Hobbit: Battle Of the Five Armies anticipation thread

[Hunter X]

Nice inclusion of "The Edge of Night."

Unfortunately, that was the only aspect of the trailer that really had me revved up about. Don't get me wrong, I'll see this film on opening night, but I just don't have the same kind of enthusiasm as I did with The Lord of the Rings.

I like the song on its own, but it felt like the same grasping for the former glory of the LOTR trilogy that's hindered this series since the beginning.

But then, I've been disappointed in these Lord of the Rings prequels overall. Makes me a little concerned about what'll happen if they ever decide to adapt The Hobbit.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Nice inclusion of "The Edge of Night."

I think my mom used to watch that....

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-x69VvjcE0[/yt]

 

[JD]

Loved the trailer.

 

[Skellington]

It looks like the inclusion of the Billy Boyd song in the trailer may have been a hint, as according to Empire he's singing the closing song.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=42530

 

[Set Harth]

It fits with the pattern of having all male singers for the end songs in this trilogy just as they had all female singers for the end songs in LOTR.

 

[Skywalker]

Yeah, I kind of figured they'd go with another male singer for the same reason. I'm looking forward to it. Billy Boyd's a pretty good singer.

I wonder if they'd decided on this before or after they used his song from ROTK for the trailer.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

New trailer dropped

no youtube link yet.

Looks like one beautiful character doesn't make it...

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

found it

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVAgTiBrrDA[/yt]

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Dear lord, it's one giant battle film.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Yes for once, Peter Jackson doesn't have to introduce any new characters or show a long journey..

Everything is in place...

 

[Timby]

Dear lord, it's one giant battle film.

I believe it's been said the battle represents 45 minutes of the film's running time, which just sounds exhausting.

Edit: Oh, Jesus, they're doing Dol Guldur, too, this movie is going to be insane.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Dear lord, it's one giant battle film.

I believe it's been said the battle represents 45 minutes of the film's running time, which just sounds exhausting.

Edit: Oh, Jesus, they're doing Dol Guldur, too, this movie is going to be insane.

Yeah, I read that, too.

For a film called The Hobbit, Bilbo is largely absent from the trailer.

But not only that, it's (almost) an entire film devoted to a part of the book that's not actually there because Bilbo was unconscious for most of it.

 

[Anwar]

It would feel like a massive cop-out if they did the "Bilbo was knocked out and missed the huge war battle." thing.

 

[Mr Light]

They've already said that Bilbo will participate in the battle.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yes, I get that, but my point is so much of this film is devoted to such small section of the novel. Do we really need a whole film focused on it?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Yes, I get that, but my point is so much of this film is devoted to such small section of the novel. Do we really need a whole film focused on it?

Assuming a 2 hour 40 minute runtime, I think it will break down...

One hour of build-up to the battle at Lonely Mountain, from the death of Smaug to the arrival of the armies.

Forty-five minutes of the Battle of Five Armies.

Half an hour of Dol Guldur/White Council shenanigans.

Half an hour of endings.

I think that works. You can take some time away from the build-up and add it to Dol Guldur/Sauron if necessary.

I realize that the titular character seems to be neglected somewhat. But I think that's a function of Jackson's decision to adapt The Hobbit not as a children's story but as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings done in the style of The Lord of the Rings. Jackson has achieved, for good or ill, what Tolkien himself never did though he did try, and the resulting draft of The Hobbit in the style of The Lord of the Rings was not good.

 

[Mr Light]

But... but... fighting! action! killing!

 

[FPAlpha]

Yes, I get that, but my point is so much of this film is devoted to such small section of the novel. Do we really need a whole film focused on it?

I think the ship sailed off long ago when they decided to blow up a simple children's adventure book into 3 "epic" movies.

 

[The Old Mixer]

It's really sad that I loved the LOTR films so much and they helped me to appreciate the books...but having seen the previous two installments, I'm completely indifferent to this film. I'll go see it once, just like the others. I can't work up the enthusiasm to buy these on DVD.

 

[Skywalker]

This is why I didn't like them leaving the Smaug scene on a cliffhanger. That on top of everything else that has to happen just seems like too much.