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Bricks in Motion
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Forums - Bricks in Motion » General Film Discussion » The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Spoilers)
This trilogy has thus far proven to be pretty disappointing. The stories feel like a series of incidents with not much of a shape to the plot. Great production value, though I don't like the artificially clean aesthetic of the lighting and imagery, which tends to look less natural than the original trilogy.
I think they would've been better off making it one three hour film, or perhaps at least making each of the trilogy films about half as long as they are.
I thought there was too much going on that I didn't care about. The romance with Kili and Tauriel, the guys fighting Smaug, Legolas in Laketown, the political situation of Laketown, and maybe some others.
There were also a couple things I wanted to see more of such as Beorn, I know he is in the battle of Five armies, but he doesn't do much in this one, Azog, why they created that Bolg guy out of the blue is unknown to me, especially because I think Azog is much cooler, and the spiders, I will say these were well done, they even startled me a couple times.
I totally agree with Smeagol that the Hobbit should be reduced from three movies. I think that two might have been okay, but three is too much. That was my biggest problem with this movie was the amount of filler that wasn't very interesting.
Frankly, I'm pretty worried about this third one. I don't know how they will pull it off, but I guess they still have the defeat of Smaug, the battle of the five armies, and Gandalf's escape from Dol Guldor. I hope the third movie gets better Lego sets at least.
"Bilbo and the Dwarf company trudge further along down the trail, with a somewhat unrelated sub-plot of Gandalf fighting the Necromancer. Also, there's a dragon".
DoS recieved very mixed reviews. Some say that it is "an improvement on the first [film]", but at the same, those same people are saying that they thought it "was the worst of all five". Still, I don't see how they can say "all five", when really, both sets of films were created with two different styles, even if they're both from the same director/filmmaking team/studio.
After debating on whether or not going to see DoS in the cinema would be worth my time (and money), I reached a conclusion. I decided to go see DoS for "the heck of it", really not expecting (or wanting) to get anything out of this so-called "second film".
I'm picking certain statements and phrases spoken by Sméagol to agree with. For example--
I think they would've been better off making it one three hour film, or perhaps at least making each of the trilogy films about half as long as they are.
I do agree with that. Even if they have to make it a 120-minute TV special, don't drag it out so. It's a 305-page children's story, for crying out loud. But, as others have told me, the guys over at Weta Ltd. are only doing it for all that dirty money.
What are your own thoughts on the film, Galactic? Have you even seen it yet?
I've always imagined the development of The Hobbit going like this:
-"Hey! Warner Bros. wants us to make The Hobbit!"
-"Awesome!"
-"Oh, they want us to make it into two films"
-"Right...um...wait - you know Tolkien made a load of footnotes so that The Hobbit made a little bit more sense when compared to Lord of the Rings? If we put all them in, we'll be able to pad this thing out nicely!"
-"Great; lets get to work on a first dra-hold on...the studio wants us to make three films"
-"THREE!?!"
-"Yep. Three massive films"
-"They're mad! The books only about 200 pages long! It can't be three films! It doesn't need to be three films! Even with the footnotes its still only going to fill about four hours up! What are we going to do!?! We need a first draft by the end of this month!"
-"Well, when the going gets tough - the tough bullcrap their way out! Lets just conjure plot-points from thin air!"
-"Yes! Perfect! We won't get fired if we start now! To the writing desk!"
The original story of The Hobbit is a treasure-hunt. Its funny that in The Desolation of Smaug, the Elf-King of Mirkwood thinks that Thorin is just after the gold and not trying to restore peace to the world - because in the book that's kinda what he's trying to do. He just wants his mountain back! The giant battle at the end was originally an incredibly contrived attempt to reach a massive climax where loads of people can die heroically (because that whole buisness with the dragon wasn't climactic enough). Middle Earth was not the Donkey, and the Lonely Mountain was not the tail. Its hilarious that everything seems to rest on the group getting to the treasure when what the hell is Thorin supposed to do when he gets it?
Then again, I've always thought Tolkien was a competent writer at best. He clearly hates humans and wishes we would all grow long ears and be really, really dull. He's one of those writers who has read the Bible too much and thinks that the line between good and evil is thicker than the grand canyon. I like the deep, imaginary world he creates, but its filled with really bland characters and a set of ethics that takes far too many cues from the Bible. But maybe I'm just bitter because Lord of the Rings has had a terrible, terrible influence on the fantasy genre.
I loved the film, and hated the High frame rate.
*cough, cough* setting up Silmarillion film(s) *cough, cough*
I know Christopher Tolkien still has the rights, but it's only a matter of time. They practically shout it out in this and in the extended version of the first Hobbit. I really, really, really don't want that to happen. You could take the Silmarillion to the silver screen, but Peter Jackson is not the person to do it.
I'm enjoying these movies greatly, but only because I've managed to push past the differences from the book. Treating it as fanfiction, I'm really enjoying this trilogy.
That said, the Kili/Legolas/Tauriel love triangle was just painful, as were a few minor plot points (that's right, Morgul poison, I'm looking at you), but at least we got a not-so-subtly Skyrim reference in there.
Sauron's appearance doesn't bother me because at least it's an event that actually happened in the Tolkien universe. Peter Jackson just meddled with the times on that and tied Sauron rising in Dol Guldur with the Battle of Five Armies. My prediction is that the White Council will, at the end of the third film, think they've destroyed Sauron permanently (for those of you that don't know, in the appendices the White Council hear about a necromancer in Dol Guldur, go and have a look, find out it's Sauron and 'destroy' him, completely forgetting that the One Ring is still in existence, but it all happens way before the Hobbit I think).
What does bother me is the goofy Azog minifigure. I mean seriously LEGO? A custom head…shoulder…thing? It looks terrible, almost as terrible as the CGI molten gold in the movie.
Benedict Cumberbatch sold the film though. And the CG Smaug. It was all so beautifully crafted.
the CGI molten gold in the movie.
In my opinion, this was really the worst CGI of the year.
Good point, Jampot. I'll pay to purchase a ticket to see the film, but don't expect me to buy any LEGO sets. 
Last edited by Mickey (December 19, 2013 (05:23pm))
It looked good for a 3D movie and I loved the river orcs vs dwarves vs elves scene but the guys hiding and fighting Smaug sequence was too long, people got bored pretty quickly and I was one of those. They should've cut at least 20 mins from this film. I know Peter Jackson probably wants to prove there's so much going on in Hobbit that he does need 3 films that last almost 3 hours to tell the story but he really doesn't.
AUJ was released in March, I expect the same for DOS.
And I think waiting for this EE in November will be even harder than last time...
In terms of additional scenes, AUJ only had about 9 minutes worth, which was really disappointing compared to the EE Lord of the Rings. That said, it has a whole disc more of special features, and I haven't even begun to tuck into that yet. That and all three EE LotRs. Got 'em for Christmas but haven't had the time to watch them as yet.
To any book fans:
Did anyone else find, in the Two Towers movie, that Faramir's character was completely destroyed? I mean, he was supposed to be this stark contrast to Boromir: Faramir doesn't try to take the ring, he doesn't take the hobbits to Gondor...Peter Jackson didn't really understand that, hence all that pointless nonsense in Osgiliath. Don't get me wrong, the shot with Frodo and the Nazgul was cool, but there was no need for any of that, and it ruined Faramir. But maybe that's just me.
Max Butcher thank you for your words omg
i'm sick of these movies i hate them i'm really absolutely done with watching action movies because I sat in the theater for four hours to watch the same thing over and over again and i wasn't even ENTERTAINED i think going to see this is what made me first decide that I hate action movies because before i tolerated them but this movie was just too much. It was ridiculous.
I forgot all about this thread. I watched the film last month and forgot to put that in here.
Peter Jackson's cameo wasn't too hard to spot. He walks right in front of the camera, chewing on his carrot, as usual. I looked around the theater, and no one else seemed to care, however.
The flashback scene struck me as odd and out of place. But, most of these flashback scenes (before Jackson's films start) usually are out of place, so never mind that.
The beginning seemed to start off right on-key. And I didn't find anything wrong with the Beorn scene. But, some notable others might beg to differ.
The Flies and Spiders seemed a little overdone and predictable. Then Legolas showed up and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Suddenly, I remembered this from when I was little, and cheered up.
Lee Pace looked almost chilling as Thranduil. There was plenty of tension between him and Armitage (sorry, spelling?
I wanted to let loose a gawk with the first few moments between Tauriel and Kili. Maybe that's because I watched the HISHE short before seeing the film in the cinema.
The Dwarves' and Bilbo's escape in the Barrels out of Bond scene was great. However, it always strikes me as odd that Jackson is going for a little comedy with these new films.
The Barrel Chase was very well done, but it started to feel repetitive and dragged on a little too much.
Luke Evans did fantastic as Bard the Bowman.
The first few moments of the Lake-Town scenes are great. Not quite how I pictured them in the books, but probably the next best thing.
The Necromancer sub-plot made a little more sense. Still, I wish they would have left it out, so those people who walk into a cinema unsure of what to see (and haven't read The Hobbit) wouldn't think that it was in the book.
Subtitling Azog and the other Orcs seemed incredibly unnecessary, due to the fact that the Orcs in The Lord of the Rings movies spoke clear-as-a-bell English and there were no subtitles for them.
The Lonely Mountain sequences were perfectly executed, almost exactly how I had envisioned them while reading the book. Once again, the interior scenes with Bilbo shuffling around in the Hoard were only played for laughs, but I had to let it slide. Why? CUMBERSMAUG FTW, that's why.
I don't know what to say about the melting scenes. The funny thing is I can't remember whether or not they were in the book, and (I'll be honest) I wasn't always following what the Company was doing. But, it was all soon revealed and made perfectly clear. I was in total awe when GoldieSmaugs appeared.
The ending was one of my favourite parts (and I don't mean that in a bad way, honest). Smaug's final monologue was flawlessly delivered as he flew away to deliver the undoing of Lake-Town. That was next to brilliant.
I'm on a fence about Sheeran's closing song "I See Fire". My friend wanted to leave once the end credits began to roll. So, I only got to hear the song up to when McKellen's name was displayed onscreen. The funny thing is I don't actually like him (not even "LEGO House"). But, I kind of let this one slide because the song harmonises almost flawlessly with Shore's pitch-perfect musical score. Too bad I can't listen to the score because it's "not available in the United States" yet, or so I hear. Does anyone know this for sure?
Anyways, not bad, Ed. Not bad.
I really loved DoS because it was a massive improvement on AUJ. It sets a great course for TaBA, which I will be waiting for. Yup, I'll be ready to cry when Fili and Kili die (unless Weta decides to avert that part and keep them alive, which will probably disappoint me and make me wanna throw my Junior Mints at the cinema screen with anger). I'll be hoping for a great finale to a trilogy that actually shouldn't exist.
But, and I cast the "pessimistic fanboy" part of me aside when I say, "All is forgiven, Jackson."
Last edited by Mickey (February 4, 2014 (08:28pm))
First, several scenes have been confirmed for the EE that should solve some of the problems with pacing and stuff.
Now, in my humble opinion, DOS will improve at the EE, but it's worth will be mainly determined by TaBa. Many of the plot threads are left hanging, and a lot leans on how those are resolved. It was more of an action movie that AUJ, and lacked the familiar locations and slower moments that made AUJ feel so middle-earth-y. (Also sadly missed the Misty Mountains theme.) The fight scenes got a bit excessive, but I think a second watch will help with that. (I saw AUJ in theaters twice, and that helped a lot. Only got to see DOS the once.)
That being said, right now I'd rank it a good movie, but not as perfect as the other four.
I intend on seeing it as soon as I can, and would love to see how different it feels on round two.
Sadly PJ listened to the critic's cry of "Too slow" with the first one, and then turned the second into an action-fest that rarely slows down to breathe. Still, could always be worse, and I'm glad that we get the Hobbit movies period.
By the way, here's my quick impression.
Last edited by Pritchard Studios (February 4, 2014 (08:55pm))
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