A Long-Expected Hobbit Movie Thread

[RickZarber]

So, I just got back from the midnight showing of the Hobbit (in HFR 3D) and I want to get some reactions down before they fade, but it's also like 4am so I need to sleep soon. So I guess excuse any incoherent ramblings.

Short version: I really liked it. While there are quite a few changes from the book, I didn't find any of them to be nearly as objectionable as the changes made to the Lord of the Rings. There are book moments here and there that I missed, but on the whole it was a very good adaptation.

It does drag a bit here and there, and there are certainly excessive and unnecessary scenes, but none of them are any worse than extended footage from the LOTR films. I'd say the more overall problem is that it doesn't feel nearly as much as a complete film as any of the LOTR movies. (And rightly so.) It most definitely feels like part of a story. And I could do without belching dwarves or a snot gag. At least we didn't have any dwarf flatulence jokes. (Gimli already took that bullet in ROTK EE.)

That said, I was never bored, and there was plenty of stuff where I was left wanting more. (And we'll probably end up with Extended Editions of these films as well, as there were multiple scenes from the trailers--Bilbo going shopping, Bilbo scoping the shards of Narsil in Rivendell, some Goblintown stuff--that didn't end up in the movie.)

The acting was uniformly great. Gandalf quickly establishes himself as the bedrock of this film. Thorin is great, even if it's not how I ever really imagined him. Bilbo is also fairly different from the book, but Freeman quickly owns the role. Some of the Dwarves were a little shortchanged on dialogue (I don't think poor Bombur had a single line!), but there are two more films to flesh them out. Radagast definitely felt the most extraneous character, and honestly I wish some of his scenes had been trimmed a bit. But the upside of the excess is all these great references to Tolkien's mythology that never made it to LOTR. Referring to the spiders as spawns of Ungoliant, for instance.

Riddles in the Dark was by far the high point; I was really impressed with just how scary they managed to make Gollum. His intro is changed from the book, but they manage to make him an immediate threat, and that informs the rest of the scene wonderfully. It brings him away from the Gollum we know from LOTR and makes him this dark, dangerous thing. And I was impressed with how many riddles they worked in. I was expecting like three at the most.

Music-wise, I was surprised they worked in "Chip the Glasses and Crack the Plates", but I would've cut it entirely in favor of more verses to "Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold" (we only get what's in the trailer plus those two lines they left out of the first verse). But I may be alone in wanting like 10 mins of the movie devoted to a song. :P We don't get any flighty elf songs, though. But though the elves are never as "silly" as they are in the books, we certainly get to see them seem that way to the dwarves, which was nice. And we do get one Goblin song, though not any of the ones from the book.

As I said, I saw the HFR 3D version. I can heartily recommend the 3D, at least. I've probably only seen a half dozen 3D films ever, but given the choice, I'd take a 3D version of this one every time. Those New Zealand landscapes just look incredible. Not to mention locations like Erebor or Goblintown. The high frame rate too me a while to get used to. I think it wasn't until nearly the half-hour mark that it stopped throwing me off. The problem I has was that my brain was interpreting those extra frames as faster movement, so everything looked unnaturally sped-up. But as soon as I got used to it, it was pretty sweet. (My roommate says it only took his eyes like a minute to adjust.) And the best thing is that it really does alleviate some of the eye strain of watching a 3D film. If you're susceptible to motion sickness, though, I might recommend some Dramamine or something; I found some of that flying, spinning camerawork was making me mildly nauseous--moreso for being so smooth. Bottom line, if it's playing in 48fps in your area, I suggest at least giving it a try. I'll want to see the movie in 24fps just to compare, but I had no major complaints of the kind I've read online (ie, everything looks fake, the lighting is too bright/bleeds everywhere, more eyestrain, etc).

I want to say more, talk about spoilerish changes and stuff, but it's really damn late and I must away ere break of day, because I work tomorrow, so maybe I'll let others have their say before hopping back in with my other comments. Now I've just gotta fall asleep somehow...

[Ryanderman]

I can echo Rick's assessment. I loved the movie.

I saw the film in 24 fps non-3D (my wife gets headaches from 3D, but I plan to go back and see it 48fps next week), and it was noticeably shot for a higher frame rate. Camera pans and action blurred in odd places, but at 48 fps they'll probably look great.

The consensus criticism of the movie being too long, trying to stretch too little material into a 3 hour epic are valid. But I didn't care. I loved every minute of it regardless.

While we don't get to know individual dwarves as well as we did each member of the Fellowship, the dwarves as a group are excellently done, and a great part of the movie. The movie focuses on Thorin's drama more than the book, and sidelines Bilbo's own character development somewhat to fit it in. It's unfortunate, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

The music was amazing. The dwarves' theme is up there with the Fellowship's theme for me, and it appears throughout the movie just the right amount to not get old.

And now I'm at work all day, after 3 hours of sleep. So we'll see how that goes.

[phil_]

I'll let you guys know what special headaches crop up in presenting only the 2D version of a film with six different versions. I'm sure someone will be upset that my theater on the edge of civilization isn't showing the 3D 48FPS Imax version.

[Magus]

I'll see it tomorrow, I usually go the super bargain matinee.

I hope they aren't showing it in 48 FPS because I hate those 120 Hz TVs and as far as I know that's what the 48 FPS has been most compared to (that and video camera footage ala the old BBC Narnia adaptations).

[phil_]

Don't watch it in 3D and you won't be watching it in 48FPS.

[synkr0nized]

I saw it in 2D and did not feel that I was robbed of anything or that a scene was clearly made for 3D, which honestly means that they had the correct mentality behind making the film.

In any case, I am a little tired and not interested in hammering at my keyboard, so suffice to say I found the movie quite enjoyable. I liked the addition of content well beyond the book itself, as I do honestly find The Hobbit to be pretty light and meh overall. It is nice to see them taking the time to also lay groundwork for the events of the trilogy, be it expansion of hinted at scenes in the book or content built upon embellishing Tolkien's source material.

Good visuals, good pacing, good acting, and good storytelling even where they made changes.


edit: Perhaps unlike other Tolkien fans, I was glad they only did as little singing as they did. I find myself eagerly skipping over the pages in the books that deal with songs.

My only real complaint was that Thorin looked very human. He needs a proper dwarven beard (and this is coming from someone who doesn't even really like dwarves; also their city in the opening scenes is fucking awesome).

[RickZarber]

Originally Posted by synkr0nized

Perhaps unlike other Tolkien fans, I was glad they only did as little singing as they did. I find myself eagerly skipping over the pages in the books that deal with songs.

Heheh yeah, as I said, I may be alone there. I've always loved Tolkien's songs and poems; they're some of my favorite parts of his books, and I have quite a few of them memorized. But maybe it just seems normal to me because I've been reading it for 20 years... I can understand why other people might blanch at it.

[rpgdemon]

Originally Posted by synkr0nized

edit: Perhaps unlike other Tolkien fans, I was glad they only did as little singing as they did. I find myself eagerly skipping over the pages in the books that deal with songs.

Hey, me too!

I really enjoyed the movie, though I actually thought a lot of the CG looked surprisingly bad. Like, I dunno if it was the framerate stuff (I saw it in 2D, not sure what framerate), but a lot of it made me go, "This looks like a videogame." That's really my only complaint though.

[Bells]

Just came back from it. Loved it.

Regarding the whole "video game thing" i think the 3D is at fault here. I saw it in 3D and it's damn clear that the movie was framed and the photography was done thinking of the 3D. And that certainly gives that Video Game look to it.

If you saw it in 2D my suggestion is to see it again in 3D, you will certainly see why certain shots look the way they do (on that note, the Final hill battle in the fire, Absolutely badass)

And if Andy Circus is not nominated for Best Support character, i'm just going to yell "Bullshit" for a full night. And Martin freeman was an absolutely fantastic Bilbo, loved his take on the character....

The movie is certainly long, but i liked the pacing, it felt like just so much stuff... even this comparatively small adventure felt gigantic in scope after all of that.

[RickZarber]

Hobbit Vlog #10: Premiere



Basically had a big dumb smile on my face throughout.