The Hobbit

[The Twilight Mexican]

I saw this with my family today. Very pleased.

Spoiler

Despite being a little eager for the events of 60 years prior to get started, and though the Rivendell portion almost felt like it got away from the quest for too long (still, I was very glad the White Council bit was there), I have no significant complaints about this adaptation.

The parts that were expanded from the book were done well, action sequences were fun, and changes from the source material seemed appropriate for the narrative they were telling. I also can't emphasize enough how thankful I am to see Wargs looking like actual wolves, instead of whatever the fuck those things in "The Two Towers" were.

I was also glad to see Orcrist, Sting and Glamdring discovered as they were in the book, though it bothers me that only Sting glowed when Orcs were around. I know they couldn't really do that since Glamdring didn't glow in the LotR movies, but still.

I was surprised to see that the Dwarves were all clearly distinct, which is something I was worried about. They didn't all get big moments yet, but they were handled excellently.

Most of all, I have to say that I loved Martin Freeman -- he was perfect, in everything from the more jovial moments at the beginning to the sparing of Gollum (a great scene, by the way).

 

[Dawnbreaker]

I haven't yet seen this and feel most shameful!

So I'm guessing the movie was a success as was predicted?

 

[Captain Jack Harkness]

go to watch it now, tenny

 

[anothercid]

I liked it just fine. It's one of those rare occasions where I think knowing a little about the circumstances of the film helped me enjoy it - if I didn't already know that it was going to be a three hour long adaptation of part of the book, and therefore padded to the gills, I might have found it annoying. I went in knowing that it would be more a sequence of events than a complete film in its own right, and as such I enjoyed it just fine. Best thing in it (apart from Gollum, which as far as I'm concerned is a given) is the character of Bilbo is surprisingly well realised, thanks to a script that never forgets his role in proceedings and a really phenomenal performance from Martin, The Free Man.

The 48 FPS thing is pretty, although it does make some of the practical effects look a little more obvious and occasionally makes the action look oddly sped up. It also runs counter to the artificiality of the 3D. Like any new technological advance in film, there's a good chance of its relative novelty leading it to be overused for a time - not every film would suit it as well as The Hobbit does.

 

[Roger]

Balin DID rule over Moria for a few years and sent word back that things were going well. The messengers sent out to get help when the orcs attacked didn't make it out of the valley so Gimli really wouldn't know better.

Anyway just got back from seeing the movie.

Spoiler

It was AWESOME off course. Now Gollum was the best part obviously. Martin Freeman is great so far, I hope he manages to pull off the sly Bilbo I remember from the latter parts of the book. There really were too many dwarves to keep track off, which is in keeping with the book but I'm glad they established Balin's character at least, Dwalin was also cool. Thorin's subplot with Azog got a little grating towards the end, but I ended up liking that too. I'm not entirely sure how they are gonna get two more movies out of this. But I'm glad they're gonna try.

 

[Ite]

Saw it in 2D. I enjoyed myself, but I think it was too lovingly crafted, in a reminded-me-of-Star-Wars-prequels kind of way.

 

[Cthulhu]

relevant article: Uncanny valley

We're almost there?

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Wen I first saw LOTR, I'd never seen anything like it before, with those panoramic vistas and all those special effects, so it was a hugely exciting spectacle with an engrossing story to match. But now, practically every movie has such effects and such vistas. That's part of why The Hobbit wasn't a huge thrill for me. The action scenes were way too long and didn't always make sense - like

Spoiler

when the orcs and wargs were chasing the party around that moor, and Rabagast was meant to be drawing the orcs off, but somehow they kept running into each other. When they were finally spotted, they seemed to be about six yards away from the orcs - yet in the very next scene they were three hillsides away!

. Also, I don't quite understand why all the bad guys have to be quite so hideously, repulsively ugly, like end stage syphilitics, covered with cold sores, their misshaped mouths full of rotten teeth. I understand why the orcs were malformed but was there any reason for the goblins to be?

It all seemed terribly self-conscious - although Martin Freeman was just wonderful. He makes a perfect everyman.

 

[Captain Jack Harkness]

Wen I first saw LOTR, I'd never seen anything like it before, with those panoramic vistas and all those special effects, so it was a hugely exciting spectacle with an engrossing story to match. But now, practically every movie has such effects and such vistas. That's part of why The Hobbit wasn't a huge thrill for me. The action scenes were way too long and didn't always make sense - like

Spoiler

when the orcs and wargs were chasing the party around that moor, and Rabagast was meant to be drawing the orcs off, but somehow they kept running into each other. When they were finally spotted, they seemed to be about six yards away from the orcs - yet in the very next scene they were three hillsides away!

. Also, I don't quite understand why all the bad guys have to be quite so hideously, repulsively ugly, like end stage syphilitics, covered with cold sores, their misshaped mouths full of rotten teeth. I understand why the orcs were malformed but was there any reason for the goblins to be?

It all seemed terribly self-conscious - although Martin Freeman was just wonderful. He makes a perfect everyman.

about the ugly bad guys: well, it's simply that goblin and orcs are ugly. i've never heard of a beautiful orc or goblin. it's simply. probably this should show how the evil is rotten etc. but the fact is quite simple: orcs and goblin are monster, so they're ugly. usually Tolkien says when something or someone is beauty, expecially if he's evil too (for exemple:

Spoiler: S.A. fake good guy

Annatar, who is Sauron

)

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Yes, but there's ugly, and then there's diseased. The goblins were more like zombie lepers with an advanced case of herpes. It was just over-the top, and for me it quickly lost it shock value and just became yuk.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Saw it two nights ago...

General reactions...

This is an excellent adaption of the book, it's definitely made for the people who have read the book, not people who haven't read the book yet. This is probably the better side to er on as if they started cutting out and skipping too much, everyone who's ever read the book will cry foul.

Dwarves: Loved the dwarven kingdom. Really got a good sense of exactly how rich the dwarves were and why Smaug wanted their treasure, as well as why everyone wants to get it back. Really liked how the dwarves don't mine in tunnels, but instead mine in a cave the size of a cathedral. It makes their exile that much harsher. The cool part about this is that Tolkien drew a picture of what the enormous gate on the Lonely Mountain looked like and the gate in the movie looked like what he drew!

Also really liked the establishment of Thorin's character. They do a really good job of portraying him as a good leader, if one with flaws that you just know will have consequences in the later movies.

Also like all the political ground work that's being laid for the Battle of Five Armies. That's going to be intense. My response to seeing the Witch-King of Agmar was, "Oh Crap! It's Sauron again!" The addition of the White Council was great. It'll be interesting to see the spiders in Mirkwood now that we know why they're there in the first place.

Riddles in the Dark. That whole scene was fantastic. And the reason why Bilbo leaves Gollem alive... really like how they're using the fact the audience knows what happens in LOTR to maximum effect. Also, anyone notice how many similar camera angles were used in Bag End?

My one big complaint was that the CGI is a lot more obvious in this one verse LOTR, especially when it comes to making not-human characters. I think the worst ones are the wargs and the White Orc (forget his name). This sticks out to me the most because in LOTR there were pelenty of non-humans, but the CGI seemed more subtle (wargs and Lurtz in particular).

Other then that I liked it and I know what book I'm reading over Christmas vacation.

 

[CameoAmalthea]

I agree with "Uncanny" valley comments. That was definitely my experience with HR 3D. As for the hideous monsters, my problem was they relied on "CG make up" rather than practically make up like with the other films. I feel like CG tends to make things over the top.

That said...um maybe the yuk factor is supposed to make them scarier/make you hope the heroes kill them? It would be interesting to see more fantasy stories with incredibly beautiful monsters. Of course, I imagine beautiful monsters wouldn't be as frightening to audiences and would probably get a lot of fangirls no matter how evil they are because human beings like beauty. On the other hand, beautiful monsters would be arguably more frightening because you wouldn't naturally run away screaming.

Of course, we're more talking about levels of ugly. Jackson has a background in B horror, I believe, he seems to like the over the top.

Also, am I the only one who thought the Wargs were pretty? The white one especially. I wouldn't mind having one as a pet.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Also, I don't quite understand why all the bad guys have to be quite so hideously, repulsively ugly, like end stage syphilitics, covered with cold sores, their misshaped mouths full of rotten teeth. I understand why the orcs were malformed but was there any reason for the goblins to be?

"Goblin" typically refers to the smaller breeds of Orc, though the terms are used interchangeably at times as well (e.g. the head of an Uruk-hai on a stake being called "a great goblin head" at one point in "The Two Towers"). They should all be similarly hideous.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

^^Especially given that orcs are pretty much "anti-elf".

Interestingly, Sauron was said to look beautiful before he lost his body when Numinor was drowned. It's part of the reason the elves took his advice when making the Rings and why the Numinorians listened to him.

 

[CameoAmalthea]

Sauron was basically this universe's equivalent of a fallen angel, right? So it would make sense for him to look beautiful. I like that not all beautiful things equate to good things.

 

[Cthulhu]

Spoiler: ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAIR

I'll just leave that here, .

 

[Lex]

Sauron was able to take a beautiful form, which he did to obtain the trust of the elves during the First age and to infiltrate Numénor by allowing himself to be taken prisoner. He gained the trust of the King and brought the Kingdom down from within.

He eventually lost this ability (something to do with him aligning with Morgoth, I forget) but to the elves at least he assumed a "beautiful" form and called himself Annatar, which was actually filmed and cut from the movie trilogy:

 

[X-SOLDIER]

So, I re-watched the Hobbit the other day with my dad, in IMAX HFR, and surprisingly, I didn't get any of the "sped up" effect at all during the film, even near the beginning, which was nice. (Although I do have to agree with my little brother's statement, that Thoring ought to have a more epic beard).


The one thing that I wanted to bring up, is that since Azog is established as the leader of the Gundabad Orcs, it makes sense that showing his defeat would open up an easy explanation for Balin to have a fantastic opportunity to go retake Moria after The Hobbit. Overall, I think that it's an attempt to tie in a tighter continuity to the events, and make it seem like Moria would really be a viable route / make you expect to see Balin and the other dwarves there.


Either way, just felt the need to drop that in here.



X

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

He eventually lost this ability (something to do with him aligning with Morgoth, I forget) ...

It was lost when Númenor fell. He went down with the island, and -- though his spirit survived -- his beautiful form was lost forever.

 

[Captain Jack Harkness]

looking around i've found that Robin Kerr will play as Elros in both "the desolation of Smaug" and "There and back again". (well, actually we're in post-production, but yet...)
can someone enlight me about the role of Elros in the whole thing?

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Elros was Elrond's brother, the first king of Númenor, and Strider's ancestor. As half-Elves, he and his brother were given the choice of which race to belong to. Elros chose to be of the race of Man, while Elrond chose to be of Elven kind.

Elros and his line were still gifted with extraordinarily long life by our standards, however.

 

[Xelazander]

If anyone can't wait/can't afford cinema/doesn't like leaving the house.. Someone sent me a link for it: Click for Hobbity goodness

 

[Captain Jack Harkness]

Elros was Elrond's brother, the first king of Númenor, and Strider's ancestor. As half-Elves, he and his brother were given the choice of which race to belong to. Elros chose to be of the race of Man, while Elrond chose to be of Elven kind.

Elros and his line were still gifted with extraordinarily long life by our standards, however.

sorry, maybe I wrote wrong my question. I know who is Elros, but I can't see how can he appear in both "the desolation of Smaug" and "There and back again".
he's dead 5500 years ago (more or less), so why does he appear during the Quest of Erebor and the fight with the Necromancer?

 

[Monterosa]

Going to see The Hobbit today! I haven't read the book, though I'd like to, so I'm somewhat concerned about investing three hours or however long it is into part one of three of a story I know nothing about. Oh well. I watched Return of the King on TV the other day and enjoyed it despite not remembering any of the prior events.

 

[Cthulhu]

I should watch it this weekend, ffs.