So I saw The Hobbit

[cleolinda]

Due to the computer trouble (see the previous entry) and also my general and regrettable allergy to deadlines, I haven't finished the Breaking Dawn thing yet. However, even if I do finish it this weekend… I'm not sure when it will be appropriate to post it, given the really, really awful events in Connecticut. Charlie's Over-Protective Father

Comments

[hippydippymama]

**SPOILERS if you don't know the book ends**

I was UNPREPARED for the awesomeness of Richard Armitage's Thorin. Like, I knew seeing all the old guard (both Ians, Hugo, CATE AND OMG ELIJAH HI ELIJAH!!) was going to do me in, and I knew Martin would be an endearing, adorable Bilbo, but HOLY FUCKING SHIT, THORIN GODDAMNED OAKENSHEILD.

Basically, I agree with you here,

"Thorin, who gets multiple So What Is Your Deal, Pissy Hot Bitter Dwarf flashbacks so that Richard Armitage can be grim and dirty and heroic in the throes of epic battle (I approve of this product and/or service and would like to sign up for its newsletter)."

and would also like the newsletter. And God bless Peter Jackson's completely unhealthily codependent relationship with DRAMATIC HEROIC ANGLES with *HAIR BREEZE* Also, am I the only one who thinks Armitage is hotter as a dwarf? Like... the hair and the beard do it for me. IDEK. Like you said. Hot Dwarf Cognitive Dissonance.

Now, I was not that into The Hobbit, which probably enhanced my viewing experience because I had only the vaguest recollection of the narrative (it's one of the few books I haven't re-read to the point of memorization.) I mostly read it out of a sense of duty to read them "in order" and get to LOTR. When I read it I was like, "Okay, dwarves, mountain, pissing contest over gold, something about a dragon, got it, CAN WE MOVE ON." (Don't hate me.) So I didn't really connect with Thorin or the whole quest for a homeland thing. Until I saw the movie and literally got so homesick I cried (I moved out of state five years ago and haven't been back to visit in FAR too long, during which time both of my dogs, my father, and my best friend all died.) So Thorin's story hit me RIGHT in the feels. It hit me hard enough it wasn't until I was in the car with my husband that I went, "OH MY GOD THORIN DIES AT THE END." I am gonna need BOOZE for that movie. I'm gonna have to find a theater in Utah that sells booze, because seriously, THAT WILL REQUIRE ALCOHOL TO GET THROUGH.

I didn't mind the tonal whiplash. I thought the troll scene was utterly hilarious, especially Thorin's epic EYE ROLL + *SMACK* when they all started protesting they didn't have parasites. I loved how the flashbacks were done, how Balin tells the story. I felt like it was really what Tolkein was trying to accomplish with his stories, for them to become legends, passed along through oral history, and it was just PERFECT.

I'm planning to take each of my stepkids separately so I can see it as many times as humanly possible (and also because while solo they are lovely children who can totally sit through this long of a movie, together they melt down into a puddle of tears and popcorn).

[jubilantia]

Amen, with the Thorin love. I actually remembered at the end of this movie about his dying, and I was like "oh no... surely not yet?" But yeah. That part will break me.

I loved his eyeroll, and the comic timing was BRILLIANT.

I think Jackson has a gift for distilling and shaping the story into something that would work for a movie, i.e. the Home/Hearth/Friendship themes that really fit with hobbits, and creating the Pale Orc character as an antagonist for this movie, until we meet Cumbersmaug.

[cleolinda]

Every time I started thinking "omg Thorin is so awesome" I always finished the thought with "...and he's gonna die." And also? Fili and Kili. MAN, that is tough to think about.

[hippydippymama]

I know they can't really do it, or it completely defeats the purpose of the story, but I would not really mind if they changed that. Seriously. It would be like the ultimate fix-it-fanfic.

[jubilantia]

Dude, how is this the "for kids" one? Didn't more of the Fellowship make it out? Or is it more of an equal percentage thing, where Thorin, Kili and Fili=Boromir?

[cmdr_zoom]

For what it's worth, I think Thorin did too. :p

Oh Noes!

[rasmusb]

I had completely forgotten that! This is going to be bad -- I teared up a few times in this movie -- I'll be bawling when the Trio of Hot Dwarf Dissonance start to fall. :(
I'll have to go see it with absolutely no one who knows me ... maybe another city. :p

I do have to admit the 'new' Thorin was much more sympathetic than the one I recalled (vaguely) in the book.

[ext_1553352]

"Also, am I the only one who thinks Armitage is hotter as a dwarf? Like... the hair and the beard do it for me."

Not at all, sister. Not. At. All.

As a 30+ year Tolkien fan I feared I'd feel skeevy, lusting after Thorin (I loved the Rankin-Bass cartoon as well), but the moment he appeared on screen, I said to hell with my guilt and repression. Mine me, oh mighty Dwarven king! (JRRR would be embarrassed and appalled, but oh well.)

I've always been a fan of dark haired, dark bearded dudes and it suits Armitage, whom I've loved for a long time, perfectly.

And that voice. That voice could make you do things you didn't even know you wanted to do.

I will be seeing it again, in the theater, sans kid and nephew this time. Although one of my nephews is now officially enthralled with Middle Earth, and at the same age (11) as I discovered it. So somebody's getting the Hobbit/LOTR boxed set for Christmas.

[hippydippymama]

Benedict Cumberbatch and Armitage need to be in something together. It doesn't matter. They can be in a commercial for all I care. The government could harness the power of those voices for mind control. I'm telling you.

I didn't care for Thorin at ALL in the books. But with this adaptation (or really interpretation, of both Jackson and Armitage) I think the struggles he went through AFTER Erebor, and the fact that he's kind of got this well-deserved chip on his shoulder about how he was supposed to be King Under the Mountain and now he's leading this ragtag band of dwarves through the wilderness and working for men, while trying to give all of them SOME kind of life. He came off a lot more noble and a lot less pissy and greedy. Still some of that there, which is good (since I think the whole purpose of the character is to sort of contrast with Aragorn- there are parallels but they don't line up *exactly*).

I may have overthought this.

[ext_1553352]

No, Book Thorin is a bit of an ass. Movie Thorin much more sympathetic and admirable.

I agree with you about Cumberbatch's voice. There's something about his face that bugs me - I don't find him at all attractive.

BTW - Love your avi.