I wonder if it's noteworthy that, with Azog, we never really saw him in a true daytime/daylight setting. Every time, it was either completely dark with only moonlight, the last gleam of light from the sunset, or at Azanulbizar (but still, I believe we shouldn't count this as normal daylight tone, because there were obviously a lot of grading and tone changes for this flashback. Overly orangish, and filtered.)

But with Lurtz (if I remember correctly), we only saw him during the daylight hours. The closest it came to nighttime was the brief scene in the caverns of Isengard, which still had quite a bit of torch light. I know Azog's CGI gives some people problems, but I wonder if some of this comes from the specific lighting used for his scenes. It's usually full of white moonlight, which, of course, gives a much different look than daylight.

I'm by no means trying to argue your point, or anything of the sort. I just thought this would be an interesting thing to point out, since the lighting between these two orcs seems very different.

some sick twisted obsession Peter Jackson has with wanting to rewrite Tolkien in his image

Thorin sees this and rallies the dwarf army to focus on Azog and this time succeeds. Bolg sees this but is too preoccupied with Dwalin at the moment. After the battle he finds Azog's body and swears his revenge against the Oakenshield. From there on, Bolg takes the place of Azog in the aforementioned scenes. This would make it a tale of two sons avenging their fathers.
Just my thoughts, although I'm sure everyone else has considered this. Let me know what you think.

Your gunna get some passionate responses on this topic. First of all, what assumptions are being made when we say that things should have been much different? I think we are assuming the type of character Bolg is. Perhaps he is not a talker and more of just a brute. How much worse then would it be to have another lurtz that can hardly dialogue? We aren't in a position to say any characters we know nothing about should be doing this or that. Another assumption, that Dain was not in the battle and that his involvement will not be expanded upon in the next films. Maybe he is in the battle and they will just do another flashback when he is introduced? Or perhaps the reason he is not in AUJ is because they have big plans for his scene when he is finally introduced. One that would be less special if he was already revealed to us. I think they have big big plans for the dwarves of the Iron Hills and to be honest I would prefer he has a very impressive introduction. Now about Azog. First we have no idea how this will play out in the next films. I for one want him DEAD in DOS! I like his character because Manu Bennet is a great actor and all of us already know what Weta can do with CGI when they have time to perfect it so his look in AUJ is irrelevant to me. I expect a very intimidating Gollum-esqe Azog in DOS and not a "CGI abomination" (which I think is not even the case in AUJ). Maybe the extended editions will have an improved Azog who knows? Deleting all of Azog's scenes until the last scene just opens too many questions for me and I have no problem with them. Remember that the Great Goblin mentions him so the audience in no way would be surprised to see him at the end. What a way to find out he's alive still huh? I'd rather have the Weathertop scene. Azog may have been non canon but he pushes the company forward and only adds more excitement in my opinion. Too early to make large sweeping conclusions about him.

All the plot elements involving Azog are hokey and just don't work. The writing around his character is as bad as the CGI.

Sure, they need some recognizable "hero orcs", but they just didn't do a good job with this one.

Gollum, the Mouth of Sauron, the Witch King, and perhaps even Saruman all seem more menacing than Azog.

Azog's dialogue comes across as very "B movie-ish" with a lot of corny one-liners.

One of the big things that has been bothering me about Azog's inclusion is part of Philippa Boyens justification for it. In most interviews I've read she claims that "Azog the defiler" is a "great name" and "we just loved that name."

I know their decision to resurrect this character was a little more thought-out. But if she keeps bringing that up in almost every interview I've read, it must have been a motivating factor in their choice.

Seriously? You like the character's name? So you're going to raise them from the dead to be an antagonist for Thorin? She didn't want to use Bolg because the story would become "too complicated." The story has already become complicated enough! Your main hero, Thorin, already has two antagonists! The dragon, and the elves (not just Thranduil, but all elves (By the way is that even canon? I can't remember.))! And he comes across as a big grump! Why should we be rooting for him?

Okay, now I'm off topic. Feeling that you really like a character's name, should not be partial justification for altering canon, and you're not keeping it "simpler" by not using Bolg. The story has already become convoluted almost beyond recognition!

I fear that, in the next two films, the heart and focus of this story is going to be lost with their "multiple storylines."

What happened to the story of a little guy who goes on an adventure? It's there somewhere, just under a lot of unnecessary stuff.

i deplore how such a good film maker can interpret such a classic story into the cheesefest that is mean old azog chasing dwarves. i wouldnt be surprised if he keeps popping up like a comedy character throughout the trilogy, round every corner, that darn azog, he just wont give up!

isn't really his CG design or the fact that they changed his role. It's just that they build him up to be this really super important antagonist--which would be fine if Smaug didn't exist. It should be Smaug who Thorin has wants to get his revenge on: he destroyed his home! What did Azog do except kill a character who we never even got to know?
I think Azog was handled fine, I had nothing against his character. The fact that people are saying he's too generic is complete BS, IMO. It's just that the build him up too much when he's not the main villain, or at least he shouldn't be. If they wanted a recognizable antagonist for the course of the trilogy, they should've just made the orc pack itself the main force of evil, not Azog.