Christ Centered Gamer

So... awesome...

I mean, I had my gripes with it, like the overuse of dramatic glares into the camera and some of the action, and I heard it wasn't as enjoyable for those not already familiar with Tolkien, but... I AM familiar with Tolkien. So.

Yeah. Anyone else go to le premiere?

I'm waiting a couple of weeks for the crowds to thin, but when I do see it I'll be witnessing it in Cinerama 3D 48 fps. We'll see if I whinge about the overt realism of 48 fps or not. I'm hoping not.

CountKrazy wrote:I'm waiting a couple of weeks for the crowds to thin, but when I do see it I'll be witnessing it in Cinerama 3D 48 fps. We'll see if I whinge about the overt realism of 48 fps or not. I'm hoping not.

You notice CG more. Like, a lot more. But there were times when I was like, wow, those trees look amazingly fantabulous.

And as for my opinion on The Hobbit, I'll just copy what my friend said on facebook.

There were many aspects of this first installment of The Hobbit which I enjoyed immensely, and some elements I found impossible to take seriously. Nevertheless, I am glad that the themes of courage, friendship, and perseverance are still woven through in a strong and vital way.

I saw it today. (Not in 3D, I'm blind in one eye so 3d does nothing for me.) As a long time fan of the books, I was pleased. Most of the liberties taken with the story were still in the spirit of the story, and there were a lot of Easter eggs for Tolkien nerds. I was skeptical going in, but really enjoyed it. And like C$, my gripes are pretty minor.

I saw the movie yesterday! (not in 3D)

<3

I'm torn between love and hate. I went to the midnight opening, and it's the first movie I've seen in years.

I mean, I loved the styles and appearance and manner of the dwarves (for the most part; dwarves are earthy, not course). The Dwarven race has been my pick of choice for a long time, and I like seeing them portrayed as heroic figures, instead of dumpy walking potatoes for comedic relief. O_o

That said, I had a lot of complaints with the liberties taken and the story changes made. Enough to make me roll my eyes at several points. That said, it was very well tied in with LOTR and even the more obscure Tolkien stuff people don't normally read. That said, most of those references were unnecessary and, I truly believe, were added in so they could trilogyize it and cash farm it. They also took a children's story and made it not one, and threw in a battle every 10 minutes or so.

But it was still amazing. XD I think if I think about instead of just letting it wash over me, I'll not stop complaining. I really did enjoy it.

I saw it on opening night with the 3D and high frame rate. I thought it was....alright. I've never read the book so I don't really have any complaints with the story but it kinda bored me alot.

Same. I saw the Hobbit on opening night in i-max 3D with a friend's birthday party. Loved the movie, but kind of disappointed that they didn't show the entire story. Looks like we'll have to wait through 3 more movies till the end. BTW, I read the book first (not to sound nerdy or anything) and it made the movie much more interesting.

Alright, I'm going to say it.

The movie was disappointing. Now, I enjoyed it and I am looking forward to the others, but there were a number of issues that ruined the experience at points. Almost lucas'd the whole thing.

For starters, the worst part was rushed character development. I don't know who's stupid idea was to do it, but the characters developed to quickly and too soonly. With bilbo, he immediately becomes effective during the troll scene. No! He proves himself later. This is first foray into real danger and he's actually a bit overwhelmed. Balin, who is fond of Bilbo, starts out liking him instead of growing to. Ruined character dynamics right there. And Thorin. This one gets me to most, partially because Richard Armitage was doing Thorin so very well. The best character performance, imo. But then the writers (I'm blaming Philippa Boyens for this, like I blamed the bad parts in LOTR on her, too) had to make him go gooshy on Bilbo after the Eagles. Are you kidding me? He's the last of the dwarves to respect Bilbo and doesn't express it to the very end in a very powerful moment. Instead, they decided to cheapen the whole thing and move it to the first movie. The final scenes will now mean nothing because of a rushed moment.

I'll probably rail on some more moments, but one that really bothers me is the death of the Goblin King. Here, they had a chance for something really cool, but they decided to go off the book and make it cheesy and just stupid. The cartoon, for all it's simplicity, did the scene way more thematically. After the goblins recognize Orcrist and Gandalf appears with Glamdring, the Goblin King exclaims in fear "I know that Sword! It's Glamdring, the Foe Hammer! Beater!" (paraphrase) then he ends up falling backwards over the edge, in fear, only to reappear later, in full courage to threaten Gandalf, only to be cut open and saying some half hearted, half witted remark before dying. Really, you kept him alive for that sniveling, worthless execution? Not even the Goblin King took his own death seriously. You kill him right there after he recognized Glamdring. Bam. Thematic. Cool. Instead, the traded it for unbelievable, cheap, and cheesy. Absolutely worthless.

And they keep adding "ride" scenes like falling down the trap door and riding the knees of the stone giants. Just cheap use and feels really "made for 3d." We were promised that these sort of kiddie thrills will not be added and we were lied to.

Now, adding Dol Guldor and LOTR threads didn't bother me. Tolkien actually would have liked to go back and change some of the Hobbit to make it more fitting with LOTR and even did at some points. I thought the parts of the Pale Orc were a bit cheap and "hollywood," but I understood the need for a villian to push the story forward, especially since the first third of a story had to become a movie in itself. One of the downsides of turning it into a trilogy. I enjoyed the back story of Erebor and Thorin.

Ultimately, if I want to summarize my disappoints with the movie, it's that the writers are treating us, the audience, like we are drooling, prepubescent morons. They have to throw out cheap thrills. They not only rush the character development so we "feel good. " They "say it" instead of "show it." (classic new lucas, too). They add in simplistic and dull story arcs. The whole thing is a great classic fantasy story shown through the glasses of a lackluster action flick.

I'm seeing it in an hour

I will convey my feelings with an appropriate gif when I return

Yeah, I agree a lot with Arch, though I still love the movie.
I place my little rant in a spoiler for spoiler sake. Never the less, I still love the movie and I can't wait for the next one.
(I also did find it cool how they added Dol Guldor, and all of that.)

Good point about Sting. Wasted!

But, like I said before, I still liked the movie. The problem is that I'm such a LOTR nut that I hold it to a much higher degree than I do for other movies; "Good" isn't good enough for me.

I saw it in IMAX 3D 48 fps. The 48 fps made for some occasionally interesting visuals, and I don't know whether or not it affected the scenery, but establishing shots were... gorgeous. Otherwise, characters felt sped way the freak up and movement was totally weird and I didn't get into it. They touted it as a "more fantastical" way of filming but when I stand it up to what I consider to be more along the lines of rawness in Lord of the Rings, I would choose Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson calls that old-fashioned. I... think it's just practical.

As for the story, I was stunned by how rushed it felt. Peter Jackson was a pro when it came to handling exposition in Lord of the Rings. It rarely ever felt overblown, or unnecessary, or boring. So much of the exposition in this movie would have been borderline excruciating if not for the usually beautiful backdrops.

Off the top of my head, Dol Guldor was one of my favorite bits. It was atmospheric and incredible, especially if you're intimately familiar with The Silmarillion. I loved that junk. A lot of the action was fluid and exciting. The Wargs are an immeasurable improvement over their previous incarnations. I was overjoyed to see Bret McKenzie's more obvious cameo this time around but I don't think anybody else realized it was him.

My biggest complaints? The pacing. The characterization. I couldn't possibly care less about Bilbo. He's supposed to be bumbling, I get that, but I felt more often than not no emotional connection to him. I don't expect him to have the oomph of a character like Frodo, simply because it's a much more light-hearted story, but he leans so far towards the nonsensical side that it's almost impossible to ever take him seriously. The music was incredibly disappointing and all over the place, tossing various themes to and fro to fit the characters in the scene at a whim. Recycling the bit of music used when Thorin faces the Pale Orc took me straight out of the moment and just didn't echo the relationship between the two characters. Thorin's great and the Pale Orc had interesting aesthetics, but that music harkens back to the horror of the Nazgul and hordes of Orcs from the previous movies... not a dwarf staring down one solitary foe. It just didn't fit for me. The Pale Orc in and of himself feels so incredibly mechanical and I could never embrace him as a character. It's like they were so fond of Lurtz from Fellowship that they decided to model a far more instrumental character off of him without adding anymore substance.

Also, the Goblin King was pathetic. I cannot believe how pathetic he was. I am still shocked by how pathetic he was. I don't get any of the goblins, frankly. They were so perfectly done in the other films and the makeup and costumes were so believable and they were nasty and amazing. Here they just feel... motion captured. They lacked so much intimidation and felt incredibly useless.

The film felt handled by someone so much less capable than Peter Jackson. There were moments where he portrayed some of his earlier skill, but for the most part, it genuinely felt sloppy. But that... is just me.

There was also a shooting in one of the bars near the theatre while I was watching the movie (the theatre is in this indoor complex with about three levels consisting mostly of bars and restaurants). A gang shooting or something, apparently, but I waited in a car line to get out of the parking garage for one hour. IT DID NOT HELP MY SOUR FEELINGS

I was overjoyed to see Bret McKenzie's more obvious cameo this time around but I don't think anybody else realized it was him.

RAWNG


I SAWR IT


WUZ KEWL

What I didn't really care much for, was how they attempted to tie in the Hobbit to Lord of the Rings. I've read through the book, and it wasn't so blatently tied into the three lord of the rings books, it was a book on it's own that began a wonderful continuity. I'm not the type to argue that movies based on books are terrible, but all the same, I expected it to be more Hobbit then Lord of the Rings.