The Desolation of Smaug

[grey_wonderer]

It's taken me a while but here's what it think without spoilers. I love Martin Freeman. He is a wonderful Bilbo and his facial expressions are masterful. I had been looking forward to Stephen Fry as the Master of Laketown and he did not disappoint me. The dragon is awesome. The look, the voice, love everything about him. I adore this film's opening

Comments

[dreamflower02]

I waited to respond to this 'till I'd seen it too.

Before LOTR came out in the movies, I went looking for spoilers because I wanted to dampen down any expectations I might have. I did not want to go in to see it too hyped up, and then walk out all sad and feeling cheated. (Blame Ralph Bakshi for that.) The result was that when the parts I ended up hating came along, I was ready to find a way past them. And when I later discovered fanfic, I realized that's what movie-verse is: an AU fanfic.

So I did the same things for TH. I looked for spoilers and found things that might bug me, and was ready to let them slide off my back. AUJ, as a result was a very pleasant experience.

With DOS, there were a lot more things I hated to see, and a few places where I actually laughed when it wasn't supposed to be funny. I was expecting Tauriel to be a Mary Sue, and so was somewhat pleased that she wasn't as bad as I had feared she'd be. Lots of plot lines and extraneous material I did not care for. BUT

[grey_wonderer]

You surprised me. Lol. I figured. You wouldn't enjoy it when I saw how far from the canon it strayed. It's so interesting getting everyone's views on this. I've been surprised by just how positive the general opinion is this time. To me, this one deviates way more than TTT and up until now, that was my least favorite if the Tolkien films. (Jackson's that is.)
I went in expecting to love it because I did love AUJ. It differed from the book, but it was still about Bilbo, Thorin, and the company. The minute this story became a chick flick, I was taken out of it. Also, I was looking forward to the Thrush and I thought Beorn got cheated out of his best moments. I liked Bard's family. I felt that they were a nice, harmless invention and I didn't mind at all that Bard was given a better back story. In the long run, his family doesn't change the story. It just fleshed it out.
I love a good AU fan fiction but I wanted the movie to run closer to the book, not exact, just close. AUJ veered off a bit but it was still about Thorin and Bilbo and

[lavendertook]

I liked it overall, but I've come not to expect much characterization or great script writing from PJ--I love his visuals and let the beauty give me a flavor of Middle earth. It's a big wild AU, and Bilbo's centering and role is diminished, but he does mix a little of Tolkien's larger Legendarium into TH that Tolkien had to go back and work on later. Beorn was short-shrifted; the birds are missing, and I think Bilbo's role in reporting Smaug's weakness is being taken away, and I'm not happy with that, but breaking the dwarves into 2 groups makes a lot of pacing sense to me, and I love having Gandalf's adventure added in--I hope we get more Galadriel in the last part. And yay there are multiple women of color living in Lake town

[grey_wonderer]

I liked the diverse population of Laketown. I loved Stephen Fry. I enjoyed Bard's family. I am over the moon about Bilbo's scene when he peeks through the trees at the butterflies! That is just magic. I thought the barrel escape was wonderful right up until the orcs showed up. It turned Bilbo's brilliant escape plan into an almost fatal mistake. Instead of a clever, unnoticed escape master-minded by Bilbo, it became a battle and a showcase for Legolas and Tauriel. I thought it took away from Bilbo's part in things. I do seem to be in the minority though. I'm glad other people enjoyed it. For me, it just didn't work.

[pathvain_aelien]

I agree with you completely. I didn't like the first Hobbit as much as I was hoping, but I was still holding onto a shred of hope that this movie would be good. I was fine with adding things to the movie (assuming they would come from other Tolkien sources) but wasn't fine with just making up random crap and throwing it in there. I can't even pick the biggest problem I had with it-Tauriel's Dwarf-loving or healing powers, Legolas looking and acting so oddly, or Beorn nearly being cut from the movie altogether. He had so little screen-time they could have just cut him.

I guess it could have been worse. I hate the actress playing Tauriel but I thought she did well with what she was given. And I loved Bilbo. But that's about it. The Lord of the Rings movies may have differed from the books but I felt they were made to be true to Tolkien's work, and above all, I felt they were made with love for Tolkien. This movie just felt like typical Hollywood garbage to me.

[grey_wonderer]

I agree with you. I think this was made purely for money. I think that's why we got the romantic triangle and why the triangle involved Legolas, one of the biggest draws to the LOTR films. The powers that be think we need a romance to draw in the female viewers and I find that insulting. I think it's also why some of the dwarves look more like small, hot, rangers and less like Gimli. Lol
I thought the save the day elves took away from Bilbo's importance to the company. Because really, he helped them escape but they escaped, to quote someone or other, 'out of the frying pan and into the fire'.
When I heard Legolas was in the films, I was fine with it. It was entirely possible. A female elf? I had no problems with that either. The romance? Nope, sorry. Didn't need it.

Disappointed

[llinos]

Okay - my first and main reaction was the last thing I would have expected... boredom

[grey_wonderer]

As I was watching it, I just KNEW that you and Marigold would have problems with it. I'm relieved to see that I was correct about that, but sorry you didn't enjoy the film. I wasn't bored, because I got all outraged. Lol. Periantari, Speedy Hobbit, and I were kind of stunned. I was expecting some changes, but not that many! I never dreamed that they would remove most of Bilbo's best efforts and make him a side character in his own book! This story is more about the elves and Kili at this point. Poor Bilbo lost his big escape plan success, and he lost centre stage really.
I thought the dragon was wonderfully done but I hate that Bilbo didn't leave on the Ring. I'm seriously annoyed by the morgal blade thing too. Last time I check, the Orcs didn't have those and neither did the goblins. Wonder if they will explain that in some way in the next film.
I normally see the films two or three times during the opening weekend. In fact, I took the days off work to do just that. To this point though, the one viewing was more than enough for me

and another thing...

[llinos]

There were, as I'm sure you noticed, plot holes all the way through - Marigold was going bananas with her beta hat on! Change things by all means, but the changes should at least make some kind of sense

Drunken Bofur

[llinos]

Lesley just texted me to say that Bofur was on the train at Paddington and was very jolly and drunk! So maybe he is prone to getting pissed and oversleeping!