Posted on 12/16/2014 4:31:31 PM PST by Perdogg
Is it true that there is a 45 minute battle scene in CGI?
Our family just saw it, first local showing here. It was well done, as good as or better than the first two, but it compressed a lot of story lines into the two hour and 15 minute showing time. We’re looking forward to seeing what the director’s cut includes.
It was a more mellow movie, maybe some more tears among the women in our group than the other five movies. Any more comments than that would constitute spoilers.
If you liked the first two and minor deviations from the Tolkien canon don’t bother you, you should like this one also.
Thank you! well done.
Ditto.
I give it four stars out of five.
Much of the plot was Tolkien, including Bilbo’s peacekeeping efforts and of course Durin’s madness and later repenting when he says goodbye to Bilbo.
Lots of action: Some of it was invented for cinematic reasons (how they killed the dragon for example, or the orc fight with Durin).
I must say, however, that Dain needs his mouth washed out with soap. (my granddaughter luckily only knows American English, thank goodness, so it went over her head).
and the dwarf/elf romance plot was a bit overdone, but never mind.
the CGI was okay (although I didn’t see it in 3D). I was happy the fights were not emphasized as much as the characters, but I felt they needed a bit more explanation after the battle, to explain what everyone did afterward. Lots of it is known to geeks and those who know the games (which fill in the missing parts of the story of the war in the north), but not to ordinary folks.
“Frodo and Samwise were a Hollywood homosexual conspiracy”
That’s hogwash. Merry and Pippin, on the other hand...
“and the dwarf/elf romance plot was a bit overdone, but never mind.”
I don’t think JRR would have mind it. I love the music of this film the most.
Several gangs fight over stolen jewelry.
So, it's a remake of Pirates of the Caribbean? Stole the idea from Johnny Depp, no doubt.
It was a joke....I don’t know which Sandra Bullock movie you are referring to, but I am sure that I watched it. She is one of the best actresses in history (And that is not a joke).
Probably....I was bring sarcastic. Everyone knows I am not a bash a movie type unless they truly stink and I mean truly.
I can cut up like the rest of you at times.
Good points.
Our family never pays extra for the 3D. I just don’t think it ever really ads much to a movie except the need for Dramamine.
We all agreed the movie could have done without the dwarf/elf romance plot.
I will say that almost the entire movie is about the final battle. Lots of CGI, (relatively good CGI in my opinion). And I mean LOTS.
Lots of battle scenes as well. Though I can’t verify the 45 min as I did not time the scenes. I would estimate at least half the movie is some form of combat. Some up close “mono a mono” style, some platoon scale, lots of grand battle scenes.
Just got back from the 3D IMAX showing with the family. My daughters, the experts, both liked it and said it followed Tolkien’s story telling fairly closely. Once you get used to the 3D it was very effective. Legolas’ antics always cause me to shake my head in disbelief. It was kind of sad at the end when you realized that this was it; no more.
Thumbs up.
There’s still a lot of material there for more movies, e.g., Numenor, Second Age events, historical events of Gondor and Arnor, the founding of the Shire, Silmarillion themes, etc.
Just got out of a 3D IMAX showing.
Blech.
Hamfisted, self-indulgent and overlong meaningless battles. There’s all sorts of scenes inserted to make this a prequel to LOTR or additional characters to “enhance the storyline” rather than try to bring forth the actual hobbit material. It’s BILBO’S story and he’s practically a guest star in most of this movie. Worse, Jackson finishes up the “prequel” movie with a song that’s arguably meant to be a farewell to the fans “The last goodbye” (paging George Lucas, paging George Lucas)
The movie isn’t a total loss, lots of great cinematography, the effects are good and some of the individiual battles near the end are worthwhile but it’s missing almost all the charm from the other movies.
I give it two and an half stars out of four. I saw the movie in 3D/HFR format/extreme screen.
“The Battle of the Five Armies” is the last chapter in the Hobbit film saga and Peter Jackson’s relationship with the Tolkien Estate, assuming the Silmarilion is never made and Jackson is not involved. Overall the series has been good. I think the things that Jackson has been really good at is when Jackson has stuck with the novel, almost verbatim. The best sequence in the series was definitely the “Riddles in the Dark” sequence in the first one. Anything with Smaug has been good. I think Richard Armitage has been great as Thorin and Martin Freeman as Bilbo. Howard Shore has continued his excellent soundtracks for The Lord of Rings.
There is some good and bad in this movie, mostly good. Jackson gets high marks for putting the event of the Battle and the conflict with Thorin in the movie. People may complain about the CGI, but I am not sure how one would effectively film a battle sequences, the battling mountains in the first one, the Trolls, and of course, Smaug the Magnificent.
The attack by Smaug on Laketown was classic and appeared straight from the novel. The final battle is long but never boring. The final conflict, not in the Tolkien story, among Thorin and Azog; Bolg and Legolas is not bad per se, but the ninja fighting scenes got old and it went on too long. The rescue of Gandalf the Grey from Dol Guldor was almost a tribute to Jackson himself. It really wasn’t bad, it just seemed almost out of place.
Jackson has taken advantage of the Appendices that the Tolkien Estate sold when it sold the rights to the Lord of the Rings. Also, Jackson has managed to incorporate material from “The Unfinished Tales”. There is a storyline in BOFA that implies Jackson may have borrowed from the Simarillion. This storyline to me was part of the ‘bad’ – it did not really add anything and it introduced something that can never be fully explored.
The relationship between Tauriel and Fili grows, but it is not really a central point of the movie. I am not really sure why the controversy. Tauriel is really not much different from Eoywen from the “Lord of the Rings”. I wonder how people who have reacted if W.H. Auden had been alive and sent Peter Jackson letter complaining of the relationship between the two.
The politics of this movie is non-existent, but it seems to endorse limited government. Laketown is run by a Statist who has impoverished his own people to benefit of himself and his cronies. The government spies on its own people and has a bureaucracy that would not even allow a man to bring in fish without a permit. It also shows the dangers of absolute monarchs.
There were two scenes left out of the movie I expected to see, maybe they will be put in the director’s cut. One of the scenes involves Thorin and I thought in the novel it was touching, but it also demonstrated one of the themes of the Hobbit novel. The other scene would have tied in one of the best known characters of the series, making it truly a prequel. Given that the movie starts and finishes strong, with some issue in between, I recommend people see it in the theatre on the large screen.
Thanks. With your report and Tom’s approval, I expect DP and I and the younger Offspring will enjoy it enough to make it worth the ticket price.
I think Thorin is hot, even though I know he’s supposed to be 250 years old with a white beard down to his knees. Just go with the flow ...
Thoroughly enjoyable, not bored at all despite the length. Highly recommended in my view.
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