 10 2013 at 6:04 AM Rating: Good
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The first movie was a 90 minute story stretched over three hours, I fear the second one will be the same.

I do like that PJ has taken stuff for the Hobbit appendices and the Lost Tales and added them in (such as Gandalf and Radagast investigating Dol Guldur), but God almighty Peter Jackson, just because you can make a movie that was more expensive than the entire The Two Towers and Return of the King's budget combined, doesn't mean you should (for three hours, anyway).

Edited, Oct 10th 2013 8:44am by SolomonGrundy
#13 Oct 10 2013 at 6:18 AM Rating: Good
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The big problem is that the flow to those other events just isn't right, yet. He might be able to fix that with the next movies, but it's still really problematic. He spent a LOT of time dwelling on setting up a big bad that just wasn't applicable to this movie at all. There was no payoff, at all, for all that time spent on Radagast, with the Council, etc.

I'm all for building long, intersected plot arcs. But they have to actually intersect along the way. You need to be giving me those important details in the context of what is happening now.

It's the difference between Radagast having a random cameo where he fights ghosts, and having the band of Dwarves run away from the ghosts they just happened upon in Dul Guldur.

They could have somewhat addressed that if they made the group split up in this movie, with Gandalf going to Dul Guldur and leaving them alone. But they didn't, so it was a good 45 minutes (at least) worth of content that had no utility at all within the context of this film.

That's just not okay.

I'm hopeful the next two won't do that, since Gandalf will probably split off from the main group early on, and we can guess the Battle of Three Armies will be the bulk of the third movie's plot.
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#14 Oct 10 2013 at 6:45 AM Rating: Good
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idiggory, King of Bards wrote:
They could have somewhat addressed that if they made the group split up in this movie, with Gandalf going to Dul Guldur and leaving them alone. But they didn't, so it was a good 45 minutes (at least) worth of content that had no utility at all within the context of this film.


I think you hit the nail on the head there.
#15 Oct 11 2013 at 8:03 AM Rating: Good
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No, the most serious problem with the film was that it was an action movie where the action was unrelentingly tedious. Honestly, the intro with Smaug and the dwarf fortress was kind of cool, after that I might as well have left the cinema.
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#16 Oct 11 2013 at 8:25 AM Rating: Good
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I agree that a bunch of the scenes went on too long.

I also wouldn't have started with that scene about the fall of the Misty Mountain, because it doesn't work to establish a proper tone for the movie. They were trying to allude to the start of the LOTR trilogy, but it didn't work well.

But that would have been more bearable if they didn't waste so much time on stuff without any emotional payoff.
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#17 Oct 20 2013 at 7:59 PM Rating: Good
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Hell yea! That looks awesome. Can't wait to see it.
#18 Oct 21 2013 at 11:13 PM Rating: Decent
I enjoyed the first one a lot, really looking forward to the second.
I even started to like Gollum and feel sorry for him. If Legolas could join the second, it would be perfect.
#19 Dec 12 2013 at 2:58 PM Rating: Decent
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Wife pre-purchased tickets for us to go see opening night tomorrow. Enjoyed the first one, I expect to enjoy this one as well, even with the addional fragments put in.
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#20 Dec 13 2013 at 7:53 AM Rating: Good
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I've scheduled the afternoon off from work to go see this, but the first show in the 3-D theater isn't til 4. That might mess up dinner plans with the hubby.

We'll see. I'll get to it before the weekend is out. I rewatched most of the first movie last night.

God I love those giant eagles. Smiley: smile
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#21 Dec 13 2013 at 2:12 PM Rating: Decent
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Ahh yes the eagles.....could have flown a few more minutes and dropped them off right at the mountain :)
#22 Dec 13 2013 at 9:12 PM Rating: Good
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And they picked the goddamn most frustrating place possible to end it at.
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#23 Dec 14 2013 at 12:18 AM Rating: Decent
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There was indeed an audible sound of "wtf" or something to that affect when it ended. But still, great show. Some weird extra scenes, but then I've read the book multiple times.
#24 Dec 15 2013 at 11:25 AM Rating: Excellent
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I read the book something like 15 years ago. Near as I can recall, a goodly portion of this movie was not true to the book; or rather, the locations and events were and then extra stuff was added to pad the action quota. Which wasn't bad! I enjoyed the movie more than the first and I never thought I'd say it but I liked seeing Legolas in action again. The ending definitely leaves you on a cliff-hanger wanting more, but the anticipation is builds for the final movie is great; I think the third movie should be excellent.

Edited, Dec 15th 2013 12:25pm by LockeColeMA
#25 Dec 15 2013 at 6:03 PM Rating: Good
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One thing that got on my nerves: Riding a metal wheelbarrow on top of a river of molten gold, without getting your hands and knees fried from conducted heat alone.

Edited, Dec 15th 2013 7:17pm by IDrownFish
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#26 Dec 15 2013 at 6:13 PM Rating: Good
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LockeColeMA wrote:
I read the book something like 15 years ago. Near as I can recall, a goodly portion of this movie was not true to the book; or rather, the locations and events were and then extra stuff was added to pad the action quota. Which wasn't bad! I enjoyed the movie more than the first and I never thought I'd say it but I liked seeing Legolas in action again. The ending definitely leaves you on a cliff-hanger wanting more, but the anticipation is builds for the final movie is great; I think the third movie should be excellent.

Edited, Dec 15th 2013 12:25pm by LockeColeMA


Atm, I'm refusing to see the movie, because the trailer alone contained so much stuff that wasn't in the book that I just can't bring myself to do it. The first definitely stretched out a lot of the events (for obvious reasons), but the scenes that were not in the book were kept to a minimum - essentially just Radaghast and the council at Rivendell.
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