I'm not sure if this was aimed at me at all but I'm trying to stay with the topic and not drag the LOTR movies into the discussion. As I've said, I liked it as a movie not as the books; sense I enjoyed it I'll watch the next two and most likely enjoy them as well. I have a lot more problems with the LOTR movies then I did with this one and enjoyed them less then PJ's The Hobbit. I've just categorized them as movies that stole the books titles and character names that are independent works and watch them that way while try my best not to dwell on the bastardization of the books in their creation. (That being said at least it isn't a bad of a deviation as what Hollywood did to Heinlein's Starship Troopers)

@Curufinwë, nope not at you.

I guess what I was mostly wondering was if all these people who didn't enjoy the hobbit that much because of deviations from Tolkien's book enjoyed the lotr movies, becuase they had way more deviation imho.

As I've said previously, I actually ENJOYED the changes made in The Hobbit (with the exception of the Angmar bit) whereas in LotR I found most of them unneccessary and rather stupid.

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

I saw the movie Tuesday night and liked it. One of the friends I saw it with did have trouble with many of the changes. I like all the changes. Considering the decision to turn it into 3 movies, they had to add more story lines. I like the Thorin Azog grudge, I think it helps flesh out the dwarves as a race. The coming Necromancer story line looks promising. And I'm happy to see that Galadriel has Gandalf's back in the white council.

To me the singing dinner party in Bilbo's house is exactly how I imagined it to be. The same with the look of the Fell Wargs. Though I would have liked them to talk and maybe sing the song they sang in the book. No speaking eagles was sad but they did look really good.

I think the movie was great. They made a children's book into an adult movie. Lovely visuals and fantastic music, which were alike but not the same as the LOTR trilogy. Most important part for me was that The Hobbit films would capture the epic feel of the first three movies, and in this the first one did not disappoint.

I just thought to myself that (finally) us LOTR-fans have an 'original' an a 'prequel' trilogy..

I'm off to see it in a couple hours with a few of our local gaming group.

_________________
Wait ye the finish! The fight is not yours.
Beowulf

http://TacticsInMiniature.com

ISaw it again today...can't believe I'm saying this but I liked it in HFR 3D more than the 2D saw today. Bolg would have been better then adding Azog...now they have to kill Azog before BOFA, and intoduce Bolg just to kill him. That's if they try to stick to the books....judging by all the marketing though I believe Bolg is screwed. He appears to be in Dol Guldur in his photos. So there's four options if that's the case. Gandalf killed him when he gets the key from Thrain,or Bolg escapes/runs Gandalf off, or he's at Dol Guldur for the battle with the White Council, same optional outcomes as the Gandalf incident.
What's really interesting to me that makes me think Bolg is not going to be seen in the movies period is the rulebook. Read his entry, then read Azogs, the one that doesn't have any pictures. I think Azog has replaced him completely.....as a hobbyist though I'm just glad Bolg got such a great mini, and statline

That's my thought as well. Azog will replace Bolog as the leader of the orcs in the battle of the five armies.

They could pull a Boba Fett though and have him show up as one of Azogs general mid series. Unless they change the story some more movie two should be almost orc free. Unless they add in Azog going around and reqruiting the tribes to go to war.

Finally saw the movie (2D) and it was more or less in line with my expectations: visually incredible, too much impossible action, amazing Gollum scene, ridiculous rabbits.

I can tell you I get tired of endless "oh the hero is down and an orc is overly savouring his moment and then...wait for it...wait for it...wait a little more...yawn...what will I make for dinner tomorrow?...scratch...aaannnnddd...rescued!" It's a style of movie-making I don't appreciate. It's like people who just can't get to the punch line of a joke because they think stretching it out will make you laugh harder.

I really liked the backstories and the council meeting though. It adds a depth to the Hobbit movie that I wish had been in LotR (sorry to compare!). The interpersonal politics, the character refinement, how they view the world, all very welcome.

One part I wish had been clarified was when Thorin was moaning about how the Elves never helped at Erebor or Moria. Gandalf should have said "that's because they all died in the same fight, learn your history." Instead he goes on about Dwarvish stubbornness.

Other than the extended dramatic scenes, I don't mind the addition of the Azog story. My prediction is Thorin will kill Azog in movie 2, which brings in Bolg (son of Azog) in movie 3. So we have these competing chains of "you killed my father, prepare to die!"...why can't we all just get along?

One last beef: when they speak other languages, they enunciate artificially. It took forever for Azog to say "Kill them all!". Hugo Weaving (Elrond) did it really well, fast and fluid as if he was speaking his own language, but Kate Blanchet (Galadriel) was also slow. It just sounds forced, and it's not like anybody is going to know if they don't pronounce it exactly.

I'm going again in the new year with some friends, we'll go to an adult theatre where you can have a beer and dinner while you watch. Looking forward to it.

Ahh, heading to the new vip theatre? I'm sad that they transformed it, no more cheap seats.


As to your thoughts on the movie, I pretty much agree. I too think that azog will be killed in movie two, though I'm not sure if they'll save bolg's appearance for movie three, or not. Maybe they'll have a 'teaser' shot at the end of movie two, like they did with smaug....

Not sure where it is, I only heard about it. I hope it's worth it, should be a different experience anyway...



I'm thinking he'll be there to witness it, just like Thorin witnessed his own grandfather's death.

That's where I'm getting irritated with the changes, where would they encounter orcs in movie two unless they deviate alot AGAIN. The encounter with Beorn is next, then mirkwood,then spiders, then imprisonment, then laketown, then the mountain, THEN the BOFA. And somewhere in that we'll get the battle at Dul Guldur. The fact that they added Azog for pointless tension in the story has to be dealt with now if they're going to introduce Bolg and kill Azog before the BOFA. The only non-disruptive way is if during the 2nd movie like they did in the first, the viewing point follows the orcs movements and them gathering their army. But that still doesn't solve Azog

Beorn did disappear and return to kill a goblin and warg in the book. In the movie they'll probably involve the dwarves in this, and have Beorn be helped so he's grateful and helps them in return.

Or...are we sure there will be a Beorn in the movie? I don't recall seeing any references.

I read that theyd cast somebody for Beorn.

Oh I forgot about that!!! That would be perfect. And yes this guy is playing him
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0675409/

That's good I can't wait for Beorn!

I saw it today. I had very low expectations to be honest, especially due to the massive increased use of CGI. I was pleasantly surprised...it was awesome! I am extremely impressed and felt disappointed when the film ended, hoping that there was at least one more scene to show.

My major criticism of the film is the exact same criticism I knew I would have before going in--far too much CGI. The goblins, the animals, the backgrounds. It's not bad CGI, close-ups especially are excellent--but there's far too much of it, especially in situations where live actors in costumes would have looked so much better (I think maybe a handful of the orcs in the film actually were in costume in some scenes). After we got home, my brother popped in TTT and I happened to stroll in to his room during the early scene with the Uruk-Hai march--they just looked so good, so much better. Ah well.

I really liked the connection that was established between the viewers and the dwarf company. I thought it would have been tricky to pull off. Though I won't lie--I couldn't keep track of who was who. I don't think Bombur had any lines, but he was hilarious. And Thorin is one bad dude. He's rather awesome, I think.

I'm torn over Azog. I don't think it was necessarily a bad idea to leave him alive. I think it adds a bit of depth to the quest. But, I do think Azog, well, looks pretty stupid (along with the Stone Giants and Goblin King). I also think that everything being accomplished by Azog story-wise could have been done by Bolg, and am puzzled as to what the future of Azog/Bolg will be.

I assumed that the announcement of a trilogy was essentially an announcement for shameless cash-ins. But there really is a wealth of material here. I thoroughly enjoyed the expanded Dwarf background and the Necromancer side plot. We really got to delve a bit more into characters and Middle-earth history in a way that wasn't as much possible in LotR. I approve just about every change that was made from the book.

I think that all of the orcs (minus Azog, because he was added in rather late) were people in costume, although some of them had CGI faces.

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

I watched the fil(u)m on th 23rd but have not posted here, so I thought I'd sahre by thoughts iif noone objects.

I absolutle loved the whole thing practically, I smiled at the Golfimbul reference and the inclusion of the dwarf songs, all of the riddles and the extensive use of Wargs. I love Wargs did you know?

My sister did talk throughout the entire thing because she didn't like it, and there was an incident arounfd the Riddles in the Dark scene in which these people were playing with phones, had a fight an got sent out which kind of ruined the move. But the humour of Gollum was wnough to bring everyone back.

I noticed that the Goblins were all CGI wjhich made sense given the abnormal shapes they were, and that the Orcs were people in costumes except when they were riding Wargs, and that dead one in the chase scene recvealed that the design shares similarities with the Isengard Warg Riders design.

The Witch-king reference baffled me a little, but I thought that the film makers wanted to lonk ot to LotR as much as possible, which was mostly achieved through the extensive prologue.

When watchinhg teh film I kept an eye out for all the minor named heroes and special chaaracters. I saw the Goblin Scribe in a small shot, you could see the tiny Goblin Captain for a moment as well in the interogation scene. Yazneg was of course eaten by the awesome Wargsies, and his replacemet Fimbul folloed Azog around for the rest of the movie, and yes he did survive.

I warn you though not to look for Wikipedia to find out who is alive or not as wiki lists Yazneg as being in the next to films despite the fact he is unlikely to escape unscathed from the Wargs innards.

Radagast's first appearence in the film seemed a little contrived or at the very least out of the blue, but when he linked up with Thorin's company it started to make more sense.

It;s a pity that Bolg did not feature ore prominantly in the film since he had to quit his role as the evil Gregor Clegane on gmae of Thrones leaveing a rather poor replacement. Plus that Bolg model looks as awesome as Azog.

I agree that they could still efinatley have fit the entire thing into 2, possibly even 1 film, if they had cut out a lot of the pointless stuf, like a scenery shot in which the Dwarves do not enter for example.

The Hobbit wass also one of those very rare occasions when I was watching a film-of-the-book in whicjh I actually liked a lot of the changes.

That's all for now.

_________________
"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.