Hobbit Reviews Wanted

POSTED BY: ANTHONYT
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 10:58
VIEWED: 8501
PAGE 2 of 4

Since the spoilers have already come out, I'll happily join in.

Zeek, a couple of your points, I agree with, 100%.

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1 On the riddles - one of my fav parts of the movie. Still, where Gollum bashes the orc to death, was a bit much. Even though it IS, after all, exactly what Gollum had been doing to them, for many years. Usually, it was the younger orcs that he'd murder. Showing it like that, in that particular moment, seemed excessive.

2. The eagles - loved 'em. Almost straight out of the book, as I imagined.

3. Wargs looking more like wolves than Hyenas. I dig that, a lot.

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Now, here's where I had some MAJOR issues with the movie...

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Radagast The Brown - I believe, in all the books ( Hobbit and Rings Trilogy, his name is mentioned ONCE. That's it. Merely in passing. I get that, as part of the White Council, he would play a role in the events of taking down the Necromancer, but introducing him so early, and so prominently, was over kill,imo.

The Riddle of the Morgul blade - Absolutely unnecessary. That, and ANY reference to Sauron, in this movie, just ticks me off. Has NO place , at all, in the Hobbit. That's the reason his return is such a shock to them, later on in the LOTR. It's only AFTER the events in the Hobbit take place, do they piece together the clues that, indeed, Sauron has returned. Which is SIXTY YEARS LATER ! Even though there's a hint of suspicion, it's something none will dare even speak of , until there's no denying it. It's just flat out wrong!

Dwarves - Don't like the lot of them. Hardly a 1 of them LOOKS like a dwarf. See Gimli, as a proto type. They look more like a band of gypsies, of varying age and background. And also, I get why PJ went to so much trouble setting up the back story, of Smaug and all, but it's over kill. Not only do I really not buy into, or really CARE about the whole ' REVENGE ' story, the title of the movie is CALLED " The Hobbit ". It isn't RETURN OF THORIN Oakenshield. ( as viewed by Bilbo Baggins )

CGI Orcs - Remember, in LOTR, all those awesome orcs , and their gear ? Damn near every single orc in this movie is made on a computer. It's clear to me that, to show maximum orcs but put out minimum effort, PJ chose to scrap the Weta workshop route, and instead go George Lucas, and just phony it up on the computer.

And also ( but probably not finally ) - The music. It's the same damn score from LOTR !! When Thorin goes after the pale orc ( more on that later ), there's no NEW music to set him apart from the men of Gondor or the Elves. Don't dwarves deserve their own theme ? They just recycled the same music, and cut more costs there as well.

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"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil." - Socrates

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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A couple of other things which annoyed me... Well, 3 more things.

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Jackson's editing and landscape choices are aggravating as all get out. As the party nears Rivendell, after they've dealt w/ the trolls, they're in the forest. A pack of wargs and orcs set upon them, and then, on foot, they have to flee for their lives. A few strides away, the're in wide open country. No trees to be seen anywhere. Rocks are all about, and they look as if they're more on the northern borders of Rohan. Then, still on foot, and running about, the landscape changes completely again, and everywhere there's short grass, not so many rocks. Then, a few strides later, back to more rocks, where Gandalf finds a 'secret passage', down under and between a couple of boulders. The party makes it's way, maybe a few hundred yards, and bam! They're suddenly in Rivendell. A HUGE valley, which was no where near them, just 5 minutes ago. Again, all this is on foot.

Timeline - Sauron was destroyed 3000 years ago. Elrond himself was there, and says this, in the FOTR. So suddenly, at the first sign of 'bad things' Saruman, Gandalf et al are already talking about 'The Enemy' as being back. Huh? Just like that, you're already jumping to conclusions ? ( See above on why that's so ridiculous. )

Lake Town - The men of Dale, in the book, lived ON THE LAKE. But in the movie, their city resembles , to a lesser degree, Gondor. All of stone and built on land.
It's stuff like that, where there was a great opportunity to go with something completely new, design wise, and instead, they just recycled old ideas ( and maybe old props ) paint them a different color, and call it a day. Lame.

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"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil." - Socrates

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Enjoyable. More lighthearted than LOTR, more kid friendly elements, but enjoyable. Think that the critics are panning it for fake objectivity - audience response is notably more positive than critical reaction.

Added some elements that weren't in the book less sure about, and a chase sequence in the middle ran long. Otherwise good.

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Stone giants thing was odd. Almost Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots in LOTR verse. Out of place. Seem to recall in the books originally the orcs caught up to them, dropping rocks from above, and they sought refuge in the caves only for it to be a trap.

Radagast also odd, but aside from a surreal sequence with a hedgehog actually liked that. Did however lead to aforementioned too long chase scene.

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They looked more like a band of gypsies

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In fairness they ARE gypsies. I actually liked seeing some different looks on the dwarves - not being stereotyped is actually kinda nice.

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If you go back and watch FOTR, where they hold the council in Rivendell, of all the free peoples, the dwarves that show up there, along w/ Gimli, LOOK like dwarves Granted, they may have been all dwarves of some stature, and importance, but their build, mannerisms, dress... was unmistakable.

The 'band' in The Hobbit movie, was anything but. Not only did they not resemble how the dwarves looked in the book itself, but they were entirely unlike what we'd seen before. And Bombur ? Please...

As for the other stuff....

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The rock giants were a neat adaptation of what was in the book. I do think that PJ, once again, took things too far, in having the dwarves themselves end up ON one of the giants, instead of merely dodging the effects of the fighting.

Also, had PJ decided to go w/the book version of them hiding in the cave, it would have been one of the better scenes in the movie. Instead of the floor opening up, and the party falling down into some slide like array, and ending up in a cage like device, Bilbo hears a 'click' , in the back of the cave. The goblins ( orcs ) have a hidden door, which they use to surprise the party , as they lay sleeping, and haul them down into the dark caves. PJ's silly open cavern,with all these rickety wooden bridges running everywhere was beyond lame.

I forget how Bilbo ends up apart from the group, but I seem to think he gets left behind, and has to find a way into the orc tunnels, and some how save his friends. That would have made for a far more suspenseful scenario than the nonsensical tripe we saw.

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" False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil." - Socrates

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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The 'band' in The Hobbit movie, was anything but. Not only did they not resemble how the dwarves looked in the book itself, but they were entirely unlike what we'd seen before.

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The dwarves in FOTR were established and respectable. These 13 are wanderers and the last survivors from their Erebor. Their clothes and appearance are odd and eccentric and cast off compared to the dwarves of LOTR. I was not bothered by that, I thought it fit. They were dwarves at least in their table manners, and their love of fighting, gold, drink, and insistence upon loyalty, and ultimately that's what makes them dwarves. That and their beards. :)

I don't remember that part of the Misty Mountain sequence at all, but it has been a long time since I read the story. I did not mind how the trap was set up.

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Not saying I won't go see the final two movies, but there won't be any repeat midnight viewings. Not by me there won't.

If others liked it, then fine. I just wish PJ had stuck more to the book, instead of being so damn stubborn in trying to dumb it down and draw direct ties to the LOTR. He really did over think a bunch of this, and all his tinkering has actually made things LESS coherent, harder to follow , for the average, non Tolkien fan, than had he just told it straight. Oh well.

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