68 replies to this topic

[SteveT]

Sounds like I need to start working on my next best-seller.  Just have to change a few names and no one will notice.

[Crimson Lego]

[Veteran]

Despite everything wrong with the first two, I can't dislike anything LOTR, and this teaser is great.

 

 

 

I don't want much in life, I just want to see Saruman and Gandalf cross wizard streams.

[DarkJuno]

Well, I like how they used Pippin's song from RotK. And I actually enjoyed the last one to be honest, even if the changes were massively egregious beyond anything else he's done.

 

Really wish they stuck with the original title though since that linked it at a glance with the first set of movies specifically so much better then this. This title sounds more like a story in the middle of a series then at the end.

[Veteran]

Well then, just got back from seeing it and I thought it was largely wonderful. It's not without it's flaws but that just makes it sit fine with the other two!

 

I'm biased in that I love everything about LOTR, hell I'm the last one of our group playing Lord of the Rings Online, so I was pretty much guaranteed to enjoy this trilogy.

 

There are more weird moments in this one I think versus the others, I picked up on them more because now there's nothing left to hope for, but it wasn't just the stuff added to pad things out. Beorn is criminally underused, almost "let's save him for the extended edition" level of obvious cutting, and it makes it all the more pointless to have included him at all in the second one. He brings nothing, absolutely nothing to this trilogy. However, thinking about it, I don't think he brought anything to the book either.

 

The movie starts quite rushed which is fairly ironic really and I wish they'd taken more time concluding the hanging threads from movie 2. It ends well and doesn't overdo it like ROTK - I was hoping for a smash cut ending with Bilbo putting on the ring, but alas.

 

Bard is awesome. Thranduil is awesome. Billy Connolly is very awesome as Dain Ironfoot. Other spoilery not awesome things:

 

Spoiler

No individual moments of awesome for Dwarves not named Thorin, Dwalin, Balin, Fili and Kili. There were no Goblin Town or River Running sequences to highlight the other Dwarves which I thought a shame but others will no doubt consider a blessing.

 

No explanation of what happened to Thrain. He went mad, apparently. They start movie 2 with the map in Gandalf's possession and then no pay off as to why this is. I felt sure this movie would open with Thrain in the dungeons of Dol Guldor.

 

Tauriel may as well have not been created. It went nowhere.

 

Legolas all of a sudden has mother-issues? What the hell? Was this a set up to another film for just Legolas? It may have been a leftover thread from when the third movie was supposed to be the interquel, but it was just so strange and sudden.

 

Speaking of Legolas, his "Legolas moment" in this one is even more ridiculous than any of the other moments. Not very well done unfortunately.

 

Spoiler

The White Council vs Sauron was too brief. Epic, but brief. As was Smaug biting the dust merely 15 minutes in. They should've killed him at the end of movie 2 and sacked the gold statue sillyness for time.

 

There were also many moments of "just put on the bloody ring, Bilbo! For christ's sake!

 

On the whole, I'm glad it was a trilogy because any time in Middle-earth for me is time well spent. It wouldn't have worked as one movie as there's just so much to cover. Seriously, anyone who says this is a small book must have forgotten just how much stuff there is. Really the only thing created was the elf-dwarf romance. Sure, Gandalf versus Sauron was only in the LOTR appendices, but it did take place at the same time as The Hobbit. And had they just made Gandalf leave and then reappear before the Battle of Erebor it would've felt cheap.

 

Two movies would've been exceptional and worthy of the praise the original trilogy received. 

[SteveT]

Spoiler

Those mommy issues.  So dumb.  So cut for time.  

[Raien]

I saw the new film two days ago and I want to go see it again. I had a big stupid grin on my face for most of this film because of how schlocky it was (in the best possible way). I don't even care anymore that the films aren't as well-made as LotR, they're just so much fun to watch regardless.

 

That said, I actually can make a case for three Hobbit movies. The first two films follow the plot of the book more closely like everyone wanted and the third film is entirely dedicated to Gandalf, Saruman, Elrond, Galadriel and Sylvester McCoy teaming up to fight the Necromancer/Sauron. That movie would be called "Middle Earth Super Friends" and each of them would get their own special powers. Christopher Lee's power is still being bad-ass at 92 years old.

[TheAvengerLever]

Saw the first two, but the second made me so angry I am refusing to go with Tris to see it. She and her mother can go watch it together, I'll just enjoy the book.

 

The Hobbit has joined other classic works of literature as stories that no one can competently adapt to the screen. Is it that hard to say, "I'm going to put my ego aside and make the best adaptation of this novel I can make." I know some people say that just going to see a movie that is the exact same as a book would be boring, but I beg to differ. Seeing your favorite story play out in different mediums is still exciting. You don't have to change certain elements so that you can kind of make it your own.

[DarkJuno]

As far as Thrain goes, Vet, he actually pops up in the EE for the second movie. Would've been nice to keep it in but he's at least in that version.

Spoiler

Gandalf encounters him in the ruins insane, but he clears up and accompanies him while he's there. When they do the Sauron reveal he's actually killed by the darkness, they literally just CGed the actor out of the shot for the theatrical version.

Anyway, for this movie I actually liked it while hating myself for doing so. I've given up on it being an adaptation of the book, but as a prequel for the movies it's all right if overly long. I gotta say, it also didn't feel nearly as long a movie as the last one did to me, even with the jarring beginning. I'll have to re watch it (on home release) but I......think I like it?

Now, I'm a little worried that joke about doing updated re-releases of the LotR movies won't stay a joke.