The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

[archifikoss]

***WARNING!!! BOOK AND MOVIE SPOILERS!!!*** ***ALSO HUGE WALL OF TEXT!!!***

 

To start with, I am not wrapping anything in spoiler tags given that I just made a rather clear spoiler warning. So be warned! I doubt any spoilers will show in the mouse-over preview of the thread link anyway. Also, apologies for the long rant but I really need to get this off my chest. So with that out of the way...

 

I just came back from watching this, and I am very, very torn about how I feel. The side of me that enjoys action movies with great VFX (I studied 3D animation so I do like well done CG even though I much prefer practical effects with CG used only when necessary) was highly entertained. But the Tolkien fan in me is screaming, and given the fact that I'm past the "fanboy" phase in my life and understand why things that work in the book won't work in the film and vice versa, it's quite a big thing.

 

I'll start with the negatives as I prefer to get unpleasant stuff out of the way quickly.

 

My most generalized problem is... I rarely felt like I was watching a movie in Tolkien's world. Mostly, it was like watching a huge, generic, flashy fantasy blockbuster with videogame combat and a big dollop of fan service and shoehorning. So much mindless filler action, to the point that it got boring despite it being well made. I know that the Hobbit being turned into a trilogy was meant to milk people and that they needed lots of padding to fill the three hours per movie they required... But Jesus people.

 

What really irritated me was not only shoehorning Legolas in, but also shoehorning the most stupid and insulting romance subplot to appeal to the Twilight crowd. When I saw Legolas in the trailers I groaned audibly because I knew that it would mean more improbable dancy action and "Legolas moments"... Ugh. And I groaned when I saw the Tauriel character because I knew it was a way to shoehorn a romance in. Oh look, Leggy has a girlfriend. Whoopty do. But what I saw was worse, and I really felt that it was a huge dump on Tolkien's grave.

 

The made her fall for one of the dwarves.

 

Yep, a Legolas - Tauriel - Kili love triangle.

 

WHAT THE ****??? I cannot begin to describe my annoyance. I am all for romantic sub-plots in movies when they makes sense and when they're well done. But this was just mind-bogglingly ridiculous, and not to mention a complete ****-up of the lore... I actually find it to be a huge, huge disrespect towards the author, and I won't go into why this is - I'm sure Tolkien fans would at least understand my anger whether they agree or not, and I don't expect anyone who is not a Tolkien fan to be reading this far after my spoiler warnings. At the very least a) they didn't screw up an existing important person from the book and actually Tauriel was a very solid character, b) they get to develop one of the dwarf characters through this and c) at least it kind of goes with the "mortal and elf love is always star-crossed" motif Tolkien followed, since Kili will die in the Battle of Five Armies anyway. And why do dwarves need to be pretty boys anyway?

 

Oh, and Thranduil looked like a creepy weirdo.

 

However, the movie itself did have a lot of good stuff going for it. Obviously the effects are top notch, and the movie does manage to draw you in even when its flaws are screaming at you. Technically the movie is incredible, and there's no question as to how much effort and love has been poured into it. Martin Freeman (I think I got that right) is excellent as Bilbo as always, and in general I did get the feeling that the cast were really into it, loving every moment. The Mirkwood spider scenes were awesome, I loved how they handled them talking (Bilbo only hears their speech with the Ring on, it suggests their evil nature and loyalty). I like the fact that they focused more on different dwarves (as far as I remember) this time round as they're more than the secondary characters they were in the book and it works in favor of the movies as we do grow to care for them more.

 

But what made the entire entry fee worth it three times over despite some of the crap they pulled was the conversation with Smaug. The dragon itself was astoundingly awesome... And the scene itself was masterfully done, it was the one time I actually felt "Yeah! This is the Tolkien movie moment I know and love'. In fact, I was so enthralled by the scene that I forgot that I needed to pee and only remembered it after the movie.

 

Just impeccable!

 

I think I've gone on too long. I am so torn. I want to love this movie as I have a huge respect for Peter Jackson - he not only achieved the impossible with the LotR trilogy, he also made his childhood dreams come true (to make LotR into films and a King Kong remake). Respect... And despite my Legolas rant I do like Orlando bloom and I'm happy that he got to reprise his role - I'm sure he got even more joy from being back in the old stomping grounds than from his pay. But I feel that PJ is following in George Lucas' footsteps and creating his own "Prequel Trilogy", and whilst the Hobbit movies are miles better than the Star Wars PT... They still feel like they were movies that didn't really need to be made. And it makes me very, very sad to think that.

 

Again, I apologize for this huge rant.

 

I just want to add this extra comment: As a movie it is a blast, very entertaining and to one not familiar with the source material it should be an extra special treat with a cliffhanger ending. But even though I understand and accept changes to the source material in any adaptation, the aforementioned dislikes really left me feeling confused in how I feel. I saw a number of glowing reviews for it and I'm truly happy to see people enjoying it as much as they did.

Edited December 14, 2013 by archifikoss

[Ren_simp]

I felt the same way after watching the first one and The same with the lord of the rings movies

 

It was the fight scenes that did it for me can't explain it there just something about them that was just Huge letdown

 

This is totally off topic butt the one movie I really liked was that district 9 I think it was called made by pj aswell

Now that had a good story and the main actor was great He was the bad guy merc in Elysium with the South African accent which I had mixed feelings about also because it was a slight letdown too.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Ren_simp

[Joesixxpack]

I just came back from watching this, and I am very, very torn about how I feel. The side of me that enjoys action movies with great VFX (I studied 3D animation so I do like well done CG even though I much prefer practical effects with CG used only when necessary) was highly entertained. But the Tolkien fan in me is screaming, and given the fact that I'm past the "fanboy" phase in my life and understand why things that work in the book won't work in the film and vice versa, it's quite a big thing.

 

I didn't read further to avoid movie spoilers. Basically I thought the same as you wrote above after watching part 1. Great action movie, but I would have needed to read the book again if I wanted to enjoy the story much. There's obviously a challenge making it since the book has a helluva lot to cram into a few hour movie, but the movie seemed to put focus almost entirely on action sequences, and otherwise depict the story in a way that anyone and everyone could find very accessible. Humor tuned for kids and so forth. I get it, purpose # 1is and must be revenue, but I was really surprised that even the lotr movies seemed to do a better job of balancing things.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Joesixxpack

[Xienive]

*minor spoilers*

 

I initially felt torn in the same way. I am a huge fan of both the films and the books and at first some of the Elf stuff kind of bothered me. However once the movie and kind of sunk in to me, I realized how much I actually liked it. Yeah the **SPOILER** romance of Tauriel and Kili wasn't my favorite thing **END SPOILER** and Legolas probably did have just a bit more involvement than he needed...BUT it doesn't really bother me in the end too much because I know that stuff is for the general audience that loves action, and pretty much everything of significance to the Dwarves and Bilbo all still happens and it happens very well. So nothing was really taken away, some stuff was just added so that the general audience would be more interested, which is alright to me because it helps the movie gain popularity and money and could inspire people to read the books that might not have otherwise.

 

They key scenes were the Mirkwood spiders vs Bilbo, especially when he has to get the ring back and it starts to show how it's corrupting him, the barrel ride, and Bilbo encounters Smaug for the first time. Bilbo and Smaug was near perfect in my opinion and Smaug was breathtaking.

 

At first I might be able to see how you might not have felt like it was Middle Earth, but give it some time. This whole movie is pretty much sections of Middle Earth we haven't seen on screen before and it had all new music that we hadn't heard before to go with it, so the vibe of course is going to be much different. I think over time though once everybody gets use to the new settings and sounds it will feel exactly like Middle Earth does in the rest of the films!

[JPryde]

I saw the movie last friday and I got to admit, that certain "side plots" are a bit strange, if you knoe the book from reading it at least 5 times in the past 30 years.

 

The biggest annoyance to me were indeed the sometimes comical moves of Legolas, again shooting arrows for full effect at touching distance. Apparently Legolas also is some kind of Jedi, as he obviously can see in the future, otherwise he would be unable to do his dance moves and survive them.

 

Also I was watching the movie in 3D and can safely say, that the 3D part was a waste of money. Many scenes just felt like some 3D effect was introduced just to make the movie be 3D.

Then later when the 3D would really have done good (whole Smaug scenery), it felt pretty much flat.

[Beranzen]

Just saw it today myself, and thought it outdid the first,even bringing me back to the epic feelings the LOTR trilogy had.

I can understand how some longtime fans of the book(s) might not like/be confused about the changes and additions made to the story, and I respect that.

But I think it just adds to the story, gives it even more depth.

I agree with some of the others about some of the best scenes,SMAUG! “Truly, the tales and songs fall utterly short of your enormity, o Smaug the Stupendous!" now my biggest worry is waiting till NEXT year for the end.

 

Off topic the Godzilla trailer looks decent,i hope it's a return to it's roots and not like the pathetic Broderick version.

[chuixupu]

 

This is totally off topic butt the one movie I really liked was that district 9 I think it was called made by pj aswell

Now that had a good story and the main actor was great He was the bad guy merc in Elysium with the South African accent which I had mixed feelings about also because it was a slight letdown too.

 

PJ only Co-produced District 9. He did not write or direct it.

 

If you want to see another Peter Jackson written and directed movie that is somewhat underrated, watch The Frighteners.

[Saikrarus]

The movie was freaking fantastic, to hell with all these prude people coming up with the most idiotic reasons to not like it. Enjoy it for what it was, a cinematic marvel, with a great story and amazing characters that all did their parts. I would see it again and again and still be amazed by how awesome it was.

[JattaGin]

I watched the movie last evening in HFR 3D and I was left with a mixed feeling as well. But for other reasons. I just don't like 3D very much. To me it looked like a cheap television film, only in 3D. I am sure I would have enjoyed it more in 2D.

 

The beginning of the film was quite bumpy and rushed. Didn't like that part at all (until they came to the Elves).

 

I like that they extend the Necromancer-part and build a great connection to the LotR movies. I haven't read the notes from Tolkien after the LotR about these parts, so I don't know how accurate they are though. If I recall correctly, there isn't really mentioned much about that part in the original book, isn't it?

 

Oh, and Thranduil looked like a creepy weirdo.

 

And this is wrong, because..? He is a creepy weirdo after all. I thought this character looked and acted great. Not quite sane anymore (as supposed to be, right?).

 

I went into the movie completely unspoiled and I had no idea that Legolas would be in it. I don't understand all the hate for him. Except that he looks much older than in LotR (couldn't they have fixed him digitally?), his role is a 100% Diablo-style hack'n'slay murder feast. I mean come on, all he does is slaying orcs. And that even brutally. His scenes were super epic imo.

 

And Tauriel... it took me a while until I realised that it's Kate from Lost and I got confused, because I hated Kate to the guts. But Tauriel... oh man... <3

 

The quite long water rapids fight scene is both, epic and funny at the same time. There was even some clapping from the audience when this fat dwarf rolled over all the orcs. That scene reminded me of "The longest Fall" in the history of movie falls from the film "Hot Rod".

 

But the best part was - again - Martin Freeman. From the day I heard that he will be Bilbo, I knew that it was gonna be good. He looks like a hobbit. He moves like a hobbit. He talks like a hobbit. He is perfect in every scene. This is what should give an oscar: If you can personify someone 100%. Martin Freeman = Bilbo Baggins. There is no doubt about that. If anyone needs proof for that, just watch how he walks down the stairs to the treasure room. I love this actor.

 

The dragon disappointed me. He was simply too stupid. He could have killed them all easily. But then again, this is always the case. Stormtroopers miss unmoving targets from 2 meters, too. I should think less and enjoy more.

 

So, when is December coming again?