Born of Hope review- and Hobbit delayed?
Wow. Just... wow. I watched it first in lecture (I would have skipped lecture if she didn't take roll, but since she does, I just took my laptop and enjoyed myself). I just finished watching it a second time now in the comfort of my room, and I have gathered my thoughts about it.
Spoilers ahead XD
My natural reaction was to compare it to Hunt For Gollum, and while I thought the fight choreography was better in HFG, as predicted, I liked this film a *lot* more for various reasons:
A. Character development and interaction. Both the original characters and canon characters were really great. My favorites ones were Arathorn, Dirhael, and Ivorwen of canon characters, and I really enjoyed the Dirhaborn and Elgarin. The orcs, of course, were awesome.
B. The story! The thing that really lacked in HFG was the story-telling- while it definitely had interesting moments, they really could have had an awesome story with that extra Ranger, adding a whole new element to Aragorn's personality and the chase. Born of Hope had a great story. Naturally, to keep in canon there was a bit of skipping about, especially in the first part of the film, but I think they managed it very well, especially considering the budget.
C. Uhm, everything else! XD I love how they created an original story with a relatively small amount of canon material, and created a plausible conflict for the Enemy to follow throughout the whole film. I love the character interactions, the scene of normal life at the village, the fact that the film did not rely on merely battle, but actual characters and their own choices, to go on...
My favorite scenes:
A. One of Elrond's sons casually tossing over the bow to his other twin. It was *perfect*. Not silly, but it was just so natural, like showing how they always go to battle, this is the norm... that scene was just beautiful. The small things, man!
B. Arathorn and Dirhael. Hahah, the first time Arathorn confronted Dirhael about Gilraen... I was grinning like a moron. Whoever played Dirhael was friggin perfect for the part. I loved Ivorwen and Dirhael too, though the moment when Dirhael looks at Arathorn like that... it was magical. XD So good to know that even Chieftains can be cowed by gruff fathers.
C. Arathorn's death. While not anything I imagined it like, it was *really* fitting for a film setting. The best part was is that, technically, they followed canon. When the orc actually pulled the arrow from Arathorn's chest and went down and the camera went dark.. wow, that was powerful!
D. Ivorwen's lines about Aragorn's name meaning Kingly Valour and the green stone. The director did the research!
E. The end of the dream sequence when Arathorn wakes up. I thought that was a wonderful scene for both Arathorn and Gilraen, and he really seemed to have a look of terror upon his face.
My biggest complaints of the film, barring things that were unpreventable (such as the digital animation not being as good as Weta's; of course it wouldn't be, Weta beats everyone, but they did a fabulous job for what they had) would be the slow-mo and the orcs mentioning Sauron by name. The latter I understand; since this film is trying to appeal to not just die-hard, "read the book a million time" fans, it makes sense that he was mentioned. I would have preferred he was just called "The Dark Lord" or "The Eye" or something similar rather than "Sauron", though. What I found very interesting is that Arathorn overheard Sauron being in Dol Guldur; however that wasn't discovered by the Wise until a decade or so later. A little annoying that he failed to mention this to Arador, who would have said something to Elrond, but it is something that I can ignore.
The slow-mo, well, it's a pet peeve of mine if used a lot in fights. That's just an artistic decision, but I personally believe slow-mo is more effective if only done for certain scenes. The second large fight of the film, the one at the end in the village, used a little too much. I think it would have been more appropriate simply having it for select scenes, such as the one where the little boy was crying over his dad (which was OMG wow). Elgarin's death scene seemed also a little overlong, but I'll forgive that on the fact that throwing over Dirhaborn's head at them was so amazing and so unexpected, yet so canon... yea, that was a great addition. Really showing the brutility of the orcs.
I ended up liking Gilraen more than I thought I would, I was pleasantly surprised by how awesome Dirhael and Ivorwen were, and Arathorn was just as awesome as I hoped him to be. The older Halbarad? He was cute. I approve.
In the end, I can only hope that we see more fan films such as this in the future. This was absolutely spectacular. I am very, very much content.
And a quickie- TORn just released a rumor that, due to the delay in filming of the Hobbit, that the Hobbit *might* be delayed to 2012. No confirmations or anything, of course, but that just means I have an extra year to save up to study abroad and stay around the country for the Hobbit premiere... *biggrin*
And, of course, there is some sort of news being released on the 8th of December, so keep your eyes on TORn!
Happy happy joy joy.
Spoilers ahead XD
My natural reaction was to compare it to Hunt For Gollum, and while I thought the fight choreography was better in HFG, as predicted, I liked this film a *lot* more for various reasons:
A. Character development and interaction. Both the original characters and canon characters were really great. My favorites ones were Arathorn, Dirhael, and Ivorwen of canon characters, and I really enjoyed the Dirhaborn and Elgarin. The orcs, of course, were awesome.
B. The story! The thing that really lacked in HFG was the story-telling- while it definitely had interesting moments, they really could have had an awesome story with that extra Ranger, adding a whole new element to Aragorn's personality and the chase. Born of Hope had a great story. Naturally, to keep in canon there was a bit of skipping about, especially in the first part of the film, but I think they managed it very well, especially considering the budget.
C. Uhm, everything else! XD I love how they created an original story with a relatively small amount of canon material, and created a plausible conflict for the Enemy to follow throughout the whole film. I love the character interactions, the scene of normal life at the village, the fact that the film did not rely on merely battle, but actual characters and their own choices, to go on...
My favorite scenes:
A. One of Elrond's sons casually tossing over the bow to his other twin. It was *perfect*. Not silly, but it was just so natural, like showing how they always go to battle, this is the norm... that scene was just beautiful. The small things, man!
B. Arathorn and Dirhael. Hahah, the first time Arathorn confronted Dirhael about Gilraen... I was grinning like a moron. Whoever played Dirhael was friggin perfect for the part. I loved Ivorwen and Dirhael too, though the moment when Dirhael looks at Arathorn like that... it was magical. XD So good to know that even Chieftains can be cowed by gruff fathers.
C. Arathorn's death. While not anything I imagined it like, it was *really* fitting for a film setting. The best part was is that, technically, they followed canon. When the orc actually pulled the arrow from Arathorn's chest and went down and the camera went dark.. wow, that was powerful!
D. Ivorwen's lines about Aragorn's name meaning Kingly Valour and the green stone. The director did the research!
E. The end of the dream sequence when Arathorn wakes up. I thought that was a wonderful scene for both Arathorn and Gilraen, and he really seemed to have a look of terror upon his face.
My biggest complaints of the film, barring things that were unpreventable (such as the digital animation not being as good as Weta's; of course it wouldn't be, Weta beats everyone, but they did a fabulous job for what they had) would be the slow-mo and the orcs mentioning Sauron by name. The latter I understand; since this film is trying to appeal to not just die-hard, "read the book a million time" fans, it makes sense that he was mentioned. I would have preferred he was just called "The Dark Lord" or "The Eye" or something similar rather than "Sauron", though. What I found very interesting is that Arathorn overheard Sauron being in Dol Guldur; however that wasn't discovered by the Wise until a decade or so later. A little annoying that he failed to mention this to Arador, who would have said something to Elrond, but it is something that I can ignore.
The slow-mo, well, it's a pet peeve of mine if used a lot in fights. That's just an artistic decision, but I personally believe slow-mo is more effective if only done for certain scenes. The second large fight of the film, the one at the end in the village, used a little too much. I think it would have been more appropriate simply having it for select scenes, such as the one where the little boy was crying over his dad (which was OMG wow). Elgarin's death scene seemed also a little overlong, but I'll forgive that on the fact that throwing over Dirhaborn's head at them was so amazing and so unexpected, yet so canon... yea, that was a great addition. Really showing the brutility of the orcs.
I ended up liking Gilraen more than I thought I would, I was pleasantly surprised by how awesome Dirhael and Ivorwen were, and Arathorn was just as awesome as I hoped him to be. The older Halbarad? He was cute. I approve.
In the end, I can only hope that we see more fan films such as this in the future. This was absolutely spectacular. I am very, very much content.
And a quickie- TORn just released a rumor that, due to the delay in filming of the Hobbit, that the Hobbit *might* be delayed to 2012. No confirmations or anything, of course, but that just means I have an extra year to save up to study abroad and stay around the country for the Hobbit premiere... *biggrin*
And, of course, there is some sort of news being released on the 8th of December, so keep your eyes on TORn!
Happy happy joy joy.