"The Hobbit" Reviewed

[dawn_felagund]

Bobby and I went to see The Hobbit last night at a midnight show. Midnight shows aren't something we get to indulge in often, but we decided quite a while back to make an exception given someone's *ahem* Tolkien obsession. We bought our tickets as soon as they went on sale and took the next day off (today) from work. Admittedly, last night, I wasn'

Comments

[dawn_felagund]

I don't think I would have had what it takes to write a review at 4 AM at all! :D So hats off to you for that!

Do we movie-goers really require our movies to be all action all the time video game substitutes?

I'm personally not fond of this at all; I tend to lose interest pretty quickly in prolonged battle scenes and the like. The sliding mountains in the Stone Giants' scene reminded me too much of the falling pathways in Moria in FotR. Which I loved then but now felt like I'd seen before, and I didn't feel a sense of investment since I knew all the Dwarves would survive. (When I saw the FotR movie, I'd not yet read FotR, so I had no idea how Moria would play out and was in greater suspense as a result.) That's not PJ's fault at all, of course, but I do think his storyline suffers because the source material makes it so there is no real loss until the end, giving us probably two whole movies where the peril feels decidedly ... unperilous. (Now I have visions of Monty Python! :)

I think the rabbit sleigh was my husband's favorite bit! The whole opening sequence for me with the coming of the dragon was one of the best parts of the movie.

[elfscribe5]

I guess I would have preferred a bit more suspense before the goblins nabbed the dwarves. All that action was too much scrunched together. A bit more Hitchcock there would have increased the feeling of peril. As it was, it was just a matter of trying to keep up. And the Goblin King was just gross rather than scary.

I've changed my mind about Azog, because I looked up the references to it and discovered in The Hobbit it was his son Bolg who led the battle of Five Armies. So clearly Azog will lead it in the end, adding to the stakes there. I have a feeling I'm going to appreciate the next two movies more.

What did you think of Thranduil on the elk?

[thelauderdale]

I think that Azog is going to be killed - well, I guess that's the obvious fate of any bad guy in this kind of enterprise. What I mean is, I think he will die before the biggest action - possibly even during the second movie - making way for Bolg to step to the fore.

[elfscribe5]

I think that Azog is going to be killed Okay, we can take bets on that. I just wonder if they would have introduced his son already if that was the case. We'll see, eventually. What did you think of the movie?

[dawn_felagund]

Maybe we'll get an Orcish romance subplot flashback in Movie 2. ;)

[thelauderdale]

LOL. Please no.

@elfscribe: Honestly, I came out of it pretty happy. I wrote a little post on my lj, but (and this is typical Laud) I think this is the first Tolkien film adaption I have seen that smartens his Orcs up as opposed to dumbing them down. I even liked The Great Goblin more than I thought I would (but then, I've never been totally averse to cartoony villains.) I keep thinking of parts that amused me or made me grin. I didn't hallucinate that one little goblin, did I? The scribe/messenger on the pulley?

I'd love to see what your take was!

[dawn_felagund]

My husband and I were discussing it on our way somewhere last night, and that was the theory I came to as well.

[dawn_felagund]

I liked Thranduil on the elk; as silly as it sounds, it did work, and it definitely made me want to see more of the Greenwood Elves in the next movies.

My husband and I talked about the Azog!subplot last night on our way out, and I came to the same conclusion as thelauderdale, that Azog will serve as a personal foe for Thorin into the second movie, where he will be defeated, thus opening the story for Bolg in the Battle of the Five Armies, with the same axe to grind with Thorin that Thorin had with Azog. Thanks for the canon on that, btw--you saved me from having to look it up! ;)