The Hobbit The Five Armies

E.F.B.

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I love the LOTR and the Hobbit books and I love absolutely every one of the Peter Jackson LOTR/Hobbit movies that have come out so far.

I am a Tolkien addict and I am happy.:D
 

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I watched it on cable last weekend. It was very pretty. The props were marvelous, as I've come to expect from this franchise. Parts of it, as in the other movies, matched my internal vision so well they floored me. Other parts were so ham-handedly shoveled in that they cheapened the experience. I smell focus group and theme-park ride tie-ins.

Gandalf in the Necromancer's lair? The white orc? Radagast (sp?) having a speaking role? The whole Kili and Tauriel thing, though charming? The orcs chasing the barrel-riders? More of Smaug than we actually saw in the book?

Sigh. I'd say it's more like fan-fiction, but I've read more accurate and entertaining LotR fan fiction. This is what happens when someone takes a three-hundred-page book and bloats it into three movies.

To add, I'm the kind of Tolkien fan who re-reads 'The Silmarillion' for fun. And has, since 1980. I not only have the old Hildebrandt calendars, but the even older Tim Kirk calendars. I read 'The Hobbit' at age eight, in the early seventies. I've tempered my obsession with all things Tolkien since I began writing my own fiction. But I am still a fan.

I give the Hobbit movies (so far) a solid B minus because of all the jarring, added stuff.
 
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ULTRAGOTHA

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The sad thing is that he could have bloated this into three GOOD movies with actual interestng plot by Tolkien. He's left out scads of cool plot from the books and replaced it with video game barrel rides and improbable, and boring, foundry scenes.

I won't be seeing part three.
 
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Zoombie

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You know, I wonder how this might have turned out if Guillermo Del Toro had still done this project. I've read somewhere that Peter Jackson wasn't especially enthused or eager to make the films and only came in to direct when GDT left...but I can't remember where.
 

thisprovinciallife

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I gladly would have traded Tauriel or that idiot from Lake-town (the Wormtongue-esque guy) for five minutes ten minutes an hour more of Beorn. When the eagles dropped him I was like HOLY SH**. My husband said it reminded him of Edward Norton's Hulk changing midair. So cool.

Spoilerish: I wish they would have shown how Beorn and the eagles were a turning point for the battle--it was hard to see that when Thorin was so far away. I didn't mind the drawn-out final fight scene between Thorin and Azog, but I wish they'd been in the thick of the battle instead of isolated.

I loved it, though. I started crying when Thorin said "One Last Time" and didn't stop for the rest of the movie. Oh, and (spoiler) Fili's death. Fili's death shook me more than anything else. So brutal. So tragic. Happened way too fast.

Also, Galadriel! I mean... damn, girl. She was intense. Not sure when she got that powerful, but I was okay with it.

I have so many more things to say (good and bad)! But I'll wait, since I know many haven't seen it yet :)
 
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katiemac

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To thisprocinciallife, possible spoilers:

I didn't even realize that was Beorn (I haven't seen the first movie since it first came out). Now makes a hell of a lot more sense why bears were suddenly raining from the sky.

I still don't know who won the mountain, though.

I also thought we were going to see Elijah Wood again, but I guess they cut his bookend.


/end
 

thisprovinciallife

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Katiemac: lol to raining bears. And re: who won--my feelings exactly. There was no resolution to the movie's namesake. I thought they should have focused on that instead of traipsing off to the ice.
 

katiemac

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I didn't mind the ice fight, just because I thought the movie actually showed a little personality and cleverness (Thorin throwing the Orc his own ice block, for example, and despite myself I liked the ridiculous Legolas fight on the crumbling tower because you could only get away with that in Middle Earth. I do agree with you there were some odd choices of what to put on film and what not (like the town sleaze bag).

But overall, the three films do not tie together well and as someone who has never finished the book I had a lot of unanswered questions, like as mentioned before--did the dwarves get their mountain? Bard's never seen from again? I only counted four armies?
 
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amergina

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I haven't actually seen the film yet, but Galadriel's always been powerful. She's pretty much the most powerful elf in Middle Earth at the time of the Hobbit.

She's badass. She just doesn't show it often.
 

Marlys

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Saw the first Hobbit film in theaters, and wasn't crazy about it--too video-gamish and stretched out. It did have some good points, though. The second one didn't. Third? My husband asked if I wanted to go to a free preview. I believe I offered violence to his person with a sharpened drinking straw.
 

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Saw the first Hobbit film in theaters, and wasn't crazy about it--too video-gamish and stretched out. It did have some good points, though. The second one didn't.

I felt the same way. I waited till I could see the first film on DVD and enjoyed it, so I took a friend to watch the second in a theater, sight unseen. What a waste of money. It just went on and on, like the special effects would make up for the lack of plot. If I wanted that, I'd watch Michael Bay.

I might borrow the DVD of the third film from the library, when they eventually get a copy.
 

thisprovinciallife

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I didn't mind the ice fight, just because I thought the movie actually showed a little personality and cleverness (Thorin throwing the Orc his own ice block, for example, and despite myself I liked the ridiculous Legolas fight on the crumbling tower because you could only get away with that in Middle Earth. I do agree with you there were some odd choices of what to put on film and what not (like the town sleaze bag).

But overall, the three films do not tie together well and I had a lot of unanswered questions, like as mentioned before--did the dwarves get their mountain? Bard's never seen from again? I only counted four armies?

I liked watching the ice fight too, just wish it didn't take the place of resolving the main battle. And I'm a total sucker for crazy-Legolas moves. I love it. And I think they're all totally reasonable. He's just that awesome.

Also the armies are supposed to be: Goblins, Wargs, Elves, Men, Dwarves, but the movie just showed the two orc armies, I guess? Not really sure why they didn't show Dain become King Under the Mountain, or Bard become King of Dale...

I haven't actually seen the film yet, but Galadriel's always been powerful. She's pretty much the most powerful elf in Middle Earth at the time of the Hobbit.

She's badass. She just doesn't show it often.

I know she's super powerful (and that so many of them don't show it often) but I didn't think she could (spoiler) single-handedly banish Sauron.

I felt the same way. I waited till I could see the first film on DVD and enjoyed it, so I took a friend to watch the second in a theater, sight unseen. What a waste of money. It just went on and on, like the special effects would make up for the lack of plot. If I wanted that, I'd watch Michael Bay.

I might borrow the DVD of the third film from the library, when they eventually get a copy.

FWIW, this is the shortest film in the whole LOTR/Hobbit franchise.
 

aliceshortcake

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I'm afraid the first Hobbit film ruined the trilogy for me. That interminable meal at Bilbo's house...and the...SINGING. Dear God, the singing. I'm not often in the mood for singing dwarfs, but when I am I turn to Wagner and Disney.
 

williemeikle

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I'm afraid the first Hobbit film ruined the trilogy for me. That interminable meal at Bilbo's house...and the...SINGING. Dear God, the singing. I'm not often in the mood for singing dwarfs, but when I am I turn to Wagner and Disney.

To be fair, there is actually Dwarf singing in the book, whereas there's no hint of a drug addled Radagast on a rabbit sled...
 

katiemac

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Also the armies are supposed to be: Goblins, Wargs, Elves, Men, Dwarves, but the movie just showed the two orc armies, I guess? Not really sure why they didn't show Dain become King Under the Mountain, or Bard become King of Dale...

I don't even know what a warg is, and I didn't see any goblins. I guessed that they two Orc armies were supposed to be two instead of one, but then the eagles came (and the aforementioned raining bears) and I thought: Are the eagles the fifth army?! What happened with the giant earth worm things??

I could guess that Bard became King (it happened organically within the plot, anyway, that he was as good as) but he really did just disappear. There's no weight to his last scene whatsoever, I can't remember when he last appeared on the screen. He's just gone at some point during the film. As for Dain... I guess I'm happy knowing the dwarves have their home, but who gets ALL THE GOLD? Did Lee Pace get his sparkly necklace back?! Important questions, here, friends.

FWIW, this is the shortest film in the whole LOTR/Hobbit franchise.

And this is what is a little strange, that you can spend 2 hours and 45 minutes running around Middle Earth in the first movie and then not give 15 minutes to the end of this one to resolve. My guess is Jackson was trying to avoid the "never-ending ending" that was Return of the King, but here it was actually needed. Or you can, as discussed, not feature a lot of other scenes.
 
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williemeikle

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And this is what is a little strange, that you can spend 2 hours and 45 minutes running around Middle Earth in the first movie and then not give 15 minutes to the end of this one to resolve. My guess is Jackson was trying to avoid the "never-ending ending" that was Return of the King, but here it was actually needed. Or you can, as discussed, not feature a lot of other scenes.

I'm guessing there's a nice expensive extended director's cut coming on DVD...
 

thisprovinciallife

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That's because she's got one of the 3 Elvish rings, and Sauron doesn't have the one ring to control it.

But Nenya is primarily a ring of protection. Even with it, I don't think Galadriel could take on Sauron by herself. He might not have the one ring, but he's still one of the most powerful Maia ever.

@alice, I love the singing! I love all the humor in The Hobbit. :)

and @katiemac, agree 100%. This was the first movie where I was left wanting more! Didn't think Peter Jackson had it in him to cut us off like that. I'm hoping it'll be in the extended version, as willie said.
 
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katiemac

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I'm guessing there's a nice expensive extended director's cut coming on DVD...

I'm sure there will be. But there are scenes that should have been in the movie and not the director's cut, and scenes that should be in the cut that are in the movie. So some of the decisions here are pretty backwards.
 

kuwisdelu

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I thoroughly enjoyed it just like the other Hobbit films, which isn't to say it isn't without its flaws.

There were a number of scenes that should've been left to the director's cut, and a number of scenes that should've been in the theatrical version but weren't. I still liked it.

I also feel Jackson probably read all the criticism of the drawn-out ending of Return of the King and ended up over-compensating with a lackluster denouement for The Hobbit.

And although I read the book a long time ago, I thought the five armies were the men, elves, dwarves, goblins/orcs, and the eagles. Did the wargs count as their own army in the book? I thought the eagles were the fifth.

(And as a PSA, goblins and orcs are different words for the same race.)

I'm afraid the first Hobbit film ruined the trilogy for me. That interminable meal at Bilbo's house...and the...SINGING. Dear God, the singing. I'm not often in the mood for singing dwarfs, but when I am I turn to Wagner and Disney.

Sometimes I think I'm the only one who liked that scene.
 
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ULTRAGOTHA

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That's one of the few scenes that was most true to the book.
 

kuwisdelu

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That's one of the few scenes that was most true to the book.

That's what I thought. It's been more than a decade since I read it, but that's one of the ones that pulled me right back in it.

I was in middle school back then, so I didn't exactly love reading those scenes, but I thought it was cool seeing them brought to life.

Anyone can do special effects. It takes a certain kind of love to film those kinds of scenes.

But I don't care what anyone says. I liked Tauriel.
 
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