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The Hobbit: A Long-Expected Spoiler Movie Thread


Werthead

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I will reserve my overall opinion of the movie to make one point. After 2 hours and 45 minutes I sill cant tell half the dwarves apart, they introduced Fili and Kili, Dwalin, Balin, Thorin, Bofer and Bomber. I couldnt tell who was who from the rest and that REALLY bugs me. Ok I think I got Dori towards the end, the Dwarf with the tied beard. With all the time spent in Bag End they could easily have introduced pairs of Dwarves ala the book. Very disappointed in that.

But I waited 34 years to see this movie and am very very happy right now.

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A lot stuff that I feel has been said already so I won't rehash. My response aligns somewhat with that of Isis and Calibandar. Thought it would be much worse than it was. Technically, the 48fps didn't bother me at all, but the 3D - while not the worst that I've seen - was still annoying.

Things I liked:

The obvious winks and nods to Tolkien fans. I really really loved the scene where Bilbo rejoins the dwarves after the goblins and stands up for himself to Thorin. Then it cuts to Gandalf and the look on his face that says "I knew I was right to trust this hobbit" was very emotional for me. One of my favorite things about Tolkien's books is his affection and admiration of the hobbits and this shot, which lasted about half a second, said it all.

The 'mercy' scene was also well done. Right then, when Bilbo "stays his hand", you think to yourself, Yeah, he just saved the world. Both of these scenes, or at least the weight of them, are not in The Hobbit as written, but based entirely on what we know of the whole story.

I agree with mormont that the worst parts were PJ wanting to make everything EPIC!!1!11!!!! when the story is more lighthearted than that. So many scenes of gazing off into the distant landscape, and seeing Erebor from the Carrock?? My fanboy brain exploded at that point. You can't even see Erebor from Lake Town. In the books, they talk about it appearing on the horizon and getting larger and larger as they travel north.

That said, adding gravitas and epic-ness to Thorin was totally worth it and Armitage kills it in this movie. So does Freeman, which I was not surprised about. I was also not as annoyed by Blanchett and Weaving, who seemed to agree to play their characters as something slightly more down-to-earth than aliens this time. McKellan was great, but that's totally expected; he inhabits Gandalf like few other actor/character relationships I've seen in recent memory.

The dwarven song ("Far over...") was excellent and I loved that it was their theme. I wasn't as annoyed by reusing themes from LotR... that's what leitmotifs do.

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It's a good movie and I enjoyed it, but there's at least 30 minutes that should have been cut and it shows. A lot.

I loved how not even Gandalf could remember the names of the blue wizards.

My biggest gripe was that almost everyone looked the same. I know it's a minor thing to some people but did anyone almost feel like the goblins looked alike to the Orcs?

In Tolkien's universe, orcs and goblins are two names for the same creature. In the hobbit he used the word "goblin" and in lotr he choosed "orc", but there's no difference between one or the other.

The storm giants scene = abysmal. Worst scene in the movie.

This. Completely out of place, terribly silly and with a poor execution.

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As with The Fellowship of the Rings I am left with a mixed bag of emotions. On one hand, what was done right was absolutely amazing, and I actually snuffed back tears a couple of points seeing a few of the scenes that I have waited my entire life to see.

On the other hand, I am left without a true adaptation of the books that I read as a child, and this leaves me with an enormous sadness. I will probably never see movies that follow the books.

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I saw it a few hours ago, and the impression I got when leaving the cinema was "wow, this was a great movie, 9/10". But reading all the negative comments here and elsewhere made he realize the movie's flaws, but I suppose it's the first impression that gotta count the most, so I stand by 9/10

It might sound cheesy, but I adored the epic feeling of the movie, Jackson really makes full use of New Zealand's wonderful scenery. The camp humour didn't bother me that much, except for the fat goblin king falling on the dwarves; it just felt too much like Transformers. The stone giant scene was very out of place, but that's more Tolkien's fault than Jackson's.

I loved the casting. Martin Freeman was great, you can tell he really studies Ian Holm's mannerisms from LotR. Ian McKellen is always brilliant, but I love the more human side we got to see of him in this movie, I wasn't expecting that. Richard Armitage killed it as Thorin, such a massive screen presence is truly a rare thing.

One thing that bothered me though, was the movement of Radagast. Wasn't he supposed to be in the Mirkwood? How then did he transport himself so swiftly to the plains west of Riverdell? Crossing the Misty Mountains is a colossal undertaking, yet here it seems like he rose with his rabbit cart the whole way.

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In the scene with Azog (I think thats his name) and his wolves I couldnt help myself from thinking of him as a Dothraki Khal.

All in all a very nice movie, lots of referances and small nods to simple things. Just Bilbo's opening line to his book is taken directly from the book itself and the thing they say when Bilbo joins them: Home is behind, the world ahead, is taken from the song Pippin sings in RotK (Which was taken from the books)

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One thing that bothered me though, was the movement of Radagast. Wasn't he supposed to be in the Mirkwood? How then did he transport himself so swiftly to the plains west of Riverdell? Crossing the Misty Mountains is a colossal undertaking, yet here it seems like he rose with his rabbit cart the whole way.

Presumably he (and Galadriel) went via the Gap of Rohan.

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Saw it today

9.5/10

Oddly, my main gripe is just how much they go through but come out pretty much unscratched. Probably the best scenes to illustrate this are the giant fight and the when they're all on the section of walkway plummeting down through the mines.

Other then that, no real complaints. I enjoyed that they actually included a few songs. I predict part 2 will be pretty much everything else except for the Battle of Five Armies with part 3 of course being the battle.

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One thing for me- am I the only one unnaturally bugged by Blanchett's Galadriel? I had a long semidrunk conversation with a friend about this last night, and kind of felt like a tool for whining about it, but the way the mind-talking is executed, the way the "in place of a dark lord" speech is handled in FotR, and the way she doesn't seem to act like a person at all... granted, Elrond is younger than her, but he also feels as though he belongs, and she just doesn't. Galadriel stayed in Middle Earth because she was hotheaded and prideful, in the films she somehow comes off as both cartoonish and cold and aloof. I dunno.

I think I stated, but I liked the movie in general quite a bit. I thought Freeman was great, as was Armitage, and while I thought I was going to hate the Radagast portrayal, I didn't really mind it at all. I enjoyed the Thorin-Azog backstory a good bit, also.

One question- doesn't Gandalf get the key from Thrain in the dungeons of Dol Guldur? I know he states in FotR that Balin wouldn't find Thror's ring in Moria because (paraphrased), "Thror gave the ring to Thrain, but not Thrain to Thorin. It was taken from him with great torment in the dungeons of Dol Guldur. I, Gandalf, came too late."

Which implies that Gandalf encounters Thrain in Dol Guldur- when does Gandalf's time in the dungeons there come? I can't remember the chronology.

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I held my breath before seeing this yesterday as while I love the Fellowship which I think as being pretty near perfect. TT and ROTK while are pretty amazing in places they also have scenes in it that are massively different compared to the book, such as Elves in Helms Deep, ghosts in the battle of the Pelennor Fields or just Legolas doing another silly stunt.

So I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there was no significant changes to the Hobbit. Yes they condensed the Dwarfish history from the the LOTR appendices, which is a shame, but is this is a minor grumble. The film would have been even longer and confusing to non-readers if they went into to the background of the Battle of Azanulbizar and Durin's bane. What I think most of the critics don't realize is that Jackson is adapting a children's book into a film, this isn't LOTR where the fate of the world is at stake. This is the story of an 'adventure', it is meant to be a little lighter.

.

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One question- doesn't Gandalf get the key from Thrain in the dungeons of Dol Guldur? I know he states in FotR that Balin wouldn't find Thror's ring in Moria because (paraphrased), "Thror gave the ring to Thrain, but not Thrain to Thorin. It was taken from him with great torment in the dungeons of Dol Guldur. I, Gandalf, came too late."

Which implies that Gandalf encounters Thrain in Dol Guldur- when does Gandalf's time in the dungeons there come? I can't remember the chronology.

PJ has played around with things a bit. In the books, Gandalf find Thrain in Dol Guldur long before the events of The Hobbit, and keeps the key and the map for a long time, thinking they may be useful one day - I think it iis all described in 'The Quest for Erebor' in Unfinshed Tales.

In one of the earlier trailers, or teasers that we saw of the movies, we do see Gandalf in what appears to be DG, fighting some sort of zombie dwarf. At the time, this was thought to be Thrain. However, I guess we now have to wait until film 2 or three to see if this is a flashback, or part of Gandalf's plotline when he leaves the Dwarves after Beorn's house and before they start their journey through Mirkwood.

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I will reserve my overall opinion of the movie to make one point. After 2 hours and 45 minutes I sill cant tell half the dwarves apart, they introduced Fili and Kili, Dwalin, Balin, Thorin, Bofer and Bomber. I couldnt tell who was who from the rest and that REALLY bugs me. Ok I think I got Dori towards the end, the Dwarf with the tied beard. With all the time spent in Bag End they could easily have introduced pairs of Dwarves ala the book. Very disappointed in that.

I did not even remember those. :leaving:

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What I think most of the critics don't realize is that Jackson is adapting a children's book into a film, this isn't LOTR where the fate of the world is at stake. This is the story of an 'adventure', it is meant to be a little lighter.

.

I wish Peter Jackson had realised this.

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Over on theonering.com, they've done a comparison of the scenes in Fellowship and the Hobbit, because the structure is so much alike, and you can compare what you liked better. If you're interested.

Smaug Destroys Erebor Prologue VS Last Alliance Prologue

Bilbo writes "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" VS Bilbo writes "Concerning hobbits"

Gandalf arrives and meets Bilbo VS Gandalf arrives and meets Frodo

An Unexpected Party VS Bilbo's birthday party

Gandalf convinces Bilbo to go on the Erebor quest VS Gandalf convinces Frodo to leave with the One Ring

Bilbo joins up with Thorin & Company VS Merry & Pippin joins up with Frodo & Sam

Encounter with warg scouts VS Encounter with black riders at Buckleberry Ferry

Thorin & Company meet Radagast VS The hobbits meet Strider

Thorin fights Azog flashback VS Isildur fights Sauron flashback

Radagast & Necromancer at Dol Guldur VS Gandalf & Saruman at Orthanc

Encounter with the Trolls VS Encounter with the Ringwraiths at Weathertop

Gandalf presents Bilbo with Sting VS Strider gives hobbits Morgul blades

Bunny sled chase VS Flight to the Ford

Thorin & Company arrive at Rivendell VS Frodo wakes up in Rivendell

Elrond says "some may not deem it wise" to retake Erebor VS Elrond says "The Ring cannot stay here, Gandalf"

The White Council VS The Council of Elrond

Stone Giant fight VS The Caradhras pass

The chute at the entrance to Goblin Town VS The watcher at the gates of Moria

Encounter with the Goblin King vs Encounter with the Cave Troll

The collapsing scaffolding in Goblin Town VS the collapsing bridges in Moria

Riddles in the Dark VS The Bridge of Khazad-dum

Thorin fights Azog VS Boromir fights Lurtz

Thorin & Company look on to Erebor from the Carrock VS Frodo & Sam look on to Mordor from Emyn Muil

On the basis of these individual sequence face-offs, determine:

An Unexpected Journey VS Fellowship of the Ring

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