The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) / Trilogy (2012-2014) (Ext. Edition)

[caligulathegod]

Legolas walking on the snow is actually in the book. The rest is kind of a logical, if exaggerated, extension.

[Ugly Pig]

Originally Posted by TheHutt

There were no fan credits on The Hobbit, as opposed to LOTR.

My point exactly.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by TheHutt

There were no fan credits on The Hobbit, as opposed to LOTR.

Ah, good to know. Never bothered to check.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by caligulathegod

Legolas walking on the snow is actually in the book. The rest is kind of a logical, if exaggerated, extension.

Yep. That's pretty much Jackson's MO when it came to adapting the books, they took something that was mentioned - even if it was just a single line - and used it as a jumping-off point, quite literally in Legolas' case.

[captveg]

My hopes for the EE (from my "negatives" section of my BotFA review):

"- Biggest issue [w/ Theatrical Cut] is the lack of closure scenes on an individual characters level for the secondary Dwarves. One of the things I love about An Unexpected Journey is that they take time to establish these are not warriors, but faithful brethren of minor industry occupations (tinkers, tailors, etc.) that answered the call of their King. Where was the payoff of that? Why not have individual interactions with Bilbo at the parting scene, where he shares more specific moments with each? He gets that with Balin a bit but then other than Bilbo's general invitation (which is great) that's it. A shame. I really, REALLY hope the EE addresses this. (Perhaps to some degree at the Dwarf funeral scene supposedly filmed and to be included in the EE).

Even if it came off as too Wizard of Oz "I'll miss you most of all Scarecrow" when Bilbo goes down the line it would have been worth it. They could have had a couple of them with a few seconds of battle footage, too, especially as the battle was winding down with the Eagles arriving. Just a bad choice that has me down on the film more than I would have expected up to that point (misgivings about the first act structure notwithstanding...).

- Same goes for Beorn and Radagast. Just give them 15-20 seconds of battle glory and one scene with Gandalf at the end of the battle. 2 minutes, tops, and it would have pulled them into the film and overall story's conclusion so much better."

----

Tweak these moments close to what I say there and I'll enjoy the film much more. (For the record, I gave it a 7/10).

Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done at this point with my other two major complaints:

"- The first hour is structurally off. I don't get why Jackson added the forgery scene when he already had the ideal ending to the second film. Just have the attack on Laketown and the death of Smaug at the end of film two, with the "cliffhanger" aspects being the fate of the people of Laketown and the obvious building obsession of gold from Thorin. That is where the third film really starts, so have the third film prologue be all of the events of Dol Goldur and then go from Gandalf fearing the oncoming war at the mountain to Thorin's madness with the film's subtitle. Jackson miscalculated this one. Do my suggestion and things fall into place nicely, IMO, and even allows the runtime to accomodate the character suggestions I state above.

- Jackson fell too in love with the Alfrid character. Why we are given so much screentime to him (even as counterpoint) while ignoring several secondary dwarves to the degree he did is just a big "huh?" At least he got rid of The Master fast and efficiently. He served his purpose, and now gone. Good. Alfrid should have gone with him or very soon after. He plays as a weak kid brother to Wormtongue with barely 1% of the same intrigue."

[MechaGodzilla]

Originally Posted by captveg

- Same goes for Beorn and Radagast. Just give them 15-20 seconds of battle glory and one scene with Gandalf at the end of the battle. 2 minutes, tops, and it would have pulled them into the film and overall story's conclusion so much better."

I totally get what you're saying, and I agree that would've been an improvement over what we got. But I still really hope there's much more additional Beorn than two minutes.

[captveg]

Originally Posted by MechaGodzilla

I totally get what you're saying, and I agree that would've been an improvement over what we got. But I still really hope there's much more additional Beorn than two minutes.

Oh, sure. I'm talking in minimums for what the Theatrical Cut needed. In a perfect world those two minutes would already be there, and the EE would be adding several more on top of them, rather than me hoping that we get any at all, and just for the EE.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by captveg

"- The first hour is structurally off. I don't get why Jackson added the forgery scene when he already had the ideal ending to the second film. Just have the attack on Laketown and the death of Smaug at the end of film two, with the "cliffhanger" aspects being the fate of the people of Laketown and the obvious building obsession of gold from Thorin. That is where the third film really starts, so have the third film prologue be all of the events of Dol Goldur and then go from Gandalf fearing the oncoming war at the mountain to Thorin's madness with the film's subtitle. Jackson miscalculated this one. Do my suggestion and things fall into place nicely, IMO, and even allows the runtime to accomodate the character suggestions I state above.

I think it's pretty clear that

[Show spoiler]Smaug's death

was kept till TBotFA to ensure that audiences came back and actually saw the third movie. The story was built around going to Erebor and

[Show spoiler]defeating the dragon

- if they accomplished that by the end of the second movie, I think either Jackson knew, or was told by the studio, that no one would be interested in coming back for the third. Even when TBotFA did come out, a bunch of reviews basically said "we thought there'd be more of a dragon but

[Show spoiler]he's dead in 10 minutes

, wtf."

[captveg]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

I think it's pretty clear that

[Show spoiler]Smaug's death

was kept till TBotFA to ensure that audiences came back and actually saw the third movie. The story was built around going to Erebor and

[Show spoiler]defeating the dragon

- if they accomplished that by the end of the second movie, I think either Jackson knew, or was told by the studio, that no one would be interested in coming back for the third. Even when TBotFA did come out, a bunch of reviews basically said "we thought there'd be more of a dragon but

[Show spoiler]he's dead in 10 minutes

, wtf."

I agree that's why it was done from a commercial standpoint. I still think if they sold Thorin's madness as being a major problem going into the 3rd film they could have killed Smaug in the 2nd and not left people wondering why they should come for the third. As it is they screw the story structure over to only end up disappointing people who came for the dragon battle in BotFA. Definitely a short sighted decision.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by captveg

I agree that's why it was done from a commercial standpoint. I still think if they sold Thorin's madness as being a major problem going into the 3rd film they could have killed Smaug in the 2nd and not left people wondering why they should come for the third. As it is they screw the story structure over to only end up disappointing people who came for the dragon battle in BotFA. Definitely a short sighted decision.

TBotFA just proves that the whole thing should've been just two movies. The "journey," as in everything up to leaving Esgaroth, should've been one movie, while the entirety of Smaug/Erebor, Gandalf/White Council, and the Battle should've been the second. (This is essentially what I did when I did my own two-movie recut.) I still overall enjoy TBotFA quite a bit, but the whole Hobbit series could've been stronger with one fewer movie.

[Kevinicus]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

TBotFA just proves that the whole thing should've been just two movies. The "journey," as in everything up to leaving Esgaroth, should've been one movie, while the entirety of Smaug/Erebor, Gandalf/White Council, and the Battle should've been the second. (This is essentially what I did when I did my own two-movie recut.) I still overall enjoy TBotFA quite a bit, but the whole Hobbit series could've been stronger with one fewer movie.

Faneditor?

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Kevinicus

Faneditor?

What's that?

[Gold Ranger]

Originally Posted by prozacnation1978

Was hoping it would come out sooner

Why?
They always come out in November?

[Jhouston]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

TBotFA just proves that the whole thing should've been just two movies. The "journey," as in everything up to leaving Esgaroth, should've been one movie, while the entirety of Smaug/Erebor, Gandalf/White Council, and the Battle should've been the second. (This is essentially what I did when I did my own two-movie recut.) I still overall enjoy TBotFA quite a bit, but the whole Hobbit series could've been stronger with one fewer movie.

Completely agree

[Falaskan]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

TBotFA just proves that the whole thing should've been just two movies. The "journey," as in everything up to leaving Esgaroth, should've been one movie, while the entirety of Smaug/Erebor, Gandalf/White Council, and the Battle should've been the second. (This is essentially what I did when I did my own two-movie recut.) I still overall enjoy TBotFA quite a bit, but the whole Hobbit series could've been stronger with one fewer movie.

This. But if they had made a third movie entirely of Galadriel, Elrond, and Sauruman fighting Sauron, I'd pay big bucks to watch!

[Deathbymonkeys]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

TBotFA just proves that the whole thing should've been just two movies. The "journey," as in everything up to leaving Esgaroth, should've been one movie, while the entirety of Smaug/Erebor, Gandalf/White Council, and the Battle should've been the second. (This is essentially what I did when I did my own two-movie recut.) I still overall enjoy TBotFA quite a bit, but the whole Hobbit series could've been stronger with one fewer movie.

I think it should have been 3 movies and each should have been 2 hours longer.

I love Jackson's middle earth.

[Thomas Guycott]

Two 2.5-3h movies would have been perfect.

[Cook]

Originally Posted by Thomas Guycott

Two 2.5-3h movies would have been perfect.

Agreed. That being said, as with the previous 5 movies I will be buying the extended edition of BOTFA, because I'm curious to see whats been added and if anything has been changed. I also always enjoy the copious amounts of special features that are on these extended edition releases.

[The Edge]

Anybody have a guess as to when WHC will officially announce this, judging from past history?

[garyd97]

It is Nov 16th for the UK, so probably around that time.