Yeah, I saw part 1 in the theater in 3-D, and wasn’t all that impressed with the 3-D part. I’ve got a nice big-screen TV at home, and may just wait to watch the 2 remaining parts on cable all once.
It seems like it was about 5 years ago that I saw part 1…
Good news - you can watch it again on HBO starting October 12th!
I loved the first film, and I can guarantee you I will love parts 2 and 3 and only regret they won’t have part 4, 5, 6…1,000.
You can’t get enough Middle Earth as far as I am concerned, and I would be happy to see a three hour film just wandering through the gardens and meeting the neighbors in The Shire.
Peter Jackson has nailed the world of Tolkein, and if there are purists who demand exactly and only every word ever written in the book, tough for them. I like the fact that Jackson has embellished (based upon other written references) some of the minor storylines and has taken us on mini-side trips along the way.
Could this have been done as one long film?
Probably.
Could I eat one potato chip and walk away?
Probably.
But neither one of those two scenarios would make me happy.
So while many bitch, I will be happily sitting in the theater this December and again next December, and later buying and watching the extended three disc set, and eating up every glorious minute.
Perhaps we can get Michael Bay to edit it all down to one short film for the others who think this is too long.
I anticipate the next movie with great pleasure.
I like seeing what PJ’s vision of The Hobbit and middle-earth is like.
Do I agree with everything he’s done? Oh hell, no!
Would it have been better if he’d consulted me about it? For sure!
Does it detract from my ability to enjoy the movie? Not significantly.
+1
+1
Maybe he’s do the necromancer asAlan Rickman.
No, save Alan Rickman for Morgoth when they inevitably start pulling movies from The Silmarillion. I would seriously love to see that. That bored, smarter-than-you nastiness he does so well would be hilarious.
I would dearly love to see three movies made from The Silmarillion!!
There’s a common misconception that the nitpickers all dislike the movies. But it’s not actually so: Often, we enjoy the movies greatly, and nitpicking is just one part of how we enjoy them.
The fact that the only things to be picked are nits is a sign that the filmmakers did a good job. Nobody nitpicks, say, Starship Troopers, because that was just bad from start to finish.
In some works, the director/producer makes a change which leaves you miffed. Jackson’s changes have only, at worst, made me roll my eyes. I am fine with no Bombadil, but missed the Scouring.
It’s still not going to stop some trollish internet people complaining and acting like their mother was stabbed when, say, a character is described as having auburn hair, a beard, and balding, but the movie version gives them graying brown hair, stubble, and a full head.
But Bilbo isn’t saying “you’re so evil it’s awesome” (I’m not even going to comment on the abuse of enormity referring to size. No doubt many will interpret it that way, but there’s nothing we can do about that). Bilbo is saying that the tales and stories told about Smaug fall short of his enormity. IOW, they don’t do his evil justice and pale in comparison to how nasty he really is. He isn’t admiring that, except perhaps in a sardonic way.
ETA: Maserschmidt beat me to it.
Same. I would be quite happy if they restricted themselves to Tauriel saying goodbye to her house-husband before going off to do whatever she does in this movie, but a Legolas/Tauriel romance? Blech!
Maybe there will be elfin bewbs?
I don’t think you really understand the nature of informed complaints about these movies. Of course, I can only speak for my own informed complaints, but they go along these lines:
The bits added by PJ are inferior to the bits originally in the books, and yet, bits that were originally in the books were sacrificed to include them. (I mean really. What does Aragorn pitching over a cliff add to anything?)
Some portions of the books were needlessly rearranged in ways that diminished the characters. (Poor Eomer)
Some portions of the books, while portrayed “accurately” were done in such a way that they translated extremely poorly to the screen. (I’m looking at you, Glowing Green Galadriel.)
But at the end of the day, I cannot think Peter Jackson just has extremely inconsistent taste or talent, and his lapses are forgiven largely because of the quality of the original material and the skills of his extremely talented and hardworking team. This is, somehow, the man who brought us both the excellent, subtle “Bilbo Baggins! Do not take me for some conjuror of cheap tricks!” and… Glowing Green Galadriel. The former was -less- “direct from the book” than the latter, but it was done with a deft touch and allowed the actor to shine. The latter was all but verbatim Tolkein, but was so occluded by gaudy special effects, needless reverb, and generally terrible presentation that not even Cate Blanchett could save it. This is the man who somehow brought us Boromir’s death scene, and Pippin singing during Faramir’s charge… and the Skull-o-Lanche on the Paths of the Dead, and the carnival ride that was Goblin Town. It’s like he somehow hasn’t outgrown his first few really terrible movies yet.
Well, I’m glad you like it, but by many measures, not just Tolkein Purism, the first Hobbit film was…not strong.
This, more than anything leads me to believe you have no idea what problems people have with these films. It’s not that they are too long, or even that they contain too much “original material”, but rather, the needless changes diminish the story and the selection of poorly done “Jackson bits” instead of respecting the source material and showing us how awesome it is. Because it IS, when he respects it. But all too often he thinks “I know best” and does something that…isn’t.
=2
OK, I have to admit that, after seeing the trailer, I’m kinda psyched to see it in an actual theater. PJ does him some good Middle Earth!
But that’s the point. Bilbo’s conversation with Smaug is all double meanings. Both Smaug and Bilbo know he’s doing it on purpose. Bilbo thinks he’s being clever and Smaug lets him get away with it because he’s bored and curious. You are supposed to see both meanings at the same time and feel just as clever as Bilbo for seeing it.
And anyone who thought the elves were nice to the dwarves in The Hobbit didn’t read the same book I did. I would hope that no one is ever nice to me like that. I prefer not to get locked up in a cave in the name of being “nice.”
This trailer isn’t gripping me the same way the trailer to the first Hobbit movie did. I’m confused about where they are ending this one so part of it is just trying to figure out where there are in the book.
I think for large parts of it they aren’t in the book, and I suspect where it ends isn’t in the book either. Something about Dol Guldur I imagine, or the White Council.
Roddy
While I’ve read the main four Tolkien books, I have not read any of the supplemental works. No appendix, no Simirillion. I tried and failed miserably. Without the main plot, Middle Earth just isn’t that interesting to me. I hope Jackson doesn’t expect viewers to be able to follow stuff pulled from the back up sources without explanation.
I for one, would gladly watch FIVE three hour movies, with an entire hour of each one being nothing more than them wandering around Middle Earth or sitting around a fire being Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves and Men. Not in the books? Oh Gee Darn. Gimme more eye and mind candy!
Chimera: Agreed! Wouldn’t it be neat if they’d release a full 3-D rendering of, say, Rivendell, so we could just spend time walking around it and grooving on the vistas. The waterfalls, the lodges and bridges and grottos and plazas. (And gift shops…)
(The online LOTR game does a pretty nice Rivendell.)