THE HOBBIT - DESOLATION OF SMAUG Thoughts *spoilers*

[Turok]

Those who have watched the film: what impressions did the second part of the trilogy do to you? In my opinion, it was almost perfect so I'd give it 9.5/10.

So here's a little review that explains my words: As a start I'd like to talk about which were my most favourite moments in the movie. First comes the scene with Gandalf and Sauron. The music and action were so powerful there, I felt euphoria and fright at the same time. Then come the scenes with Thranduil. In my opinion, Lee Pace does the best elf representation on the set. He and Cate Blanchett have been the best actors to play an elf character so far. Heh, liked the comic and at the same time heroic moments of Bombur. It was a complete joy! Beside all that I enjoyed almost everything. The orcs were much scarier than in LOTR, loved that though.. I admire the evil in Tolkien's world and consider it for cool! The action scenes were just perfect but I think there were too much of them. And the elf Tauriel - cool fights but bad personality. Hated the love triangle. It wasn't in the books and the movie should have remained without one. Smaug was indeed stupendous, Benedict did his dragon job too fucking perfect imo. Still, the Erebor action went for too long. But who cares, it was amazing! Besides, the point was all about The Lonely Mountain after all. If I have to be honest, I can calmly wait for the third movie. I will be able to until I rewatch the second one at least 5-10 more times so I can be totally satisfied with Pete Jackson's work for this year. So that's basically all, folks!

[NEM]

I already mentioned it once, but let me say it once again.. I was on the first premiere in my country  so pro

Really enjoyed that one. I've got to say it was way better than the first one, the only thing I kinda disliked about the first one was that they spent like 40mins at Bilbo's place.. But back to the second one. The main Orc was really scary, I just imagined myself staying right in front of him and I know I'd probably started to cry, scream or whatever, he was just so badass, dammit.

First of all I'd say something about my favourite scene.. That was the one where one of the gnomes was like literally stunting in the barrel, that was just hilarious and I will remember this one for a long time. I remember my classmate saying +- 2days ago that it wasn't real at all and they forgot about gravity, but then another classmate was arguing with that, that Bilbo was writing the book, so he could've made up whatever he wanted to. But aye, I loved that one.

Then about the dragon.. The only thing I disliked was that he here and there was some kind of screaming and his voice didn't sound that badass as he used to. But apart from that the dragon was a top of the film, the thing we've been waiting for, and I'm really glad with the result. But the ending kinda disappointed me, or not literally disappointed me, I was just like OH C'MON YOU CAN'T END IT NOOOW NAAAAH... (I haven't read the book so I had no idea how it was supposed to end), but I really expected them to kill the dragon now. Whatever, at least they gave me another reason to be excited for the third one.

In addition, I hate elfs, they're just too overpowered and stuff, plus they are kinda gay. But I was really excited for Evangeline Lilly, mainly because I'm a huge fan of LOST. I just loved her performance and I hope she'll become a human eventually. Also she was a really good archer, loved all of her action scenes.

Finally it was a great movie, apparently the best of the year as far as I remember. This one deserves a really high rating in my opinion. I don't feel comparing it to LOTR at all, I like it as much as I like LOTR and that's all I can say. Peter Jackson has done a really great work, can't wait for the third one!
   

[Turok]

Thanks for sharing your opnion, Nem! I'm very glad the film caught your attention Oh and the courage being in the barrel wasn't a gnome, but a dwarf  it was sure one crazy scene. And the elfs ain't gay, they are fabulous 

[NEM]

Ah yeea, a dwarf.. No idea why I said it was a gnome lol.

tomorrow I'm rewatching LOTR 1-3 Extended version by the way

[Simon]

Well, firstly I'd like to say that I watched it in 2D, but I plan to watch it in 3D HFR as well.

Firstly, I think the acting was great. I really think these people nail each and every character, even though I would prefer some of them to have more screen time. Especially Martin Freeman, he nails every god damn scene he is in, but I felt there wasn't too much of him in this one. And seeing as the title is THE HOBBIT I would expect to see more of him. Now with that said, it probably won't be as positive the rest of the way.

There are several things I disliked with the movie, but the most crucial one is the time. They should have given themselves so much more time to work with this movie. It's so long, and there is so much going on in almost every scene that there is no way they'd have the chance to check through every damn shot to the last detail. And it just really shows. A lot of the CG was really undone, especially the total shots of them walking and running around. They were just full CG and it was pointless work because each of those shots lasted for 3 seconds maximum. And you can obviously see that all the CG work went into the dragon, which I can understand when you have such a small amount of time to do it, but it just shows throughout and drags it down a bit.

Another thing that I mention was how there is so much going on in most of the movie. I really felt like it needed some calmer scenes, because every scene that didn't have speed or action just flew past and went on to a action sequence. For example the scene where the dwarfs get to the mountain and are waiting for the keyhole to appear, but the sun goes behind the mountain. They seriously give up right away and just walk off without a second thought. Just 2 or 3 minutes of them just sitting there in despair would have given it so much more power. An actual proof that things are going way too fast is that in the choreographed fights you can see that actors thinking about their actions more than their character. Their face is elsewhere and they turn around because they know that's what they do instead of instinctively turning around because their character heard or observed something.

My third problem with this movie is that it is MADE for 3D HFR, every scene backed with action that you can barely catch in the normal 2D version, camera moves that move all over the place and spin around, also going by too fast with too much information just leaving you dizzy. And lastly the 3D shots, they are such a gimmick and they totally drags you out of the movie. My main problem with them is that it drags you out of the movie whether you are watching it in 3D or not. If you are in 3D and it comes at you, you're like "Oh shit, 3D, this is a movie" and if you are in 2D you are like "That shot was made for 3D". No matter what you just end up realizing you are still watching a movie. Of course this might just be me, but these are still just my thoughts about the movie.

I'm not sure if this one is what they are actually going for or not. but the images are so washed out, to the point where real people look so retouched almost beyond recognition. The scenery shots that weren't CG almost look cg. I'm aware that they want it to look beautiful and color rich, but they just overdo it. On certain closeups it's even worse, so at times I just think it's their way of making the characters look younger, especially those from the previous movies.

Now for the last thing, the length of the movie. I get that they are trying to drag this out into three movies, but seriously. At like 5 different points this movie could have ended and still be passed the 2 hour mark. But it just keeps going and going. Sure they probably have the finished scripts and stuff, but I don't think you need to extended the story more than you have to. Enough to make three movies is one thing, but enough to make three 3 and a half hour long movies is just overkill. I honestly think this should have stopped before they went to the mountain, or the moment they went in. And just teased the dragon until the next movie. It would have been a lovely build up and a great final thing to look forward to.

and one lastly last thing, wtf was up with the go pro like footage in the waterfall. they were like 1 - 2 seconds each and seriously did nothing, nothing at all. Not to mention they had a shittier quality and a total different look.

that being said, I still enjoyed the movie and will probably watch it again, it has it's fun parts (The barrel scene for example) but I just think it could have been sooo much better.

[Basium]

i can't wait for the bluray release, i'm looking very keen forward this one 

[RedX]

It was entertaining, but it was pretty cheesy. This series doesn't stay true to the book in my opinion, but I'm not gonna complain about that.

That whole love story with the elf and the dwarf made me sick. It had no place in the movie and was cheesy as fuck.

Cinematics were good, acting was alright, music was nice but I didn't like how they employed it.

I'll give it a 7/10

[NEM]

That's true, but I honestly like it better this way. Although I don't like elfs that much, I was glad that someone from LOTR appeared, it just brings those memories and that's what I am happy for. I still hope that Aragorn will appear too, if I'm not mistaken, he was a child or something back then, so there might be a little chance to see him just for a moment.

The love story was just a beginning, it will continue in the third one, this was just supposed to let you know that these will be together eventually, which is a good thing that Evangeline may become a human, it wasn't cheesy at all

[RedX]

Cheesy as fuck! How she appeared to save that dude JUST at the right time at the right place. It was sappy and cheesy. Cheesesap.

[Turok]

I agree with Red. I had some hopes for Tauriel but Jackson ruined them. All the stuff said about her that she's a rebel againt the conservative politics of the woodland king - BULLSHIT. Why didn't she show her protest 10 or more years ago. No, she had to do it right when Kili appeared. And disobeying Thranduil and going to save the dwarf isn't a rebellion, it's a fucking egoistic move. So yeah, Tauriel didn't impress me at all and obscured much interesting and actually created by TOLKIEN other characters. And Nemnem, sorry bud, but no Aragorn

[NEM]

How can you know

And almost forgot, the song at the end just pissed me off. Why the duck did Jackson use that crappy pop rock for such a great movie.. He should've used some soundtrack instead.

[Turok]

How can you know

I'm a time-traveler and have already seen the third movie. Sorry, lad.

[NEM]

Ain't no time-travel nowhere around this planet, so you lie mate.

Which basically means me may have a chance to see tiny Aragorn

[Simon]

You probably won't see him, but I'm sure they'll mention him as they are forcing every connection with LOTR they can.

[Tg]

I didn't see it yet. So wait, there's another movie coming?