The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers)

[Allyn Gibson]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

I'm pretty sure it was actually the Tauriel/Legolas stuff (which still seemed pretty one-sided to me, on Legolas' part) that was added in the reshoots. I think the attraction between Kili and Tauriel was part of the story from the very beginning.

I believe Hanukkah Solo has that correct. The Kili/Tauriel stuff has been talked about since the role was announced as they were casting for it.

 

[Mr Light]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

The funny thing about that is that Tauriel/Legolas shipping probably accounts for 30 seconds of screen time. Which I guess points to the fact that it IS a reshoot

 

[Turtletrekker]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Personally, I thought that all of the Legolas and Tauril stuff was a waste of screen time.

 

[Set Harth]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

I gotta say, having Sauron as a shadowy entity that actually speaks to his underlings is vastly superior to the silent floating eyeball of the LOTR movies... who wants a LOTR Special Edition?

Sauron spoke a few times in the LOTR films.

 

[Skywalker]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Personally, I thought that all of the Legolas and Tauril stuff was a waste of screen time.

Yeah, agreed. It was rather pointless, and barely played a role in the story. I guess that just proves even further that it was a studio-mandated addition and not Jackson's idea.

 

[Dama47]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

While the "love story" is rather prominent (I actually enjoyed it), I took more away from Tauriel's insistence on doing the right thing against evil. She stood up to Thranduil for her beliefs, and inspired Legolas to act on them. To me, that was far more prominent than her flirtations with Kili.

It was what I remembered most fondly, but the mush left me soured. I think the flirtations could (should) have been skipped, leaving Tauriel's character all the better--and Kili all the better, too, for being with his kin and doing his duty. They might have met as equals in their fields with a little banter. The whole matter was instead a distraction from otherwise excellent characters, IMHO. As always, YMMV.

 

[davejames]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

After really enjoying the first movie (a lot more than others seemed to), I had high hopes for this one. But the story dragged so much and had so much obvious filler that I very quickly lost interest.

I'm not sure if it's the story being told this time, or because the joy of seeing Middle Earth again that I felt in the first movie has worn off, but halfway through I just realized I really don't care anymore about these boring dwarfs and their journey to reclaim their kingdom. No matter how much they tried to shoehorn in Sauron and stuff from LOTR, the story just doesn't seem to justify the incredible amount of screentime devoted to it.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Tangential to The Desolation of Smaug, the Weinsteins are suing Warners because they believe the decision to split The Hobbit into three movies deprives them of their contractual five percent.

It's all very technical, but I think they have a point.

 

[Mr Light]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

And Peter sued New Line because they were withholding profits to him from the original trilogy... the wheel turns...

 

[1001001]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

The kids and I just got back from seeing it in Glorious Imax 3D.

I loved it. I thought it was great. The spider scene was creepy as hell, and the whole Elf-Orc-Dwarves in Barrels sequence was fantastic!



A solid "A" from us.

 

[Set Harth]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

I wish "Barrels out of Bond" had stuck to the relative simplicity of the Tolkien version, but I liked other things about the movie.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Haven't seen it yet, but it sounds like they were going for "Barrels out of Bond...James Bond."

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

^ circa Roger Moore

FWIW, I like Moore's Bond.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Moore gets a bad rap. He was highly entertaining and kept the franchise viable post-Connery.

 

[Klaus]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Moore had some good outings as Bond and some horrid ones, and this is from a dyed-in-the-wool Connery fan... the bad ones were mostly more recent so I think they stick in our minds more.

I'm going to go to see it a 2nd time on Monday, trying to decide if I want to put my eyes through 3D HFR again or not.

 

[sojourner]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Saw it this week. Not bad, but the changes to existing parts of the book bothered me more than additions. So to speak. I don't know what book they got the whole Lake Town act of the movie from, but it wasn't The Hobbit.

I kept waiting for "Thag you bery buch".

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

I liked it. Favorite bits Smaug and Tauriel.

Actually I thought Smaug is the ultimate movie dragon. They shouldn't bother with dragons anymore in any other movie. They did this one to perfection.

 

[Anwar]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

They stated that they deliberately focused more on trying to develop Bard and give him some added character since to them, Book Bard just came out of nowhere and felt 1-Dimensional.

I'm not saying they were right, just what their mindset was.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

I kept waiting for "Thag you bery buch".

Me too, and would it have killed them to let Bilbo shout "attercop!" at a spider at least once?

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

They stated that they deliberately focused more on trying to develop Bard and give him some added character since to them, Book Bard just came out of nowhere and felt 1-Dimensional.

I'm not saying they were right, just what their mindset was.

Spoiler: Bard

Bard's going to kill Smaug, so he better be developed.