The Hobbit

[RCR]

I finally got to see it today. I've never felt so hit and miss about a film in my life - some scenes are fantastic and others are utterly shit.

Having read the book recently, where the hell did they drag Radagast from? He gets a few sentences but doesn't make an appearance. They made up the sled and rabbits especially for the film - how bizarre. He seems like the Tom Bombadil of this film - the character that should have been nowhere near the big screen.

The stone giants didn't really adapt well to the big screen.

Riddles in the dark was everything I expected it to be and more.

I quite liked the expansion on the necromancer and the council of Elrond.

I think the film improved as it progressed, but they really have spread it out very thinly. They've only used 130 pages of the hobbit for the first film. Maybe Jackson will give us a directors cut a few years down the track with less buffer.

[jester]

Saw it on Christmas Eve, I had low expectations due to poor reviews, but was pleasantly surprised. It was a bit bum numbing though, despite that I'm looking forward to the next one.

For some reason the lights went up about twenty five minutes from the end, and we had 10 minutes of the film in the full lights of the cinema before they dimmed them again.

[murphy1970]

Saw it in 3D last night and was very impressed. Forewarned is forearmed and having read some reviews and recently re-read the book itself I knew what to expect regarding the dwarves arrival at Bilbo's house. Childish and a bit slapstick but it is a children's book and the scene is very faithful to the book.

I didn't really find the film dragged at all and I think Jackson has done a commendable job of expanding The Hobbit without padding it. Most of the extra stuff is implied within the story such as Smaug's destruction of Erebor and taking of the mountain and anyone who enjoyed LOTR would have welcomed the inclusion of the Necromancer (Sauron) storyline and The White Council.

As someone posted earlier there isn't the same camaraderie as you find in LOTR but again I think Jackson is just being faithful to the material. The dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf do have a more fractious relationship than the band in LOTR.

[captainkev]

I thought the structure of the film was too much like the Fellowship of the Ring.

The intro, the bit in the Shire, Rivendell in the middle of the film with a big discussion, a trip to the mines and a fight with Goblins, then a run to the forest with a fight with Orcs, then an escape and the closing scene at the top of a hill looking towards where they want to go.

But... It was still a great film and I'll probably go and see it again.

For me this was the only problematic issue when I saw the film a while back. Until Bilbo and the dwarves left Bag End I felt the film was struggling to step out of the shadow of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, especially the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring. Once they all set out on the road The Hobbit starts to work on it's own merits although I have to agree with Savage Henry's comments about not particularly feeling a sense of camaraderie amongst the Dwarves compared to the fellowship in the LOTR trilogy. Maybe that'll be remedied in the next two films now that Bilbo has been embraced by all the Dwarves in the group.

Overall though I really enjoyed the film. I didn't mind Radagast either although I wonder how much of that comes down to me being a Doctor Who fan and having a soft spot for Sylvester McCoy. I really enjoyed his investigation into the fortress of the Necromancer and his mini-fight with the Witch King (I presume it was him rather than just one of the other Ringwraith spirits).

[Waspie]

Finally got around to seeing it tonight. I can see why some people have issues with it being 3 films and it certainly felt darker than the book - but I really enjoyed it. Didn't feel it dragged and I'm already looking forward to the next installment.

Martin Freeman is great as Bilbo although my first reaction when he appeared was that he looked like he should be playing guitar for the Charlatans. And Ori looks like the third Neville brother.

[18May1991]

1355948792[/url]' post='6907436']

Didn't really enjoy it tbh. Seemed a more childlike version of LOTR. No epic lines/ fights and instead had more 'slapstick' lines. I know the book is more based at children but it had the same feel as the phantom menace did, not very dark at all. Didn't really care for any of the characters and felt they wrapped it up a little too quick at the end after dragging scenes out for too long. CGI was terrible when they were running through the goblin cave and seemed like a computer game level.

5/10

Pretty much my thoughts exactly.

1356435658[/url]' post='6920056']

There's almost no sense of camaraderie between the band at all. That's why the LOTR films did so well, and what the book specialised in. It was like you were one of the company. I've never been a huge Sean Bean or Viggo Mortensen fan, but they both brought immense humanity to their roles. The actors here simply aren't as good, although Bilbo is well enough played.

Like others have stated, I have no idea why they've chosen to make the films so long. Well I do; cash considerations. At most, there are two 90 minute films here. I have no idea where' it's going to find material to fill up another six hours. I can only assume the whole Beorn thing's going to be played to the full.

I also agree there are too many bad guys. The idea of a quest has almost been completely lost, and they just stumble from one bad guy to the next with no sense of travel or distance.

Visually it's beautiful, and the Riddles In The Dark set piece is brilliant all round. It's a very dark movie too, much more in keeping with the tone of LOTR than the book, I feel.

And this. A collection of characters that you don't really care about. Lots of good things about the film, but overall felt a bit like one of the Star Wars prequels - stumbling from one fight/place to another.

They should have asked the big eagles for a lift all the way to the mountain IMHO. Could probably have missed out the second film then.

[jamamafegan]

I watched this film for the first time about 2 weeks ago and think it's absolutely brilliant. The bit at the end with the dragon has got me very excited for the next film! According to Wikipedia it's due to come out this year, is that correct? The sooner the better IMO, can't wait.

[PrestersKTID]

The only real problem i had with the Hobbit was that the orcs and goblins were all CGI. and they looked nothing like the goblins from Fellowship. Part of the awesomeness of the LOTR films was the costumes and makeup on the uruk hai. So much more real. The chase scene through the mountain looked too fake. Fair enough the great goblin had to be but didn't think he needed to be funny. Wasn't how i imagined.

The set up for the second film was awesome though.

[Loki]

The Hobbit was a decent watch. As for your criticisms about the Orcs and Goblins not looking like the ones in the LOTR films - well I am watching a tennis match with Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetzova and they do not look similar either. I think it is perfectly reasonable to have different species in a fantasy world that came from someone's imagination.

Also what part of the chase scene did you think was fake? A Gay wizard running around with a bunch of hairy faced dwarves inside a mountain seems quite legit to me.

Yes Jamama the second film will be out this year and the finale out in 2014,

[NorthAyrshireKillie]

3 hours of nonsense imo, read the book years ago and I genuinely cant understand how they can make a trilogy out of it.
Granted the final 45 minutes were good, especially when Gollum comes in to it, but the first hour and a half was just pointless filler. The biggest vanity project since The Phantom Menace thb.

[PrestersKTID]

The Hobbit was a decent watch. As for your criticisms about the Orcs and Goblins not looking like the ones in the LOTR films - well I am watching a tennis match with Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetzova and they do not look similar either. I think it is perfectly reasonable to have different species in a fantasy world that came from someone's imagination.

Also what part of the chase scene did you think was fake? A Gay wizard running around with a bunch of hairy faced dwarves inside a mountain seems quite legit to me.

Yes Jamama the second film will be out this year and the finale out in 2014,

They just looked pish in comparrison to real people in costumes and makeup. CGI can only go so far. On one creature/person like gollum its phenomenal but 30 or 40 not so much.

Wtf was with the tennis analogy?

Bt tbf you got me with the chase bit though.

[Loki]

I agree with you actually about CGI, it looks nowhere near as good as reality. Costumes and makeup will always had an authenticity to a film, however in a fantasy film I don't think it matters that much.

The tennis analogy was used as I was watching that at the time. Individual humans differ greatly from one another, and as that happens in our own reality I don't think it is that far stretched to see different goblins or orcs in a fantasy film.

I do agree that the film wasn't as good as the LOTR films, but it was enjoyable. I did feel it went on too long but it was enjoyable nevertheless. I think greed and ego have ensured that the hobbit was milked for all it's worth.

I can only imagine that the second film will be solely about Smaug, and the Third film will mainly be the battle of the five armies. I used to watch a cartoon of the Hobbit as a kid and they did the whole story in 70 minutes.

[NorthAyrshireKillie]

You could probably read the book in the time it takes to watch the trilogy.

[RandomGuy.]

I don't think it is that far stretched to see different goblins or orcs in a fantasy film.

.

Can I get really nerdy here?

But Goblins are Orcs are the same. In the entire tales of Tolkien, they start of as orcs, created by Morgoth. As the world reverts into the world we now know, and they virtually disappear, men start calling them goblins in the tales and legends of days gone by

And there was only one "species" of orc as they were not a natural species. The original ones were Elves, elves who Morgoth had tortured until he created these beasts, the later Orcs were just poor imitations. It's possible the orcs who live under the mountain are different as they don't seem to spend as much time around Sauron, who possibly continues to change these creatures through his evil spirit, although I'd have thought they'd have been similar to those who were in Moria.

[jamamafegan]

omgomgomg!!!

[LongTimeLurker]

I made the mistake of saying this to my mates Father in Law, who is something of a Tolkien aficionado. Half an hour of him explaining to me why Bombadil is actually one of the most important characters in the book.

Suspect he was winding you up. You would have to be on severely mind-altering drugs to believe that. Obvious filler content to stretch things out to meet a required minimum from the publisher on page numbers. All the pointless bollocks about the Ents later on falls into the same sort of category.

[RandomGuy.]

Bombadil isn't an important character in The Lord of the Rings, but is fairly spectacular in the entire story of Middle Earth. It's not actually known what he is, but he was one of the strongest beings in Middle Earth, and even Sauron with his ring could not defeat him in his own forest. I fucking love Tom Bombadil, simply as nobody has any idea what he is, apart from being "The First"

[KnightswoodBear]

Bombadil isn't an important character in The Lord of the Rings, but is fairly spectacular in the entire story of Middle Earth. It's not actually known what he is, but he was one of the strongest beings in Middle Earth, and even Sauron with his ring could not defeat him in his own forest. I fucking love Tom Bombadil, simply as nobody has any idea what he is, apart from being "The First"

^^^

My mates father in law

[Musketeer Gripweed]

Lob on!

[invergowrie arab]

Lob on!

so much potential,so much almost good but then you see them riding in the barrels in the river and it just makes me think it will be the same shitty cartoony deus ex machina chase scenes back to back for 3 hours again.