Hm, found it better than I expected. But then I expected very bad.
Legolas Send a noteboard - 16/12/2014 10:50:51 PM
View original postThe first two parts of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy already got complaints similar to the Star Wars prequels, the final installment will probably be no exception. The difference being: the last chapter of Bilbo's story actually deserves quite some of the criticism.
So did Jar Jar Binks.
View original postIt starts with the way the films were split in two. That throws us in medias res in Smaug's attack on Lake Town but also makes it hard to get into the story at first. It probably works much better when watching it back to back, but after a break of a year you'll have a hard time being as blown away by the dragon fire as you were last Christmas.
Yes. It also makes the end of that plotline really anti-climactic, as you're only just beginning to piece back together who is who and why people are where they are, when the whole Smaug plotline comes to a rather abrupt end.
View original postAfter that, the film wastes little time and takes big steps towards the big showdown of the five armies. The major battle ultimately delivers great action in cool locations, but the initial conflict seems so forced that the stakes never feel as big as they did when the King returned. It doesn't help that there are major plot holes, characters and creatures appearing and disappearing at random or changing locations. It all just feels so much more artificial than it used to in the first trilogy.
I guess because it is - there's not much of a story for them to base themselves on. The first trilogy had inexplicably random and stupid moments, but the general story was Tolkien's and generally sound. Here, stretching the Hobbit over three books means you need to pad it out with more stuff - the White Council storyline might've served if they had properly fleshed it out, and then I mean to the point that it could've been released as novella. As it was, it just looked and felt like filler.
View original postOf course some of the fights are awesome and the effects are great, it all just fails to deliver the emotional punches that made the last finale so engaging and moving.
Well, there were some scenes that worked well enough emotionally. Freeman, McKellen, Armitage, Pace and Evans are all good enough that you care what happens to them. Bloom is not but eh, we've gotten used to it by now. Even Evangeline Lilly and her dwarf lover sort of worked for me. Which is what matters - the battle scenes inbetween are just pretty but braindead nonsense, with a few semi-cool exceptions.
Sadly, they also had to add things that were so stupid they were insulting, like every scene involving Alfrid, or whenever Azog opened his mouth.
View original postFreeman's scenes always work, he's also responsible for the most moving parts of the showdown aftermath. Before that, Tolkien purists will find plenty of cringe-worthy Legolas stunts, more jump & run sequences and a character that is entirely made of CGI for no reason whatsoever.
I think Tolkien purists have long ceased to care about Legolas' stunts, they have too much else to get apopleptic about.
It's everybody else who cringes at his stunts. View original postWhy the pretty good rating then, you ask? Because it's Middle Earth. The last minutes of goodbye to the series are really well executed, every thread of connection to the Lord of The Rings, even if it's just hints in Shore's score, sends shivers down your spine.
Yeah, kind of agree with that. I did enjoy it, and I wasn't sure if I would.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the five Armies
- 12/12/2014 10:46:35 AM
2069 Views
Can you give me your assessment of - LotR Trilogy vs. Hobbit Trilogy
- 12/12/2014 05:52:50 PM
1034 Views
I don't wanna come across as hating either the Hobbit or the newer SW trilogy.
- 13/12/2014 10:46:42 PM
847 Views
I wouldn't assume it is the last. Hollywood never lets a cash cow die. *NM*
- 12/12/2014 06:13:09 PM
374 Views
From what I heard, Tolkien's estate/son have said no more. Tolkien himself sold Hobbit & LotR rights *NM*
- 12/12/2014 11:14:13 PM
365 Views
Nah. What is there left to show?
- 13/12/2014 10:49:22 PM
760 Views
They'd find stories enough to tell in the Silm, but they don't have the rights. Nor will they ever. *NM*
- 14/12/2014 08:52:10 PM
316 Views
just because it wouldn't be any good doesn't mean they wouldn't make it and make millions doing it *NM*
- 15/12/2014 04:25:06 AM
309 Views
Children of Hurin. Or a Silmarillion trilogy: 1. Beren 2. Hurin 3. Elendil
- 26/12/2014 08:41:41 PM
692 Views
Um... if YOU'RE saying this about a big-budget film
- 12/12/2014 08:52:08 PM
828 Views
What's that supposed to mean?
- 13/12/2014 10:50:42 PM
864 Views
- 13/12/2014 10:50:42 PM
864 Views
She's saying you suspend your disbelief more readily than most mortals. *NM*
- 26/12/2014 08:42:49 PM
332 Views
In the book, Bilbo is knocked out really fast and the battle is basically a few pages
- 15/12/2014 08:39:56 PM
752 Views
Hm, found it better than I expected. But then I expected very bad.
- 16/12/2014 10:50:51 PM
746 Views
I forgot how hot Mr. Orc Warlord was 
- 26/12/2014 06:48:50 PM
779 Views
- 26/12/2014 06:48:50 PM
779 Views
Manu Bennett is often the best thing about whatever he is in; even if his character was already dead
- 01/01/2015 03:03:33 AM
689 Views
So, I've watched it.
- 04/01/2015 04:55:59 PM
840 Views
People rode more different creatures in this movie than there were riding horses.
- 14/01/2015 02:01:13 AM
739 Views