Saruman gets his due in the extended edition of the film, which also goes a long way towards wrapping up character arcs for Eowyn and Faramir.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
LTTP: The Hobbit - Battle of the Five Armies
- Thread starter AnathemicOne
- Start date
- Status
SoldierIce64
Member
It's the weakest of the six Middle-Earth movies but I don't think it's a terrible film, just an average one. I've seen way worse from Hollywood.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Somebody needs to lock Peter Jackson in a room and Clockwork Orange that motherfuckers eyes open with hooks during every unnecessary second of screentime from every film of his starting with King Kong. Then let him out and give him his choice of editor.
The Chosen One
Member
I finally got around to watching the third Hobbit movie on blu-ray.
First off, I'm a huge LOTR fan and I've read all the books (though it's been awhile). The Hobbit was one of my favorite books but as soon as I heard they were making a triology out of the book, my expectations were immediately lowered. Perhaps this is why I wasn't as disappointed as some people since I went in expecting a lot of fluff.
The first two Hobbit movies had their problems but they still had some fun moments. Specifically, Riddles in the Dark, Thrandiul, and everything involving Smaug. Also Gandalf was still on point the entire series.
But the third movie.... it had a couple of interesting battle sequences, but otherwise was completely unnecessary. And that's already with my expectations being lowered. As everyone already mentioned, Smaug should have died at the end of the second movie. I know Peter Jackson probably wanted a loud introduction to the third movie, but it just felt out of place and anti-climatic. They spent two movies building up Smaug and then just kill in the first 10 minutes. And they didn't even let Smaug's death settle in for the audience. They just show his body falling down on somebody and that's the last they show of him. Why not show Smag's dead body with people around him gawking and poking at it, and to give a since of scale of what was just accomplished. It was like the movie was rushing away from it just to get to more filler.
In the LOTR movie series, just about all the battles felt like something major was at stake. But the "five army" battle felt relatively purposeless and completely disjointed. One minute there's the Elves Clone army which fills the screen, then a few minutes later it's like there's only a few dozen when the orc armies arrive. I didn't know if they all withdrew or died. And then human "army" there felt more like an unnecessary pimple. Also without Gandalf's one-liner explaining the orc's motives, we'd have no idea why they wanted the Lonely Mountain.
I thought the 3rd movie might be 30-40% filler, but the movie really was 80-90% filler without exaggeration. With tighter editing in the first and second movie, you can fit in the 15-20 minutes vital points from the third into the end of the second movie.
I will say I'm glad they improved the CGI with the pale orc by the third movie. In the first movie he looked like a plastic Mattel doll. The CG characters were better overall but they were just too many of them so it created "video-game" scenes where you know absolutely nothing is real in the scene. And the overuse of the "bloom" affect was maddening.
The Hobbit really did feel like the Star Wars prequels. Both movies had advanced technology available compared to their predecessors but they went overboard with it and forgot sometimes less is more.
I could see myself re-watching the first two Hobbit movies every now and then because they do contain a couple of classic scenes. But unless the extended editions fixes/improves Smaug's death, I don't see myself re-watching Five Armies anytime soon.
First off, I'm a huge LOTR fan and I've read all the books (though it's been awhile). The Hobbit was one of my favorite books but as soon as I heard they were making a triology out of the book, my expectations were immediately lowered. Perhaps this is why I wasn't as disappointed as some people since I went in expecting a lot of fluff.
The first two Hobbit movies had their problems but they still had some fun moments. Specifically, Riddles in the Dark, Thrandiul, and everything involving Smaug. Also Gandalf was still on point the entire series.
But the third movie.... it had a couple of interesting battle sequences, but otherwise was completely unnecessary. And that's already with my expectations being lowered. As everyone already mentioned, Smaug should have died at the end of the second movie. I know Peter Jackson probably wanted a loud introduction to the third movie, but it just felt out of place and anti-climatic. They spent two movies building up Smaug and then just kill in the first 10 minutes. And they didn't even let Smaug's death settle in for the audience. They just show his body falling down on somebody and that's the last they show of him. Why not show Smag's dead body with people around him gawking and poking at it, and to give a since of scale of what was just accomplished. It was like the movie was rushing away from it just to get to more filler.
In the LOTR movie series, just about all the battles felt like something major was at stake. But the "five army" battle felt relatively purposeless and completely disjointed. One minute there's the Elves Clone army which fills the screen, then a few minutes later it's like there's only a few dozen when the orc armies arrive. I didn't know if they all withdrew or died. And then human "army" there felt more like an unnecessary pimple. Also without Gandalf's one-liner explaining the orc's motives, we'd have no idea why they wanted the Lonely Mountain.
I thought the 3rd movie might be 30-40% filler, but the movie really was 80-90% filler without exaggeration. With tighter editing in the first and second movie, you can fit in the 15-20 minutes vital points from the third into the end of the second movie.
I will say I'm glad they improved the CGI with the pale orc by the third movie. In the first movie he looked like a plastic Mattel doll. The CG characters were better overall but they were just too many of them so it created "video-game" scenes where you know absolutely nothing is real in the scene. And the overuse of the "bloom" affect was maddening.
The Hobbit really did feel like the Star Wars prequels. Both movies had advanced technology available compared to their predecessors but they went overboard with it and forgot sometimes less is more.
I could see myself re-watching the first two Hobbit movies every now and then because they do contain a couple of classic scenes. But unless the extended editions fixes/improves Smaug's death, I don't see myself re-watching Five Armies anytime soon.
You did what?
Discotheque
Banned
alfrid was the hero we deserve.
anyways this movie sucked ass but the end credits song from billy boyd was fantastic, too good for this film. it belonged more to the lotr trilogy (especially considering who sang it)
also i liked it when bilbo went back home. that's about it.
The Chosen One
Member
Oh I forgot, I really did like Bilbo. I wasn't sure if I was going to like him, but I thought the acting was well done and I generally enjoyed his scenes.
They should have dumped the Elf/Dwarf fan-fiction romance and other fluff, and just kept it more focused on Bilbo.
Discotheque
Banned
yeah martin freeman was great in the trilogy. i really liked the last few encounters he had with thorin, especially his last one
movie would have been much better if he got more scenes and development in this trilogy since he ended up being the only character worth a damn.
movie would have been much better if he got more scenes and development in this trilogy since he ended up being the only character worth a damn.
crazy monkey
Banned
Grinchy
Banned
It surprises me when people say they liked this movie. It was absolutely terrible. It was so shallow. There was very little storytelling and the dialog was awful. So many things happened just for convenience. The whole movie had a terrible flow. There was a green screen segment with bad dialog, then there was a big CG video clip of a battle that felt like it had no consequences, then there was another green screen segment, then back to CG video clip, rinse, repeat.
JimmyRustler
Member
I thought it was the only good of the Hobbit movies - but I have yet to rewatch it on BluRay.
Me too. I left the theater feeling disappointed with the two previous films but not with this one. Sure, it had a few bad scenes and not enough closure for some characters but I still liked it more than the earlier ones. I guess it says something about the quality of the Hobbit Trilogy...
I think I would have enjoyed the movie much less if I hadn't seen it in HFR. It looked so smooth and real life like, like I was watching things happen through a window instead of a regular movie screen.
CoffeeExpress
Member
I really enjoyed Saurons scene in this movie, even if it was completely made up.
The epitome of this is the part where all the characters that are supposed to die get together and then wander up a mountain so they can fight some bad guys and have a death scene. Because you can't have your characters just die out of nowhere in the middle of a confusing battle. This is cinema dammit.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
A bloated crock of shite which has a Jackson created comic relief villain taking screentime par with the titular character.
Abundantly glad the Silmarillion rights will die with the Tolkien estate.
Abundantly glad the Silmarillion rights will die with the Tolkien estate.
The Chosen One
Member
Honestly I could see The Hobbit being remade within the next 10-20 years before LOTR, especially how reboots are all the rage these days.
Just start completely fresh with a new cast and director for the whole series. If they're smart, they would do the whole series in 4 movies. Just one movie for The Hobbit and 3 movies for LOTR. And if they're bold they could even combine The Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers or Two Towers and RoTK.
6-7 years ago, it was unthinkable that anyone might attempt to remake LOTR within the next half-century. The trilogy was that special. But The Hobbit (along with King Kong) exposed the under-belly of Peter Jackson so I think future directors and producers will be less intimidated to remake the series in the next 10-20 years. Similar to how George Lucas' aura was diminished after the Star Wars prequels.
Just start completely fresh with a new cast and director for the whole series. If they're smart, they would do the whole series in 4 movies. Just one movie for The Hobbit and 3 movies for LOTR. And if they're bold they could even combine The Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers or Two Towers and RoTK.
6-7 years ago, it was unthinkable that anyone might attempt to remake LOTR within the next half-century. The trilogy was that special. But The Hobbit (along with King Kong) exposed the under-belly of Peter Jackson so I think future directors and producers will be less intimidated to remake the series in the next 10-20 years. Similar to how George Lucas' aura was diminished after the Star Wars prequels.
I don't remember much of this movie or the other Hobbit movies, except that Legolas finally ran out of arrows.
The movies are well made with an incredible amount of passion and detail behind the camera and among the crew, but the narrative is lacking a central character about whom I really care. Oakenshield is Aragorn-lite and Bilbo is a secondary player.
The movies are well made with an incredible amount of passion and detail behind the camera and among the crew, but the narrative is lacking a central character about whom I really care. Oakenshield is Aragorn-lite and Bilbo is a secondary player.
Pyramid head
Banned
I only watched this movie a week or two ago and it's already almost completely evaporated from my memory. There was a big battle with shit effects and the end of the previous movie was accidentally attached to the start of this one, kind of like how on the CD version of Nine Inch Nails 'The Downward Spiral' album, the cut between 'Big Man With a Gun' and 'A Warm Place' is a second too late and the latter track begins with a loud crack of distortion.
Forerunner
Member
I enjoyed them, they weren't amazing by any means, but definitely worth watching. If I had to rate them.
2>1>3
Smaug was great, he's what made the movies for me.
2>1>3
Smaug was great, he's what made the movies for me.
I quite enjoyed the first Hobbit film, especially the extended cut.
I didn't like most of the second film except the Smaug bits, which were the highlights, but the extended edition improved it overall.
I wouldn't inflict the third film on my worst enemy, and there's no conceivable way the extended edition can save it. Let it burn, alongside any respect I had for Peter Jackson.
I didn't like most of the second film except the Smaug bits, which were the highlights, but the extended edition improved it overall.
I wouldn't inflict the third film on my worst enemy, and there's no conceivable way the extended edition can save it. Let it burn, alongside any respect I had for Peter Jackson.
Mighty Chin
Banned
Lotr was fantastic.
The Hobbit failed to reach that level. I still liked it though. I think my biggest issue is the over reliance on Green Screen.
The Hobbit failed to reach that level. I still liked it though. I think my biggest issue is the over reliance on Green Screen.
bengraven
Member
You know what?
I saw the first four films on opening day. I saw Fellowship and Two Towers twice in theaters. I bought the Theatrical editions knowing that the EEs were coming out. I didn't mind Hobbit and really liked Desolation. I own both of them in EE form (skipped TE for these films). I'm a massive Tolkien fan since the early 90s when I was a teenager.
And yet I have not seen this film yet. I won't until the EE comes out. I just don't care.
I saw the first four films on opening day. I saw Fellowship and Two Towers twice in theaters. I bought the Theatrical editions knowing that the EEs were coming out. I didn't mind Hobbit and really liked Desolation. I own both of them in EE form (skipped TE for these films). I'm a massive Tolkien fan since the early 90s when I was a teenager.
And yet I have not seen this film yet. I won't until the EE comes out. I just don't care.
4 things I like:
- Lee Pace's douchey Thranduil.
- Seeing Christopher Lee kick some ass for the final time.
- First 10 minutes with Smaug.
- Billy Boyd's The Last Goodbye, which is stunning.
That's literally it. It's like they forgot how to make a movie with the Five Armies. The final act is just bizarre, and the ending is the complete opposite of ROTK's emotional powerhouse. Flat beyond belief.
- Lee Pace's douchey Thranduil.
- Seeing Christopher Lee kick some ass for the final time.
- First 10 minutes with Smaug.
- Billy Boyd's The Last Goodbye, which is stunning.
That's literally it. It's like they forgot how to make a movie with the Five Armies. The final act is just bizarre, and the ending is the complete opposite of ROTK's emotional powerhouse. Flat beyond belief.
Infinite_Respawn
Member
You know, while this film is really quite bad, I did at least feel it was better than The Desolation of Smaug, if only because it didn't draw out scenes what could have fit into around 45 minutes of storytelling into almost 3 fucking hours of utter mind-numbing dross.
And while the titular battle is mostly a rehash of battles from the LOTR trilogy, the final sequence at the frozen keep felt fresh enough that it woke me from my stupor (Legolas' stupid sequences aside, of course).
That said, it was a very disappointing end to what I felt was a decent start. I actually really enjoyed An Unexpected Journey, and if the films had kept up that level of quality while striking a fair balance between the LOTR trilogy's more adult tone and the fairy tale qualities of The Hobbit, I would have been happy.
Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage deserve recognition though, their performances throughout the trilogy were the only reason I went to see Battle of the Five Armies, and I was not disappointed. They deserved better, and so did we.
And while the titular battle is mostly a rehash of battles from the LOTR trilogy, the final sequence at the frozen keep felt fresh enough that it woke me from my stupor (Legolas' stupid sequences aside, of course).
That said, it was a very disappointing end to what I felt was a decent start. I actually really enjoyed An Unexpected Journey, and if the films had kept up that level of quality while striking a fair balance between the LOTR trilogy's more adult tone and the fairy tale qualities of The Hobbit, I would have been happy.
Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage deserve recognition though, their performances throughout the trilogy were the only reason I went to see Battle of the Five Armies, and I was not disappointed. They deserved better, and so did we.
tattooed_dwarf
Member
I think biggest reasons why these films didn't live up to Lotr was decision to make them into trilogy, Jacksons new style to over rely on CGI, his way of changing story and scenes and need to tie these movies too tightly to Lotr trilogy. We have many same characters in both movies, we don't need to be reminded that these are in same world every minute by overexplaining, like that scene with Legolas and his father about searching Aragorn. Overuse of Legolas and Alfrid was bad decision too. Movie just felt like it was rushed with not much thought behind script. And how on earth can Jackson, who loves creatures, pass on chance of giving us the audience angry bearman ripping through legions of orcs, instead giving us videogame Legolas.
That being said, I still love all Hobbit movies, but it's painful to know how many missed chances these movies have.
astroturfing
Member
yeah what the FUCK was that about? one of the most annoying and stupid characters of all time. worse than Jar Jar by far.
and what happened to the gigantic worms that were supposed to wreck shit up!? SERIOUSLY WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WORMS WHY DIDNT THEY DO ANYTHING ARGH
and what five armies? i couldn't count five of them, my friends couldn't. does anyone know what they were exactly? i doubt it. were humans one army? no, yes? either way the title makes no fucking sense.
hate this movie so much. utter shite.
Edmond Dantès
Dantès the White
It's unlikely that will happen and it is rather optimistic to think that Tolkien will still have any sort of relevance in 20 years.
A TV series would be a better option for The Lord of the Rings.
The Chosen One
Member
Edmond Dantès;170197937 said:
Hmm, that's not a bad idea. Especially since Game of Thrones has proven an epic fantasy world can be done on TV (within certain limitations).In 10-20 years when technology advances further a LOTR TV series could be even more feasible.
It definitely would have worked better as the two film series it was conceived as. I say that as someone who was very hyped when the three film split was announced. A few more months in post, combined with the tighter editing required to make two films would have solved most of the problems in the trilogy.
ginger ninja
Banned
Man i am watching this right now and this is SO BAD JESUSS
I always start laughing when I remember the amount of Alfrid in this movie, not because it was funny but because his scenes were such pointless shit lol. Like these movies are so goddamn long already and you keep bringing this clown back for absolutely no good reason.
I was legitimately shocked while watching, couldn't believe my eyes when his "arc" concluded:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RaC19Gqaz0
I was legitimately shocked while watching, couldn't believe my eyes when his "arc" concluded:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RaC19Gqaz0
Arise thread! I saw this last night for the first time. Not good. I really wish they would've done a 1 movie adaptation that was true to the actual story and tone of the book. The '70s Hobbit animated movie still remains the definitive version in my mind.
Some of the acting and dialogue in this film was so surprisingly bad that it ruined what they were trying to accomplish in the scene. I don't think PJ was the right person for this job. This story shouldn't have been grim dark LoTR's Hobbit. Bilbo told the story just fine in the book.
Some of the acting and dialogue in this film was so surprisingly bad that it ruined what they were trying to accomplish in the scene. I don't think PJ was the right person for this job. This story shouldn't have been grim dark LoTR's Hobbit. Bilbo told the story just fine in the book.
- Status