During my long flight to the states I sat back and enjoyed Battle of Five Armies. Now that the glitter of the film and series has worn away and I could enjoy it as a film and not the highly anticipated epilogue of Peter Jackson's movie extravaganza, a strange thing occurred. I enjoyed it. Does the film have elements I don't like? Yes. Do I think The Hobbit should have been split into 3 films? No. Was it nice, after 10 years to get another 3 films to spend in Middle-Earth? I wouldn't trade it for all the mithril in Moria. At the end of the day, I appreciate the film for what it is, I love that we got to see some of the politics of Middle-Earth, the home life of many different peoples, such as Beorn, Bilbo (and the Shire as a whole), Radagast (though I do not approve of the PJ incarnation), and of course Bard.

At the end of the day, I was glad to have gone, one…last…time.

And I think that that is really all we could have hoped for from the Hobbit. It was never going to be as good as LotR, but it wasn't supposed to nor did it need to.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

A lot of complaints about the Hobbit spring from disappointment. When you sit down to watch it for the very first time, you cannot help feeling rather disappointed when you compare it to the Lotr or even the AUJ. It often fails to give the same experience as the previous films. Also, when you read the book right before, (as we did) the differences hit you hard. It's a blow not find what you wanted, or to find that your favourite bits from the book are gone (or replaced). What makes these films special is their connection with the book. If the book is disregarded, the films loose most of their appeal. Because of this, we cannot love the Hobbit in the same way as the Lord of the Rings.

If you look at the Hobbit films objectively though, (without all your bias and expectations) it appears in a better light. They could have been better, and we still complain about their short comings, but we enjoy them for what they are. PJ's version of the Hobbit. At least its still Middle-earth (in a stretched kind of way). If we didn't enjoy the hobbit films why would we watch the them, collect the miniatures, re-enact the battle scenes, pour for hours over the design books, and follow the Hobbit Blog? We are not the kind to unquestioningly take a film and defend all it's shortcomings and problems, (we could make a film commentary just pointing out what could have been done better) but neither are we the kind to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are things we like in these films, and things we certainly dislike, but that doesn't stop us liking it in the first place.

The films are certainly more fun the second time round.

Elladan & Elrohir

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The Sons of Elrond

We have the Appearance of Men, the Souls of Elves, and Behave like Dwarves.

I hear you. I've really come to appreciate Bard. What a resourceful character! Lets look at what he did across 2 films. Smuggled dwarves into lake town under piles of fish, hid weapons in a lake tied to the bottom of a boat wrapped in a throw blanket, Deduced who Thorin really was with nothing but a throw blanket, broke out of jail with a rope made from a throw blanket (I'm seeing a pattern here), killed Smaug with a throw blanket... I mean a home made wind lance crafted from a broken bow and his son, bartered for allies among elves, dwarves, and his native lake town, then during the actual battle, he used a broken down cart as a buggy to race across the battle field and catapult himself into a hill troll.

In all honesty, Bard the fisherman (who was actually a member of the town guard, but what are you going to do), proved more resourceful than Aragorn the Dunedain ranger, whose one recourse to set back was hit it with his sword.

I have to say I agree- it's much better the second time! I'm not a purist for the book and understand and love all of PJ's changes but I think there were too many over long action sequences and a weird one with the necromancer... But when you know what to expect it's a much better watch.
I've been lucky enough to run a cinema for the last two and half years and Five Armies is by far and away our biggest film and it seemed to be the general publics favourite of the bunch, and mine too!

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My Expanded Siege Rules: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=33177

Well, I loved it the first time round at the cinema, but on the second and third (and probably soon 4th) viewings, it got even better. Seeing it unfold as a spectacle was one thing, but seeing it again, being able to anticipate what is coming next/notice all kinds of extra details you miss with the cinema viewing is something else.

And once we get the EE, it'll get even better!

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