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

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by NYorker

...
- Visually stunning. The

[Show spoiler]battle of the rock giants

was amazing...

Ya, that was pretty cool.

[Falaskan]

Originally Posted by cbal75

I walked out after 3 hours

So you walked out during the previews for the following showing? Cause the Hobbit had a 2 hr 49 min runtime. I assume that includes the credits too.

[LordCrumb]

Originally Posted by NYorker

Ok, so I finally got around to seeing The Hobbit last night - in HFR...

Some thoughts (minor spoilers ahead):

- I thought overall the movie was terrific and exciting. I feared that there would be a lot of moments when it would drag, but - it didn't.
- fine performances all around - standouts were Freeman, McKellan and Armitage (hope I spelled it correct...)
- best scene IMO, by far: Riddles in the Dark. Gollum never looked or sounded better, and the interaction with Bilbo was great.
- As someone who read both LOTR and The Hobbit I knew I was going into a film that was going to be different than LOTR, so I wasn't disappointed in anyway with the overall "tone" of the film. I have no idea what the critics bashing the film were expecting, but I suspect some of them thought they were going to see LOTR part 4.
- It was great to see Christopher Lee as Saruman again. Ditto Cate Blanchett...
- Visually stunning. The

[Show spoiler]battle of the rock giants

was amazing

Ok, now to the whole 48 fps thing...

I have to admit that watching the first 15-20 minutes felt quite weird. The whole prologue sequence got lost on me because I was trying to figure out what the heck I was looking at...!

There were a couple of instances -

[Show spoiler]old Bilbo opening his journal at the beginning, and the arrival of Elrond at Rivendell

that felt sped-up. Once I got into it, and tried to let go of my preconceptions, it looked great for the most part. Many scenes looked sensational and it really pulled you in. I think the so-called 'top critics' are being a bit too harsh and too conservative slamming PJ for his use of HFR. Is it perfect? no, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives.

Bottom line: I think PJ did a fantastic job; the film looked great, beautifully acted, and, although it took time getting used to, HFR added an extra dimension (har, har...).

On a side not, I wonder if, in the future ultimate mega boxset including all the movies, they'll replace Ian Holm with Martin Freeman, in the flashback scene where Bilbo finds the ring (Fellowship of the Ring).

I think it might happen actually, considering PJ has said he is interested, or considering changing the original Gollum to look more like he does in the other movies.

Personally I think they should have just re-created the scene exactly like the Fellowship scene.. oh well.

[Elandyll]

Went to see it Friday night, with reservations given some critics and the general word of mouth of the movie being too slow.

Wow. I. loved. every. minute. of. it. Absolutely brilliant.

Imo, it's another masterpiece by PJ, and it can easily take its place near the LOTR trilogy.

The only thing that seemed weird to me was the inclusion of Frodo, which seemed a bit forced and to tie things up with LOTR (when including Ian Holm should have been enough).

Can't wait for the next one...

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

Went to see it Friday night, with reservations given some critics and the general word of mouth of the movie being too slow.

We really need to remember that the critics saw the WRONG Hobbit film as various move polls are showing.

.

[L-Rouge]

I appreciate people are entitled to their opinions when it comes to reviews. but man has Tom Charity seen Twilight Breaking Dawn prt 2?..I haven't hahahaa.

[Show spoiler]I have seen a lot of 1 star ratings for Twilight

[tommyboy81]

after 3 weeks it's not at $686.7M worldwide

[Vashetti]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

after 3 weeks it's not at $686.7M worldwide

Such a flop.

[DealsR4theDevil]

So 48fps, is this the future of movies or just a specific style choice? I was always under the impression that higher frame rates were technologically possible but 24fps was preferred. Otherwise you get that home camcorder effect.

[costa316]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

So you walked out during the previews for the following showing? Cause the Hobbit had a 2 hr 49 min runtime. I assume that includes the credits too.

seriously.. that's the best you got?

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by NYorker

On a side not, I wonder if, in the future ultimate mega boxset including all the movies, they'll replace Ian Holm with Martin Freeman, in the flashback scene where Bilbo finds the ring (Fellowship of the Ring).

I doubt it. Bilbo's oppening narration about not telling Frodo everything was clearly an allusion to that event being told differently in The Lord of the Rings from how it was told in the first edition of The Hobbit (wherein Gollum gave up the ring of his own accord rather than how it occured in the revised editions and this movie). Basically, Bilbo lied about how he got the ring. This is the true story.

Of course, I should point out that Bilbo's lie in the books wasn't that he found it whilst stumbling in the dark but rather that he claimed Gollum gave him the ring when he won the game of riddles. The movie is the one that implies Bilbo didn't find the ring in the dark but rather he stole it when he saw Gollum drop it.

I guess the change made sense to Jackson since he made no allusions to the game of riddles at any point in the LOTR films.

[SHOCKWAVE6464]

[costa316]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

after 3 weeks it's not at $686.7M worldwide

The phantom menace

Box Office
Budget: $115,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend: $22,469,932 (USA) (12 February 2012) (2655 Screens)
Gross: $506,618,295 (Worldwide) (25 February 2012)

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by costa316

The phantom menace

Box Office
Budget: $115,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend: $22,469,932 (USA) (12 February 2012) (2655 Screens)
Gross: $506,618,295 (Worldwide) (25 February 2012)

In what alternate reality was The Phantom Menace released early this year?

[L-Rouge]

Originally Posted by RocShemp

In what alternate reality was The Phantom Menace released early this year?

last year?.

[costa316]

Merely highlighting box office revenue doesn't equate to good taste in movies.

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by L-Rouge

last year?.

It's not 2013 yet.

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by costa316

Merely highlighting box office revenue doesn't equate to good taste in movies.

Some people don't get that concept.

Flawed as it was though, The Hobbit was a bajillion times better than TPM.

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by flyinmunky99

I gave it 4 stars but it was more like 3.5 i feel.

+ Freemans Bilbo
+ Gollum scenes
+ Music
+ Thought the intro scene with dale / erebor was awesome.
+ Richard Armitage as Thorin
- Alot of the humor fell flat for me.
- CGI over used as others have mentioned.
- Radagast scenes, think they went over the top with his quirkyness.

I actually didnt find the first hour boring or slow.

+1 Even though This was NOT the beloved Thorin from my beloved Hobbit book, I thought Richard Armitage was a huge highlight to the film. I'd be excited to see the other two installments from his performance alone. And for the most part, the quirkiness of the film does work and I enjoyed it. I can also see how some may not, but to call it the worst film of 2012??? Really??? When Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 was also released in 2012? Did the dude even watch that? (To my defense, I am married, so I had to).

[Shin sam]

Originally Posted by cbal75

I walked out after 3 hours thinking i could wait until the blu-ray release to see the other two... and this is from someone who bought tickets from months out to see this. Almost exactly how i felt after i saw The Phantom Menace. meesa so disappointed.

1. I never really felt the drama and importance around the mission to which they were going to take this journey for at any point unlike fellowship which i am going to watch soon to slowly erase my memories of this movie. The soapy scene where everyone is singing this solemn song at Bilbo's house before they depart i started laughing ( so did my wife) where i was supposed to feel something else ..summed it up.

2. I felt the crass humour from the trolls especially, unnecessary and cheapened the movie...one of many times i just cringed. If this was written in the book well then colour me..

3. Felt like a lot of aspects in the first 3 movies were thrown in to give this movie credibility , i did not experience any nostalgia, more depression that nothing original could be put together..

edit : i just saw the voting on the poll.. you have got to be kidding folks!

blah!

Oh dear. The Phantom Menace? Did this film have Adam Sandler in it? Was it directed by Uwe Boll? Was it Twilight? WTF is up with some people. Fail Sir.