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The One Ring Forums:
Tolkien Topics: Movie Discussion: The Hobbit:
Revisiting The Hobbit movies:
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kzer_za
Menegroth
Feb 21 2019, 7:07pm
Views: 31391
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Revisiting The Hobbit movies
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So I haven't watched any of TH movies since Battle of Five Armies' release. I guess I generally soured on the project as it went - as they came out I watched AUJ three times in theaters and once at home, DoS twice in theaters, B5A once. I will say that while Battle of Five Armies had its strong points, the dual Legolas/Thorin boss fights largely superseding the interesting and highly filmable battle in the books really soured me on the entire trilogy. I never saw the EEs.
Well, having rewatched the LotR movies and following the hype for Amazon I guess I'm in the right mood, so I watched AUJ EE for the first time and enjoyed it enough that I will be watching the others. I unfortunately can't find any way of watching the EEs of the other two for cheap or free, so I will need to order them (the library only has AUJ EE and doesn't do interlibrary on DVDs, and I can't find the EEs for rent anywhere). I might also reread The Hobbit and Durin's Folk before continuing the rest.
Tl;dr on AUJ EE: First act is great, second act is a terrible aimless slog, third recovers with one major exception and the ending is excellent. Overall I suppose I am a transcendentalist with revisionist sympathies regarding the LotR movies, so I could take the good with the bad, though I will probably skip through much of the middle third in the future.
First Act:
- Almost everything in the prologue is great. The main "almost" is Frodo's awkward inclusion, which I have never liked.
- The fireworks are a beautiful addition and make the prologue flow better.
- The party and everything in the Shire is great (enjoyed the new market scene). The extension of the Misty Mountains song, one of the best parts of the TE, is welcomed.
- Azanulbizar is the final high point before the movie falls apart, at least for awhile.
Second Act:
Boy, what a disaster...
- I remember not minding Radagast but man, is he annoying (though I do like the visuals at Dol Guldur).
- The troll scene is painful on many levels - the book version is probably unfilmable, but PJ's really overdoses on the gross-out humor. And combined with missing ponies before and the cave after, it just drags on and on and on. On a less purist note, it's the easiest chapter to cut too - it's very hard to film as written and the only real story payoff is Sting.
- The chase is a drag and Radagast's part is ridiculous - maybe it could have worked in much shorter form.
- Rivendell is good in parts but maybe not as a whole. I like Bofur/Frodo's song, Bilbo's conversation with Elrond where he says Frodo's "elves...will say yes and no", and a few other bits. Bathing dwarves are too much. The white council is a real drag, even if it's nice to see Lee and Blanchett again.
After setting up Bilbo and Thorin nicely in the first 50 minutes, the movie's momentum completely stalls and it wastes an hour on rabbit trails and subplots. Much of which is non-book padding, but also not knowing what to cut from the book.
Third Act:
- After a bad stone giant fight, Bilbo's conversation with Bofur is a turning point in the movie, after which it gets markedly better with one exception.
- This might be controversial but I liked the additional Goblin King material, including the song, and I laughed at "Second Age? Couldn't give it away!" It gives Goblintown some much-needed personality beyond the setting for a dumb action scene.
- And yes, the Goblintown escape is quite bad, PJ at his worst. Though Gandalf's initial rescue is great.
- Riddles in the Dark and the Pity of Bilbo are of course excellent scenes. "You don't have a home" is a lovely character scene.
- And then Out of the Frying Pan and the Eagle rescue is the best action sequence in the movie and a good ending. I'd even say the best scene - I was surprised to find that the Eagle rescue, not Riddles or the Party, is my favorite part. It's simply beautiful, and there are shots that are pure cinematic poetry.
General:
- I remember liking Thorin and especially Balin more - they're fine, but get less moments than I thought. Perhaps it was more in the later movies.
- Shore's soundtrack is good, but really not on the level of LotR, and the Erebor theme's overuse and lack of variation is grating. However, the eagle song is incredible.
- I don't like Necromancer/White Council but am undecided on Azog at this point.
I remember the acts basically breaking down for me like this but the bad parts were worse than I remembered, while some of the good ones were better. Overall, the EE is a slight improvement.
(This post was edited by kzer_za on Feb 21 2019, 7:11pm)
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Edit Log:
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Post edited by kzer_za
(Menegroth) on Feb 21 2019, 7:07pm
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Post edited by kzer_za
(Menegroth) on Feb 21 2019, 7:10pm
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Post edited by kzer_za
(Menegroth) on Feb 21 2019, 7:10pm
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Post edited by kzer_za
(Menegroth) on Feb 21 2019, 7:11pm
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