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Altaira
Superuser
Dec 15 2012, 4:37am
Post #1 of 7
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Please post all Hobbit reviews within this thread. (Links to previous review threads within.)
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Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Thread 5
Thread 6
Thread 7
Thread 8
Thread 9
Thread 10
Thread 11
Thread 12
Thread 13
Thread 14 (can you believe it! We have a lot to say  )
Koru: Maori symbol representing a fern frond as it opens. The koru reaches towards the light, striving for perfection, encouraging new, positive beginnings.
"Life can't be all work and no TORn" -- jflower
"I take a moment to fervently hope that the camaradarie and just plain old fun I found at TORn will never end" -- LOTR_nutcase
(This post was edited by Altaira on Dec 15 2012, 4:55am)
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swampB
Bree
Dec 15 2012, 5:30am
Post #2 of 7
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Wow! What an excellent masterpiece of film! I was in awe by the artistic design and look of the movie. Just judging by the trailers before the movie it was a night/ day difference seeing this film in HFR 3d. I can't understand why people didn't like it. Truly can't understand... It had such a theatrical look, like a play within a movie. This is quite possibly the best movie I have ever seen... I just can't believe how gorgeous it looked.
(This post was edited by Altaira on Dec 15 2012, 6:10am)
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swampB
Bree
Dec 15 2012, 5:48am
Post #3 of 7
(523 views)
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And utterly unique... In a most excellent way...
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Glaurung63
Lorien
Dec 15 2012, 6:38am
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The HFR 3D got me dizzy at times...but it was great...the cast...directing....effects....Gollum was fantastic....the eagles...Smaug's eye...Thorin...great!!
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morgul lord
Rivendell
Dec 15 2012, 7:48am
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I still need to let it all sink in, but first impressions... I LOVED IT!
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, even all the things the critics complained about (i.e. Azog, Goblin Town, Radagast, the "slow" opening in Bag End.
More thoughts later, but overall I loved it. Easily an 8 or 9 out of 10. I'll probably like it even more when it's had time to sink in.
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utku
Rivendell
Dec 15 2012, 8:05am
Post #6 of 7
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I watched the prologue with my mouth open. Quite literally. My friend told me that I was just like  during the whole Erebor scene. Loved the Bag End scenes more than the action packed other-half. I had no problem with Azog or Radagast. Goblin King's last words were "meh" but actually fitted the character so I can look past that.  I hated dwarf burps but yeah, these are just nit-pitchking. Other than that I loved every second of it. And hours didn't fly for me. It really felt long, but in the most perfect way. Everytime I felt satisfaction I kept remembering there was still a lot more to come. So in the end I had the most pleasant movie experience. I got teary eyed at the beginning with Bilbo and for the most of the Gollum sequence. I will be seeing it in a few hours again.
I can't compare Lord of the Rings movies, I just see them as a one big movie and the same goes for this as well. I can't compare it with LotR but I would put this on the same shelf with them. Definitely on par for me.
(This post was edited by utku on Dec 15 2012, 8:06am)
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Iowaboy
The Shire
Dec 15 2012, 4:49pm
Post #7 of 7
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The technical: I was in a high-res theater, and the look of much of the film is nothing short of disaster, when it comes to the CGI. I wish I could be more positive about it, but that's an honest opinion, Azog looks awful, compared to my remembrance of the 'real' orcs we saw in TTT, for example. Other CGI scenes just can't hold up to the scrutiny that 48fps puts them through: Goblin-town, the trolls, the Radagast chase, and so on all lookrd very video-gamey to me. My advice: see this film in 2D at 24fps (3D 24 fps apparently is difficult to watch). The costume design, set design,and all other technical aspects were PJ's usual strength.
The narrative: a mixed bag here. The dwarves were much more interesting and involving to me than I expected, especially Thorin. Kudos for his storyline! I did not miss Bilbo's pre-adventure life at all--I think you get an idea of what it was like from his reactions during the party. I enjoyed Radagast and his story, but thought Azog uttertly unneeded as an antagonist--this felt terribly forced to me, especially since we had the SAME character in FOTR in Lurtz. Really a bad decision to have Azog survive the first film. I liked the nostalgia of Frodo and the White Council--perfectly fine choices to me. But I truly disliked Bilbo's charge at Azog--again, it felt forced, whereas Thorin charging Azog seemed perfectly in line with his character. So why not have Thorin kill Azog at that point? Why have him get knocked out and saved by Bilbo? Really, Martin Freeman's nice 'home' speech should've been the climax of Bilbo's character development, since that was such a nice moment. Why undercut that with the (forced) Hobbit hug, with the Dwarves behind them practically 'high-fiving' each other? Shades of the 'multiple endings' of ROTK.
But PJ will be PJ, and there were some horrendously overlong action sequences--the Stone Giants should've just been cut entirely, no need for it in any way, plus the concept is rather ridiculous (felt like a TRANSFORMERS movie), based on a passage in THE HOBBIT that I do not believe is meant to be taken literally. The Radagast chase and Goblin Town sequences were also way, way too long (rememeber the Brontosaurus chase from KONG?). PJ is at his best in the intimate quiet moments--Gollum and Bilbo, for example, and the ending with the thrush and Smaug--and that holds in this film as well. Some of the sequences felt recycled from LOTR--the way Thorin charges Azog, the company running across suspiciously TTT-like terrain--not helped by the continual recycling of Shore's musical cues (I liked the first few times they used those cues, but after a while that got a bit tiresome).
In sum, this felt like an Extended Version with some flab in it, and some unfortunate technical flaws. If PJ had made it more lean, and used less CGI, it might've been a classic like FOTR. Instead, it is, as I like to say: "good but not great." Still, I plan on seeing it again--it may improve on further viewing.
(This post was edited by Iowaboy on Dec 15 2012, 4:55pm)
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