Film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Discussion in 'Movies & Media' started by Pein, Jun 12, 2013.

  1. Pein Merlin's Housekeeper

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    Did anyone watch the trailer? if not im doing you a favor :)







    watch it. Im watching it on midnight for sure.
     
  2. jafar custom title

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    I saw the first one, so i guess I'll end up seeing this one, but I'm actually at this part in the book (it's my first time reading it this far, never finished it before.) Kind of interesting to see how they're representing those chapters of the book. The thing that miffs me about this trailer is that The dragon seemed really fake.
     
  3. Iskandar King of Conquerors

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    I actually saw the poster for this in the movie theaters yesterday, and I was ready to watch it then and there. I guess we'll just have to wait till we get our favorite little Smog in the spotlight (little? This thing is not little, nor is it a pokemon move reference)
     
  4. Fellangel Bichael May

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    I thoroughly enjoyed the first part of The Hobbit and I am very pleased to see this tailor. Hopefully they keep it close to the book this part as well as having a smooth transition to the 3rd part.
     
  5. Menos Grande Kingdom Keeper

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    I am the only person in the whole world that preferred the hobbit over Lord of the rings!
    Also all the changes that the movie made ;O
     
  6. Airi Ban King's Apprentice

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    To be honest I never read The Hobbit book. After seeing part one of the movie however, I was quite excited and have been looking forward to seeing part 2 later this year. Comparing the page count to the movie's time it really feels like they've tried a lot to get as much from the book into the movie as possible and not water it down much like a lot of movies do.
     
  7. Fellangel Bichael May

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    Hence the reason why there's 3 parts to the movie. It's hard to make a movie like the book if you have to squeeze it in within 2-3 hours. I'm glad they made the decision to split it up.
     
  8. Ienzo ((̲̅ ̲̅(̲̅C̲̅r̲̅a̲̅y̲̅o̲̅l̲̲̅̅a̲̅( ̲̅̅((>

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    Yeah, I've read the book and loved it. I am excited to see the execution of it into film, I loved the first one but they have added a lot in that isn't in the book. I quite like this as it means that, even though I've read the book, there is still stuff in the film that I haven't seen.

    I am hoping this one to be even better but I just wonder what the third one will be filled with. I have an idea but it doesn't feel like a whole films worth of story to be honest.
     
  9. Meilin Lee RPG (Red Panda Girl)

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    I feel a bit this way as well. I mean, I liked LOTR, but I personally felt the whole thing felt a bit too convoluted. The Hobbit, on the other hand, was simple and easy to understand, even for those who've never seen or read LOTR before.
     
  10. Fork These violent delights have violent ends

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    Just came back from watching it.
    I gotta say, while I loved the first movie, I found this one even better.

    It's consistently funny when it needs to be
    The barrel rolling scene taking down 30ish orcs had me and the whole theatre in stitches

    the pacing was better, the action was breathtaking, and I loved the characters here.

    Let's face it, Smaug is a huge badass. That scene with Biblo and him had me on the edge of my seat because he's such a terrifying character. It reminded me of the scene in the first one between Biblo and Gollum, and while Gollum was very creepy, that scene is more played up for laughs.
    Talking about the action, it was a bit slapsticky but in a very good way. That scene with Legolas decapitating that orc in mid-air was awesome.
    Also goddamn that cliffhanger.

    All in all, I highly recommend it. If you were one of those people who was expecting great things from the first movie and was disappointed by it, I think you should give this one a shot. It might surprise you.
     
  11. Scarred Nobody Where is the justice?

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    I'm going to come in saying that I love the original novel, but I haven't read/seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I didn't really care for the first film. When I watch a movie based off anything, especially if it's based off a novel I have read, I try to not think of the source material and judge it on its own merit.

    As its own movie (not thinking about the novel), the film was...okay, I guess? There were some good scenes here and there, and a lot of the fight scenes seemed well choreographed (although I couldn't make out what was going on). Smaug was really the saving grace of the film. Everything about those last few scenes added some intensity that the film was definitely missing. The pacing was very confusing though, and a lot of the movie dragged. Also, the movie had absolutely no focus.

    Now, as an adaptation, it was bad. My main issue is that it's three movies. I can get behind the idea of it being two films, which was the original intention. The story of The Hobbit is simple. Something that people constantly point out is that The Hobbit is a prequel to The Lord of the Rings, which isn't entirely correct. The Hobbit was written as a stand alone book. Yes, when The Lord of the Rings was being written, there was a revised edition that came out to better fit in with the books, but Tolkien changed all of that back.

    I honestly have no problem when it comes to a lot of adaptations. I don't mind if they change, add, or completely leave out things, as long as they keep the same theme and message constant throughout, which is this film's (and franchise's) biggest sin. The story is about Bilbo and his journey of growing as a person. It's not about the elves, dwarves getting their gold, or even Smaug; it's about how one hobbit that didn't amount to anything goes on a journey, finds something that has been missing in his life, and becomes a more open person. In this movie though, there is very little of Bilbo. That's crazy, considering that the title of the whole thing is THE HOBBIT. I went to see it with my dad, and when we were discussing it afterwards, he told me he was surprised when I told him that the main character was Bilbo. His exact words were "I though he was just some side character".

    My personal theory is that Peter Jackson loves the world that Tolkien created, but is not a big fan of The Hobbit. So he brings in all this stuff that may be cannon in Middle Earth, but doesn't add anything to the story. Because of this, the movie loses all focus, and it feels like there is no message that the movie is trying to tell. And that's bad because the original story had a good message: It's okay to take risks as long as your reasonable about it. Step up or step aside. If the movie loses the meaning because of all that is added, were they really necessary.

    (Now, I'm going to post spoiler stuff, so you've been warned)
    Like take the ring for instance. In the original story, the ring has no affect on Bilbo. In the movie, they did it just so it fit with the continuity of the story. I can understand that, but that makes things a whole lot harder, especially when the original story has him wearing it for a rather long time when war breaks out. Seeing where it ended as well, they don't have much left to cover. Of course, Jackson seems to be the king of padding, so I guess he'll come up with something to drag it out.

    Another thing that bugged me was Legolas and the female elf. They were brought it for what seemed like two reasons: 1. for the fanboys and 2. to create a very weak love triangle. The whole love story aspect felt very weak and forced, like it was the studio's decision to put it in because they believe that love triangles attract an audience. In the end, they did nothing with both of those characters, so why bring them in the story in the first place.

    That same sentiment goes to Gandalf's story, where he fights the orcs and sees the Eye of Souron. It's a good nod to the series I guess, but was it really necessary. It adds nothing to the story that is going on, so why put it in the film in the first place?

    All in all, the movie was just okay. If I had to honestly rate it, it would be a 5/10, and that's being nice. Yeah, Smaug was great, but what I had to get through to see him wasn't really worth it. It doesn't seem like Jakcson cares much for Bilbo's story at all, which is sad because, if it's told right, it would be such a great movie.
     
  12. Menos Grande Kingdom Keeper

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    I liked the movie.. but need some help with big Tolkien fans... when Legolas' father talks with Thorin about a deal, he asks him to find "seeds of pure light"... maybe this was a teaser for Simarilion? The description seems like a silmaril to me, we knom that there were 3, one is a star the others are forever lost in the deep sea, and at the nucleus of the world (below a mountain?). Also all Elfs and Valar are always looking for them.
    Maybe peter is planning to do a silmarilion trilogy after the hobbit ends?
     
  13. NemesisPrime Hollow Bastion Committee

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    I'm kinda still scratching my head over why it needed to BE three movies in the first place. Material-wise The Hobbit is the shortest of the LOTR series. I really think this is just Hollywood not having a franchise to make money off of so they're cutting up the book so they can have one and if Pete adapts The Similarion I'm afraid it will fall victim to the same fate.
     
  14. Jin うごかないで

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    I really need to see this aswell but I've decided i'll buy the dvd whenever It gets released probably around this july obviously I can't watch it anywhere in cinema's now but I plan to watch it close to release to be honest for the 3rd movie I believe they're releasing the final movie in two parts with mostly any finale to book series' atleast what they've done recently with harry potter and twilight
     
  15. Ienzo ((̲̅ ̲̅(̲̅C̲̅r̲̅a̲̅y̲̅o̲̅l̲̲̅̅a̲̅( ̲̅̅((>

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    Well, the thing with this book is that The Hobbit is just one normal 300-400 page book. This one book has been split into 3 films already and they have added a lot into it- it's the first book to film to actually add stuff in which is good but the original events are skewed a bit which annoyed me but not enough to drastically care because I love these films xD

    So basically, the final one is out this december and that will conclude the story. I really hope they don't split it any more, that would feel like a stretch too far.
     
  16. Jin うごかないで

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    It might happen though. Knowing movie industries these days I mean it's a way they make profit if they split a finale into two parts e.g harry potter's finale and I heard they did the same with the twilight saga :C and I know I've read the book they missed out a lot of stuff in the first movie which was REALLY annoying.
     
  17. Ienzo ((̲̅ ̲̅(̲̅C̲̅r̲̅a̲̅y̲̅o̲̅l̲̲̅̅a̲̅( ̲̅̅((>

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    But this isn't like a final book in a series, this is already the split. Twilight, Harry Potter and the Hunger Games are all splitting their final book in the series into 2 films to get as much in as possible but The Hobbit isn't a series of books, it's just one book that they have already split 3 ways, they can't split the last film into two because they have done that already by splitting the book into 3 different films. From knowing the book, it's very near the end when Desolation of Smaug finished- there can't possibly be enough to split into 2 films. If they did though, I wouldn't like it I've accepted 3 films now but a fourth is just pushing it too far.