THE HOBBIT (2012/2013): News, Rumors, Pics Till Release

[Samuel Walters]

I find it interesting that a critique of the film is that it too closely follows the structure of, say, Fellowship:

It quickly becomes apparent how hard Jackson is trying to recreate the magic of "Fellowship of the Ring" by using many of the familiar elements and an identical story structure. Over the course of their journey, the group face more orcs and goblins and trolls we saw in the "Lord of the Rings" movies with many of the beats being almost identical.

Link

But that neglects the fact that Tolkien's LOTR trilogy is, mostly, an expanded version of his Hobbit story. In any case, more worrisome to me are the comments about pacing, particularly during the opening sections of the film. I do wonder if the reviewers allowed themselves to simply enjoy the scenes set in Bag End, as opposed to wanting to see the adventure happening sooner. I seem to recall similar critiques about FOTR and how the Hobbiton scenes were its weakest. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed them and if the Bag End scenes strike a similar tone, then chances are I'll have to disagree with those critiques.

[Mach5]

73% @RottenTomatoes at the moment. What worries me is the fact that none of the critics seem to be particularly blown away by it. Even the ones who are counted as "fresh" call it "unexciting", "not as good as you hoped", "unable to recapture the greatness of LOTR" etc. ComingSoon.net even went as far as to compare it with The Phantom Menace.

BTW:


I nearly pissed myself!

[Samuel Walters]

It's quite possible that AUJ won't be as good as any of the LOTR films ... but it'd have to miss the mark by a pretty wide margin before it fell into even average territory (at least for me).

It's kinda like meeting up with old friends after a decade has passed. No way will it live up to the "glory years" but it can be fun to reconnect - and exciting to look forward to.

[Mr Light]

Well OF COURSE it won't be as good as LOTR. It's the prelude to that story. It's the setup. It's not as big as important. That's why they made LOTR first and not the Hobbit. What I hope it's going to be is a nostalgic return to the LOTR franchise that's an enjoyable romp. It's not going to be about the fate of Middle Earth or anything. It's not going to have huge insane massive battles like LOTR did.

[Mach5]

Mr Light wrote:

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Well OF COURSE it won't be as good as LOTR. It's the prelude to that story. It's the setup.

The book itself was initially a standalone story. LOTR wasn't published until 1954, 17 years later.

Mr Light wrote:

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It's not going to have huge insane massive battles like LOTR did.

It IS going to have the battle of the five armies, which is going to be pretty fucking grandiose, you can be sure of that.

[Chris3123]

New Line Cinema has released 6 clips from the movie!

You can view them here.

[Samuel Walters]

^ Awesome! I enjoyed the humor. Seeing Radagast was fun (despite his lack of lines in the clip). Freeman seems very comfortable as Bilbo.

[Unicron]

Charles Atlas.

[Mr Light]

Battle of 5 Armies is not going to be as big as the ROTK battles... though I guess it would be bigger than Helm's Deep.

[Mach5]

Mr Light wrote:

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Battle of 5 Armies is not going to be as big as the ROTK battles... though I guess it would be bigger than Helm's Deep.

IMO battle of Helm's Deep was ten times more thrilling than the clusterfuck that was battle of the Pelennor Fields.

[DarthPipes]

I'm not surprised that the film is being criticized over its length. This is the same guy who took 45 minutes for the characters to arrive at Skull Island in King Kong. The fact that Jackson insists on three hour movies to bloat his massive ego does not bode well for the next two films. It worked for Lord of the Rings, that was a trilogy of books. But doing it to The Hobbit is a mistake he refuses to see.

But I have to say I'm disappointed to hear that he's CGI'd The Hobbit to death. I figured the film would at least look great. But he's apparently gone all CGI, from the Orcs to the models. In other words, he's become the thing that fanboys hate the most. George Lucas. I can't wait to read the Jackson fanboys try to bend over backwards to defend him on that one.

I am glad to hear that Martin Freeman is getting great notices for his performance. Anyone whose seen Sherlock wouldn't be surprised.

I'm still looking forward to seeing this film and hoping it will turn out all right.

[SalvorHardin]

20 minutes of behind the scenes footage have been released

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhueVaxMmZY

[Mr Light]

I love all the length of LOTR, but King Kong was a bloated mess. No excuse for them taking 45 minutes to reach the island. There was a spectacular 90 minute movie lurking inside there...

[Samuel Walters]

SalvorHardin wrote:

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20 minutes of behind the scenes footage have been released

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhueVaxMmZY

Incredible. Thanks for that. Love seeing the process. I dunno why PJ is getting such harsh personal criticism ... his professional demeanor seems very ... well ... professional.

[Emh]

Samuel Walters wrote:

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Incredible. Thanks for that. Love seeing the process. I dunno why PJ is getting such harsh personal criticism ... his professional demeanor seems very ... well ... professional.

People enjoy being critical. That and they see a three-hour run time and their eyes glaze over. *shrug*

I'm going to wait until after I watch the film (at least once) before I watch the above link but I looking forward to it.