The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Review Thread (Spoilers)

[bam777]

Originally Posted by Evilaviator

No, I think those are recycled Green Lantern 3D glasses. You've been had.

Whaaaaaat?!?

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by frogmort

Now that the poll is open, I'm not exactly sure what to pick.

If I voted according to how good the movie was based on my expectations of what it would be, I would probably go with a 3~4, because it has a lot of the extraneous fluff that I expected, but a decent seasoning of direct quotes and references from the book.

If I voted based off of how well they fulfilled the potential available to bring the book (and appendices) to life, I would probably vote a 2, but there's a lot of story left to go.

I need to see it again to really decide, but I don't recall any scenes in this movie that brought the pages of the book to life, like the iconic scene with the Balrog at the bridge of Khazad-dûm in FotR.

If I rated the HFR 48fps 3D, it would vary from 1 to 5 because some scenes looked like a video game, some scenes looked slightly sped up, and some scenes looked glorious.

Originally Posted by Mahatma

Go with a the holiday spirit and put in a banker 4

You knew about the goofyness going in,so can't say you had no warning there.I felt it was good entertainment,and most of the deveations from the book was pretty good choices-apart maybe from that anemic dude with a hook for an arm.But we come to expect such things from PJ now don't we.

Yea Mahatma, I pretty much mirror your feeling also.

But what tipped the scale for me choosing five stars is the fact that for me the 48-FPS was nearly flawless and blew me away. Plus since this is not as serious a story as LotRs, I was able to just sit back, accept it, and enjoy it with a big smile across my face through most of it.

Which really hasn't happened to me that way since Raiders of the Lost Ark.

.

[Ernest Rister]

Hobbit down 73% from last Friday, but still top grosser.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/firs...-this-is-40-4/

[raygendreau]

Originally Posted by bam777

Did anyone else receive these awesome limited edition 3D glasses for THE HOBBIT when they saw the film? These are simple but so cool. I got them at a local Cinemark theater. Cool collector's item.

I got mine. You lowered the collectible value by opening the package. Mine are intact in the unopened package. The downside is, it was very difficult to appreciate the film watching it through the unopened package.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by raygendreau

I got mine. You lowered the collectible value by opening the package. Mine are intact in the unopened package. The downside is, it was very difficult to appreciate the film watching it through the unopened package.

You should of taken a pair of 3D glasses with you

[raygendreau]

Originally Posted by Foggy

You should of taken a pair of 3D glasses with you

Now you tell me!

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Hobbit down 73% from last Friday, but still top grosser.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/firs...-this-is-40-4/

Usually, it's the other way around: The big SFX movie opens the week before Christmas, and nobody leaves the house to go to a movie on the week before that. (Resulting in the "surprise" flop of the year.)
Here, we had the Big SFX movie opening in the Weekend of Death, and there's nothing to get anybody out for Avatar Weekend.

Gee, first old-fogey comedies taking the Christmas Day slot away from CGI kiddy films, and now the Weekend of Death switches places...It's getting hard to figure out December anymore.

[bluearth]

I cant believe how critics are bashing this. And I keep hearing "Jackson stretched a thin children's book too far"

Who cares about the source material? I never read the books and I could care less how short or how long they are. The movie takes its time. If thats a product of stretching a short story who cares? I felt the movie dragged in just two places,

[Show spoiler]meeting golum

and the final battle. I liked the slow pace. Nice and campy and engaging.

I honestly think if movies like Alien were released today with their slow pace they wouldnt be so well received

[006]

Saw this in 2d with a friend that saw it first in 48fps on opening night (he much preferred the 24fps). Anyhow I loved it, 4/5. It is no Lord of the Rings that is for sure, but it is still among the best fantasy/ adventure films ever made.

The CGI was a mixed bag (keep in mind I saw this in 24fps-2D), the orcs looked incredible and almost real, the goblin's looked so-so, but the wargs were atrocious, in fact compared to the CGI on the orcs (who were riding the wargs) it looked as if the orcs were real and the wargs were early 200's CGI. As for the best Digital effect, that would have to go to Gollum, he looked absolutely incredible and his facial expressions were amazing.

Over all it was a treat to return to middle-earth and I cannot wait to make another return next December!

****

[PaniqL]

I saw this in IMAX Today and absolutely loved it.
I would of happily walked out of there and instantly loved it again.
I rated it 5 stars as i would rate it around a 8.5/10 which is extremely high, i thought that Martin Freeman was great and it was such an enjoyable film. The Story isn't the best compared with LOTR but tbh i couldn't care less, i would happily watch extra scenes set in Middle Earth and directed by Peter Jackson. The pace was perfect in my opinion, i was not bored once at all, but i think it may get boring when watching for a second time. I think the characters were really developed well, after watching it is pretty obvious that they have started a great Trilogy. I loved the Gollum sequences, and fit in perfectly. The visuals were the best and the sound was great. By no means is this better than LOTR but seeing the characters and middle earth in another way is just the best. I didn't think that the little humor they added was a disappointment at all, it fit in really well and is what i think sets this apart from LOTR (in a good way) The CGI was great but there was a few iffy moments but were to short to get annoyed by. There were some typical american moments which seems to be where my marks were lost, but overall a great film.

----------------------

I would like to know what people have to say about the transfer from the book to the film, i have not had a chance to read the book. Does the book spill beans, im thinking about reading the book, but dont want to ruin anything.

- Panic

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by bluearth

Who cares about the source material?

Probably about 90% of this thread, and the many people in the world who read the book as a kid or later and love the world that it set up, and probably Peter Jackson and the rest of the cast and crew. But as long as you're happy

[bluearth]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Probably about 90% of this thread, and the many people in the world who read the book as a kid or later and love the world that it set up, and probably Peter Jackson and the rest of the cast and crew. But as long as you're happy

What I mean is people are largely criticizing the length of the movie(s) because the book(s)? are so short.

Do they not realize how many 2 hour movies are based off of short stories?

Would they be mad about 2 hour movies based on a poem?

Granted, I do think 3 movies is too much based on what I gathered from the 1st film, but that has nothing to do with the length and quality of the first.

[raygendreau]

I would like to know what people have to say about the transfer from the book to the film, i have not had a chance to read the book. Does the book spill beans, im thinking about reading the book, but dont want to ruin anything.

Panic

The book was written for pre-teens, Tolkien's children.

One of the problems with the film is that Jackson tried to find a middle path between a children's film and one that would appeal to adults. This reviewer does a good job of describing the issue.

http://thebarainitiative.com/dear-pe...-story-or-not/

I saw the film in HFR 3D and had planned to see it in IMAX 3D, but after the first viewing, I lost my motivation to watch it again. I will buy the 3D BD, though.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by bluearth

What I mean is people are largely criticizing the length of the movie(s) because the book(s)? are so short.

Do they not realize how many 2 hour movies are based off of short stories?

Would they be mad about 2 hour movies based on a poem?

Granted, I do think 3 movies is too much based on what I gathered from the 1st film, but that has nothing to do with the length and quality of the first.

Personally, I don't think we know the truth about The Hobbit yet, as it is so clearly a film full replete with exposition. I have faith, though, that the reputation of the project will improve as the other chunks of narrative are released. We're in that sorry state of things waiting for the other two chunks, audiences from 2014 onward will never have to wait and I think will simply see the project as a whole, not as individual films.

[Mahatma]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

Yea Mahatma, I pretty much mirror your feeling also.

But what tipped the scale for me choosing five stars is the fact that for me the 48-FPS was nearly flawless and blew me away. Plus since this is not as serious a story as LotRs, I was able to just sit back, accept it, and enjoy it with a big smile across my face through most of it.

Which really hasn't happened to me that way since Raiders of the Lost Ark.

.

Know this is a long shot,but if you haven't seen Pulp fiction,it might bring a similar smile on your face

Merry christmas Tolkien fans

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by frogmort

Now that the poll is open, I'm not exactly sure what to pick.

If I voted according to how good the movie was based on my expectations of what it would be, I would probably go with a 3~4, because it has a lot of the extraneous fluff that I expected, but a decent seasoning of direct quotes and references from the book.

If I voted based off of how well they fulfilled the potential available to bring the book (and appendices) to life, I would probably vote a 2, but there's a lot of story left to go.

Originally Posted by Mahatma

Go with a the holiday spirit and put in a banker 4

Originally Posted by Duffy12

But what tipped the scale for me choosing five stars is the fact that for me the 48-FPS was nearly flawless and blew me away. Plus since this is not as serious a story as LotRs, I was able to just sit back, accept it, and enjoy it with a big smile across my face through most of it.

Since it looks like The Hobbit series is an extension of Jackson's version of the Middle-earth saga, I rated it on the basis of all of the movies. Namely, Fellowship of the Ring would have rated a "5", and The Two Towers and Return of the King would have received a "4". I felt this movie was not quite up to the standard set by those three, despite the luxury of the extra time, money, and all of the lessons learned from the past 13 years of Jackson's involvement in Middle-earth, so on that basis, I rated it a "3". I am confident that the remaining two movies will fulfill the potential I expect from the magnitude of the production effort and source material.

[frogmort]

Originally Posted by Mahatma

Go with a the holiday spirit and put in a banker 4

You knew about the goofyness going in,so can't say you had no warning there.I felt it was good entertainment,and most of the deveations from the book was pretty good choices-apart maybe from that anemic dude with a hook for an arm.But we come to expect such things from PJ now don't we.

Yeah, I didn't want to come off as not liking the movie, because I really enjoyed it quite a bit. There was just a lot to take in for my first viewing experience, especially with seeing it in HFR 48fps IMAX 3D. I think that I'll have to watch it a few more times to get a better feel for what it really is and how I feel about it.

Originally Posted by Duffy12

Yea Mahatma, I pretty much mirror your feeling also.

But what tipped the scale for me choosing five stars is the fact that for me the 48-FPS was nearly flawless and blew me away. Plus since this is not as serious a story as LotRs, I was able to just sit back, accept it, and enjoy it with a big smile across my face through most of it.

Which really hasn't happened to me that way since Raiders of the Lost Ark.

.

For me the 48fps 3D was a mixed bag. Some scenes were like looking through a giant window into another world, like a lot of the shots in Rivendell which were truly amazing. Some looked like the best videogame I've ever seen, like the flashback battle with the dwarves and orcs near the beginning. Some slow panning shots with a lot of movement going on felt almost slightly sped up to me too.

I don't wear glasses and I don't like wearing the 3D glasses either, and in general I really don't care for 3D at all, so the combination of wearing the glasses, watching a 3D movie, and the doubled frame rate, all combined together with watching a film that I had never seen before makes it hard for me to seperate one experience from another, so I'm still a bit unsure about how I feel about everything. I will say that I didn't have any eye-strain or headache problems whatsoever.

I'm not sure if maybe the fact that it's an entirely new technology and I just haven't had enough experience with it is what makes it so strange to me, and maybe with more repeat viewings and familiarity with it, I might appreciate it more, but I'm really glad that you enjoyed it.

I really did enjoy the movie and the overall experience very much, even though a lot of what I've said seems to contradict that. I've just been stating more of the negative aspects of my experience than the positives, of which there are quite a few too. It was a very fun movie experience.

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Personally, I don't think we know the truth about The Hobbit yet, as it is so clearly a film full replete with exposition. I have faith, though, that the reputation of the project will improve as the other chunks of narrative are released. We're in that sorry state of things waiting for the other two chunks, audiences from 2014 onward will never have to wait and I think will simply see the project as a whole, not as individual films.

I completely agree with you. It's almost like watching 1/3 of a movie and trying to form an opinion about it, which is somewhat ridiculous. I think/hope that once we have the other two movies to put together in context with the first one, things will gel much better and a lot of the things that have been set up in this first one will make much more sense once we see what they're building up to, and how they resolve those story lines.

[Caesu]

Just came back from seeing it. Nice to return to middle earth. The 3D was great, and no headaches

I just didnt enjoy the HFR 48 though. I felt like I was watching a HD camcorder, no different then putting Auto Motion on a Samsung TV into full speed mode.

Felt nothing like watching a film and a story out a book. It made the CGI more obvious as CGI like if I was watching a cut scene in a video game.

My only regret was that. I cant wait to watch it in normal mode.

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by Mahatma

Know this is a long shot,but if you haven't seen Pulp fiction,it might bring a similar smile on your face

Merry christmas Tolkien fans

Yea, that was a pleasant surprise.

However I found that 'Kill Bill Vol II' put a much bigger smile on my face.

.

[Mahatma]

Originally Posted by Caesu

Just came back from seeing it. Nice to return to middle earth. The 3D was great, and no headaches

I just didnt enjoy the HFR 48 though. I felt like I was watching a HD camcorder, no different then putting Auto Motion on a Samsung TV into full speed mode.

Felt nothing like watching a film and a story out a book. It made the CGI more obvious as CGI like if I was watching a cut scene in a video game.

My only regret was that. I cant wait to watch it in normal mode.

lol.Maybe watch it in 24fps 2D then.Strange all that talk about weird effects with HFR 3D...Must have watched regular 3D then,because to me it looked normal where I saw it.Remember thinking that maybe this would have been a good movie to watch in no nonsense 24fps 2D.Maybe I'll check it out again,but think I'll just wait for the scrumptious BD