Resonance

[sartorias]

Sherlock Holmes, Lord of the Rings, and why we need fiction, in a in a riff about investment and resonance.

This is one of my favorite subjects of all--if you feel like discussing any of it, please jump in, either here or there.

Comments

[3rdragon]

It sounds like your response to The Hobbit 2 was similar to mine, but coming from a different lens: I DID imprint on The Hobbit, and while I haven't read it recently, even just thinking about the story is strongly evocative for me. And I walked out of the theater saying, "That was a pretty good movie. Possibly better than the first one. But whatever material they were drawing on, that was not The Hobbit I remember. And somehow I really doubt it was in the appendices, either."

It's a response I often have to movies of books (though sometimes they're just terrible, end of story), but Jackson's The Lord of the Rings hit close enough for me (mostly; I too missed The Scouring of the Shire) that I'd been hopeful for this one. But less hopeful after seeing Hobbit 1.

[sartorias]

Yeah--I thought Hobbit 1 was disappointing in so many respects.

[whswhs]

I actually found one thing about Desolation a bigger disappointment: The first film had the one utterly marvelous scene of Bilbo's conversation with Sméagol, but the scene of Bilbo's conversation with Smaug in the second film struck me as falling a long way short of it, with its emphasis on physical comedy distracting from both the sheer terror and the character interaction.

[lenora_rose]

Sadly, I suspect there's a lot more of Bilbo's conversation with Smaug in the "extended edition" they'll release in several months. because that's how Jackson does things now.

(With Fellowship of the Ring, it seemed like the film as shown in the theatre stood alone, even if I felt there were improvements in the extended version. By Return of the King, however, it seemed like the theatrical release was "Here's a really extended trailer for the real movie, which you'll have to buy later".)

[sartorias]

I haven't actually watched any of the extended versions after Fellowship, which had even longer and more boring fights.

[lenora_rose]

Fellowship also had a longer stay in Lothlorien, and some character development there. That was the biggest boon for me, and many others.