The Hobbit: SPOILERS

[Soviet Heavy]

First off, if you didn't pay attention to the title, your fault.

FIGWIT IS IN IT! And his name is Lindir. And he's still played by Bret McKenzie.

Graham McTavish is awesome as Dwalin..

The movie is built around the assumption that you are already a fan of The Hobbit. The Giant battle is still there. The Goblin King is awesome. The Trolls do a Three Stooges routine.

Right now I'm just compiling my thoughts, but holy shit this movie was awesome.

 

[JaceArveduin]

I'll concur with this. Iknow Ispent time after the movie explaining things to my friends who hadn't read the book. But I didn't see anything that just made me want to strangle Jackson, as I rather like Radagast being insane.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I'll concur with this. Iknow Ispent time after the movie explaining things to my friends who hadn't read the book. But I didn't see anything that just made me want to strangle Jackson, as I rather like Radagast being insane.

Radagast was nothing like I imagined him, but I did like his nutty professor routine.

 

[Caedus]

I really loved it. Imo the 48fps was a nice plus and it changed everything. My main grudge is the 3D (or what they call 3D) as it still gives me a headache after the movie...

It's been mentionned before but the fact that the orcs/goblins are made in CGI is disappointing. The Uruk-Hai were freaking awesome and I remember trembling when I saw the first film when I was merely 10 years old in the cinema. Now, I can't help but think "meh" when I see these CGI foul creatures.

One small detail supporting my only grudge with the film (CGI ennemies): in the goblin lair, someone skewers a goblin in the belly. No sound. No gory FRWTCH. Nothing. Just a miss...

Other than that. It was gorgeous, the OST is epic, Gandalf still has his MOTHERFUCKING SERIOUS WIZARD MODE ACTIVATED moments, Saruman is as deceptive as ever, Gollum is a delicious mixture of amusement and stress and Bilbo's actor was well chosen.

Oh, and Peter Jackson? Just... edit asap the Necromancer glimpse we get... It's obviously made with paint and it sucks.

 

[Guffe]

I found also very very good.

I mean I thought when the movie was over it felt as I would've been just half through the movie, I thougth I had just been 60 minutes in the theather. But NOOOO, apparently time and space fucked my mind!!

Awesome movie, can't wait for the 2 others

 

[Berithil]

The movie to me was a bit meh, started out good but the ending fight was just a big ball of bleugh. The ending fight reminded me a lot about the Star Wars prequels actually, that it was just too much CGI for me to care about the characters.

The rest was pretty decent though, if a bit childish.

Well, the Hobbit was a kids book, sooooo......

Anyways, I saw the midnight premiere, and as soon as the dwarves started singing "Blunt the knives and bend the forks!", I knew I was going to love the movie.

It was an awesome movie.

The CGI orcs and goblins were a little disappointing, but I didn't let it ruin the movie for me.

 

[JoJo]

I saw it the day before yesterday in 2D, thought overall it was awesome and I liked the humorous tone too. Bilbo is a much more likeable character than Frodo I have to say. My only critique is the first 40 minutes or so were pretty slow, but it picked up once they left the Shire.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Loved it. It was never going to hold the same epic wonder of LOTR but it was still magical to be back in Middle Earth

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I really loved the Goblin King of Gundabad. Such a creative design, and his little gretchin footstools.

 

[gigastar]

The movie was great and i also conclusively found out that im immune to the 3D headaches. Lucky me.

As for what i like about the movie, its that it is totally faithful to the point that i recognise quotes from the book which i have not read for at least 3 years. And what is added doesnt feel out of place, at all.

As such i have abormally high hopes for the remaining installments.

 

[Nouw]

Anyone spot the supposed Peter Jackson cameo?

 

[TheBoulder]

It was alright, but it still does the same mistakes as the other movies without any noticeable improvement. Same plot that involves walking, same soundtrack and the same bullshit involving eagles.

 

[TheOtter]

I'll start out by saying I've been a Tolkien nut from before any of the movies. Hipster, I guess. Anyways, I loved the original trilogy and can quote them (I have a sad life apparently). I was very excited to see the new movie but went in knowing it wouldn't be LOTR. I've read The Hobbit a few times and it didn't enthrall me but the movie made me sad. I liked Thorin and Bilbo but the other Dwarves seemed to just be a comic relief. The fight scenes (other than the battles in Moria/Erebor) were lackluster. The movie was incredibly pretty but I hated the look of the "goblins". Azog looked decent but I think I preferred the "guys in suits". I *really* cringed with the Goblin King part and the constant comic relief was just silly. I wasn't looking for a super serious movie but it just didn't feel right to me. There were a few great sequences but overall I was seriously disappointed.

The amount of blood/gore seemed fine to me and the acting was mostly very good. I sat down with a bunch of friends and we talked the movie over - we came to the conclusion that it was a decent movie for what the source material was. I know people who just adored the movie and loved the book but to me it just didn't feel right. I'll still happily go see the others (after all, Return of the King was my favorite LOTR - heresy I know) and hope it improves.

 

[Treefingers]

I absolutely loved it, and disagree with pretty much every criticsm I've heard of it yet, although plenty of it I understand where they are coming from. But personally, I thought it was visually gorgeous, well acted and written, I loved the extra exposition and scenes from other Tolkien works, and overall thought it was actually quite true to the source. I'm honestly a little surprised about how much I loved it.

I'm also a little puzzled by the complaints about the CGI. I mean, I already know the monsters are fake... is suspension of disbelief really that hard? Even amongst a community of gamers...?

Besides, most of the CGI brought out qualities that couldn't be done with prosthetics. The Uruk-hai are of a similar stature, and move quite like humans, so prosthetics worked there. But the CGI allowed for the monsters in The Hobbit to act in ways that prosthetics simply couldn't have done. Think about those trolls, The Goblin King, the way the smaller goblins scrambled over each other... imo it was perfect.

Not to mention that for every shot filled with CGI there was plenty of delicious real-world landscapes etc. to balance it out. Plus it was all still well grounded by brilliant acting and writing, unlike certain other films that rely heavily on visuals and only visuals (I'm looking at you, AVATAR).

 

[thespyisdead]

i wan't impressed by this movie... sure... the battle was stunning, but the troll scene was, imo, dreadful, and the gollum scene stretched out to uncomfortable lengths

 

[Treefingers]

Also, interestingly enough, I find the majority of complaints can fit into one of two boxes. Either, "It's not enough like The Hobbit book" (i.e. too long, too dark, unnecessary extra subplots, cash grab etc.) or "It's not enough like The Lord of the Rings films" (i.e. Too lighthearted, not deep enough, not epic enough, not dark enough)

You wanna provide examples? Seeing as you're the only person claiming such a thing.

...Sure? I counted something like five, but the two I can remember off the top of my head are the golf reference and the thing with the contract in the beginning. I have a feeling they might all have been in the original book because of the lighthearted tone and such, but it still felt really out of place in a fantasy world.

Which 'thing' with the contract? The golf reference is a direct quote from the book, and absolutely belongs there.

 

[repeating integers]

Totally don't get the "swinging at nothing" complaint here. Seems to me like these people must have been specifically looking out for that, because I thought the CGI was very convincing and the battles felt perfectly real.

I liked how one of the Dwarves was basically just a walking fat joke. Appealed to my immaturity.

Music wasn't as good as in the previous trilogy, but was still pretty awesome (admittedly best when it riffed off the old film's melodies - but then, how do you top the greatest film score of all time?).

Galadriel is awe-inspiringly beautiful.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

Well, coming into it as a non-LOTR fan who only ever read, like, half of the first LOTR book and found it to be one of the most boring and badly-paced books I'd ever read, The Hobbit was surprisingly good. Not great, but good.

I liked Bilbo Baggins and Gollum (although they were the only two characters I actually cared about; I genuinely felt sorry for Gollum when Bilbo stole his ring and that part where Bilbo was about to kill him, but stopped when he saw the tears in his eyes). The music was decent, and it was overall entertaining. Some of the CGI was a little rough around the edges, but meh. I can at least say that it was all right, and not as poorly paced as I thought it would've been.

 

[The_State]

I'll start out by saying I've been a Tolkien nut from before any of the movies. Hipster, I guess. Anyways, I loved the original trilogy and can quote them (I have a sad life apparently). I was very excited to see the new movie but went in knowing it wouldn't be LOTR. I've read The Hobbit a few times and it didn't enthrall me but the movie made me sad. I liked Thorin and Bilbo but the other Dwarves seemed to just be a comic relief. The fight scenes (other than the battles in Moria/Erebor) were lackluster. The movie was incredibly pretty but I hated the look of the "goblins". Azog looked decent but I think I preferred the "guys in suits". I *really* cringed with the Goblin King part and the constant comic relief was just silly. I wasn't looking for a super serious movie but it just didn't feel right to me. There were a few great sequences but overall I was seriously disappointed.

I have to agree, and I think it's something on the part of the director. I mean, look at how he portrayed Gimli in the original trilogy. Gone is the stoic and resourceful Gimli Elf-friend, and in his place a brash, bumbling, only sometimes good in a fight Gimli the Comic-relief. It seems to me that, due to their stature and accents, Mr. Jackson seems to think that dwarves are good for little more than comic fodder. Compare that to his portrayal of elves (which isn't really his fault because Tolkien was far too kind to the Quenya himself), and you have a jarringly unfair juxtaposition. I already knew that a party full of dwarves would result in a bit too much "zany antics" for my liking, which is why I think it didn't bother me as much as it should have.

 

[Canadish]

Going to have to ditto what most people here are saying.

Damn good film, I had a great time and wanted more at the end.

The best part of the movie was probably the actors themselves and the sets/locations.

The worst part was the overuse and quality of the CGI. Gollum was better then ever, but the Pale Orc looked like a cartoon (even though the character worked otherwise).
It was obvious when the actors were swinging at nothing when you watch LOTR and the Hobbit back to back.

Kinda makes me sad, I thought Jackson was very much against all that.

Still, loved it overall anyway, the good outweighed any bad.