The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

[Jared]

Alright, so it's out in the U.S, and has been elsewhere for some time now.
My thoughts. (Spoilers for 80 year old book ahead at your own peril, and and some for stuff added to pad the film)

I enjoyed it. It is basically a two-act movie, not counting the first 10 minutes which are really the conclusion of Desolation. There's probably more action here than any of the others. I might call this the best Hobbit movie, at least as far as theatrical versions go, but Two Towers remains my favorite Middle-Earth movie overall.

Good acting all around, especially from Freeman.

I liked how Thorin's dragon-sickness was conveyed in a manner which allowed Smaug to retain some relevance to the story after being slain.

If the Shadow of Mordor has made enough for sequels, expect Tauriel to appear. You can take that to the bank.

A very surprising (to me) addition were creatures called the "eaters of the Earth" or "were wyrms", which are basically the sandworms from Dune and used by Azog to tunnel through mountains for his army. I guess they're a deliberate conflation of the "nameless things" below Moria and the "wild were wyrms of the last desert" briefly mentioned in the books.


You can tell a lot of things were left out, I suspect most will show up in the extended edition:

-Where was Legolas while Smaug was attacking Lake Town?

-Radagast and Beorn aka Sirs Barely Appearing in this Picture.

-Apparently the jewels Thranduril wants were a reminder of his wife. But that explanation is left out of the theatrical cut. I'm also hoping for an explanation of when he got his scars.

- So, I guess Thranduril ultimatley decided not to withdraw his forces from battle after Tauriel and Legolas shamed him? I mean, I guess that's obviously the case, since they're still there at the end, but I don't think we saw that decision.

-Alfred the Craven needed to either get killed or redeem himself somehow. Personally, I would have had him die like Burke from aliens, with wargs in place of xenos.

-I would have liked to see some Azog realize Bolg died and react to it in some way, not crying, but just wanting more vengeance.

- Gandalf seemingly vanishes the last third of the final battle.

-So, after all that, what happens to the Arkenstone?

-For that matter, who was King Under the Mountain at the end? Balin? Dain? Anybody? Bueller? The book says it's Dain, right? But the map at the end still seems to put Dain in the Iron Hills, unless that's just from Bilbo never updating it?

[Jeremi]

-Radagast and Beorn aka Sirs Barely Appearing in this Picture.

There was disputes with the actor that played Beorn so most of his stuff in the movie got cut, or so I've heard.

[saul_on_the_road_to_damascus]

It was okay. For the most action packed movie of the three it still felt really long. And even though I've never read the book (I plan on reading it now) the scene where Lee Pace tells Legolas to go look for Stryder was really annoying.

[ImprobableQuestion]

The changes they made from the source material in this movie were much less bothersome than the ones from the last (still not really over the chamges they made to accomodate Tauriel's presence). Bilbo with Thorin on his death bed being moved to the battlefield was a good move, and the scene was quite powerful.

I love Dain. I hope they filmed him taking the throne for the extended cut. But did he look like he was filmed in mo cap for a lot of his initial scene?

[Sammael]

I enjoyed it. I saw it at a cinemark theater on their XD large format screen in 48fps 3d. This was by FAR the best 3d I've ever seen. I think a lot of that had to do with the higher framerate. I almost always get irritated looking at 3d as my eyes lose focus quite often, but this was crystal clear and caused virtually no issues. So I could just enjoy the movie.


Of course, the best scenes did not involve the fighting of men and elves with swords and bows, it was that rescue. All who saw know what I am talking about. In a similar way, the most gripping part of the second film was the confrontation between Gandalf and Sauron with thrusts of light and darkness. It's too bad we can't get a film focusing on THOSE beings. Far more impressive.

Even the original trilogy, aside from a few memorable flourishes from legolas, the most impressive and striking displays were Gandalf fighting the Balrog and descending into the depths, sword in hand. That conveyed a sense of otherworldly powers in battle, not the twirling of metal sticks by the flies in the armies.

[Jeremi]

Even the original trilogy, aside from a few memorable flourishes from legolas, the most impressive and striking displays were Gandalf fighting the Balrog and descending into the depths, sword in hand. That conveyed a sense of otherworldly powers in battle, not the twirling of metal sticks by the flies in the armies.

The Legolas stunts in this movie were just so out of place, it was like he was Dante from Devil May Cry or something. When the bridge fell and he started running up it the entire theatre burst into laughter. I almost joined them cause that scene was pretty god-awful.

[Sammael]

The Legolas stunts in this movie were just so out of place, it was like he was Dante from Devil May Cry or something. When the bridge fell and he started running up it the entire theatre burst into laughter. I almost joined them cause that scene was pretty god-awful.

That was definitely a bit forced. I was thinking of the taking out of the oliphaunt in the original trilogy. But yes, when he was leaping from stone to stone mid air, that did seem a bit forced in the way that the band of immortals coming in to rescue gandalf did not. That was REAL power.

[simbob4000]

The Legolas stunts in this movie were just so out of place, it was like he was Dante from Devil May Cry or something. When the bridge fell and he started running up it the entire theatre burst into laughter. I almost joined them cause that scene was pretty god-awful.

There's a lot that's out of place in these Hobbit movies, the last two were a total mess. Haven't seen this new one, so I can't speak to how much of a mess it is.

[PennyD]

I love the new honest trailer