DESOLATION OF SMAUG reviews thread

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AMUSIX said:
This assertion can only be made after all three movies are released. Then one can objectively look at the final product and say "yes, the same could have been delivered in 1/3 the time." I'm not saying the argument is wrong, only that, at this point, there's not enough to go on to really support it (aside from conjecture and claims from one side vs conjecture and claims from the other).
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I think it's hard to argue that the source material has not been stretched here, you have single throwaway lines that translate to long ass scenes in The Hobbit.
If you ask me, The Hobbit suffered greatly from that stretching of the source material, that being said, I agree that it's perfectly possible that we'll get two brilliant films next which may make that decision worthwhile, but so far, at least to me, it looks like a financial decision more than an artistic one.
 
aett said:
It's not bad, but definitely not as good/necessary as the LotR EEs. It's 11 minutes, most of which is extended/new scenes in Rivendell, and the Great Goblin sings a song in the caves. Oh, and a super brief but very cute scene of Bilbo as a kid interacting with Gandalf.
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Aww 11 minutes...certainly a drop from the EE's previous.
 
Kud Dukan said:
Here we go!!

8knRayb.gif
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greatest gif of all time
 
Chichikov said:
While that can be true for some books, it's hardly the case for The Hobbit, it's a small and pretty short story that was stretched to hell and back in order to milk the franchise (and to keep the New Zealand film industry afloat a while longer).
And to be clear, that doesn't mean that the movie is bad, some of the greatest movies in history (2001, Psycho, The Birds) were short stories that was stretched to fit a film running length, but there is no denying that this is happening in with The Hobbit.
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I'm not really denying that. I'm just arguing that the critical reception doesn't really support the idea that PJ's approach is a creatively bankrupt cash grab.

That said, the Hobbit (novel) is very episodic, whereas something like LOTR has a much slower more elaborate pace. They've basically stretched out the dozen or so little episodes in the story into acts of a film.
 
AMUSIX said:
I absolutely agree. Film makers should always strive to have their film's length be comparable to the length of the original material.
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So NOAH should be ~30 minutes Long?

Can't wait. I loves TUJ but order too cheery for the story, can't wait to see it.
 
Chichikov said:
I think it's hard to argue that the source material has not been stretched here, you have single throwaway lines that translate to long ass scenes in The Hobbit.
If you ask me, The Hobbit suffered greatly from that stretching of the source material, that being said, I agree that it's perfectly possible that we'll get two brilliant films next which may make that decision worthwhile, but so far, at least to me, it looks like a financial decision more than an artistic one.
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I'm not saying that the source material was not stretched. I'm saying that, until all three are out, it's hard to say if the stretching into three films was a bad decision.

Yes, AUJ could have been a bit shorter, but, after watching it a few times, I personally cannot see how cutting the events in it down to less than an hour (as would be if The Hobbit were made as a single film) would be a good thing at all. So then the argument would be that it should have just been two films. This may be valid, but, again, I don't think there's a proper case to be made until all three are out. Then you can go back over everything and say "Yes, this could be cut down to 5 hours" or it's realized that cutting it down to 5 would sacrifice too much. At which point, you might concede that 40 minutes of unnecessary stretching was an acceptable price to pay.
 
Didn't like AUJ at all and was planning to skip this until Blu, but I ended up getting into a screening for this on Tuesday, so maybe I'll check it out after all.
 
I had some doubts and thought the first movie was a bit light and fluffy but there is still a lot to happen in the story. We need to really get to know that dragon, there's a war, a few more daring escapes, and the out of book stuff Tolkien wrote about the events that occurred before the Fellowship.
 
Glad to hear it's an improvement. I really hope Jackson finds some way to trump my eternal "what the fuck" that this is a trilogy. I still maintain that it needn't have been.
 
aett said:
It's not bad, but definitely not as good/necessary as the LotR EEs. It's 11 minutes, most of which is extended/new scenes in Rivendell, and the Great Goblin sings a song in the caves. Oh, and a super brief but very cute scene of Bilbo as a kid interacting with Gandalf.
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BigDug13 said:
Aww 11 minutes...certainly a drop from the EE's previous.
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Sorry to be pedantic but it's 13 minutes.

Rivendell is super improved. They cut so much.

The 9 hours of documentaries were nice too ;)
 
Vashetti said:
Sorry to be pedantic but it's 13 minutes.

Rivendell is super improved. They cut so much.

The 9 hours of documentaries were nice too ;)
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Was it just them trolling and putting the FB video updates on the disc and calling them "documentaries" or was this actually new material?
 
Lebron said:
Was it just them trolling and putting the FB video updates on the disc and calling them "documentaries" or was this actually new material?
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If you bought the Theatrical edition sure, lol

The Extended Edition has 9 hours of brand new, stupidly in-depth documentaries that go through the entire process

I was blown away.
 
I really fucking loved the first film. Don't care what anyone says, it was good and fun. Just got the extended edition and I really need to watch some of the bonus stuff before the 2nd one comes out. Stupidly excited about this.
 
witness said:
Not surprised by these reviews at all. Super excited to see it on HFR 3D next week.
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Are they still doing this? I saw the first one in HFR 3D at one of those fake IMAX's and it took some getting used to, but by the end my eyes had settled and it starts too look pretty good.

It seems like they aren't playing it up this time around because of the reaction it got the first time around.

Glad this has better views than the first though. Was really thinking this was gonna be the one that would suck the hardest till everything gets wrapped up in the 3rd but I guess not.
 
PhoenixDark said:
I'm not sure I can support watching any of these films, given the blatant cash grab of splitting a simple 400 page children's book into three films/6+ hours. Although the trailers for this one certainly look good.
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I sympathiser with this. the first film had too much bloat and was not the fun adventure it should have been.
 
The impressions on twitter say this film doesn't stop. Somehow without being tiring it manages to maintain momentum with action scenes

That sounds great though I was hoping for a good balance of character moments too like in the lotr trilogy. Did people hear the soundtrack for this? How was it
 
I watched the EE of AUJ (had only seen the theatrical version last year) earlier. Funny, I thought the normal version already felt like an extended edition.

Still a crappy movie.
 
4/10:

There comes a time when we must stop kidding ourselves. These ‘Hobbit‘ films – with ‘The Desolation of Smaug‘ representing the shank of the trilogy – are not real movies. These are exploitation films for Tolkien nuts, for enthusiasts of the original ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies and for audiences so hungry for high fantasy they’ll gobble up whatever is served to them and ask for seconds.
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http://screencrush.com/the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-review/
 
Listen, there’s a grey-bearded wizard who warns in low tones about a place that sounds like “Doggledoor.” And there’s someone referred to as “Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror.” I love that geekorama stuff more than most. It’s hilarious, and I’ll probably refer to my cat as “Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror” for the next week. But this movie doesn’t cohere – there’s no forward momentum, no character development, no story happening. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a fibber.
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lol
 
Liked the first but it did suffer from being dragged out far longer than it should have. Very much looking forward to this one, been wanting to see Smaug for the longest. I will be watching this opening weekend.
 
Rodney McKay said:
I laugh every time a character pronounces Smaug's name in a serious tone of voice, I don't even care if it's the correct way or not. :D
"Oh Sm-OU-g, the stupendous," It's like their playing the meow game from Super Troopers: "S-meow-g"
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I always think of the Workaholics guys, talking about "smeowking a beowl" or something.
 
Great review lol

Does this mean there’s nothing of merit in ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’? Quite the contrary. The dragon of the title – voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch and rendered by the furthest advances of computer science – is the bomb. Smaug is, undoubtedly, the coolest movie dragon ever. He’s sly and foreboding and his massive stature is quite palpable. My disbelief was suspended like a kid setting off firecrackers in study hall.
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God dammit, might have to watch. At least Toothless is still the cutest.
 
tiggerkiddo said:
Liked the first but it did suffer from being dragged out far longer than it should have. Very much looking forward to this one, been wanting to see Smaug for the longest. I will be watching this opening weekend.
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It seems like the split into three completely affected the first film. Id imagine all the shit goes down in this film and the third
 
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