Tolkienish Tuesday: Desolation of Smaug trailer and fan film The Hunt for Gollum
If anyone hasn't yet seen the trailer, which premiered via the Hobbit films' official FB page earlier today, behold:
My thoughts on the trailer.
- You know what I totally fangirled over? The shot of Bilbo in the treetops with the butterflies. I absolutely love that scene in the book. Hell, I love that scene in the Rankin-Bass film. I love that scene in this film as well.
- I fangirled more over Gandalf and Radagast on principle, although Gandalf needs to fricking enunciate, as this short tumblr post aptly demonstrates for me. [Just googled it: "It's undoubtedly a trap."]
- EREBOR.
- I'm not -too- irked at PJ for turning everybloodything into an action scene. That's what the man does and he's set in his ways. No one's interpretation will bear out my own in all ways, so I'll just use one of those pointless action sequences as an opportunity to visit the restroom like I did during the first Hobbit film.
- Surprisingly enough, I like Legolas here. I also like Tauriel. I like them because they BOTH serve a useful purpose: they give us a glimpse into how Thranduil's folk may have viewed the growing darkness around them, into the sort of dialogue that may have taken place around those issues. Also, this might be a chance to show Legolas grow into somebody more concerned for people outside his own realm, and i think I'd like him a bit more with a backstory like that.
- LAKETOWN.
- B a r r e l s
- Smaug, however, was a let-down. He looked like a pretty generic dragon to me. After all the clever not-quite-showing-Smaug-directly business in the first film, I was expecting that A) they would not ruin that anticipatory buildup by showing us Smaug in the freaking trailer and B) Smaug would look cooler.
_______*_______
Right after viewing the trailer, I ran into the fan film The Hunt for Gollum on youtube, so I went ahead and watched that. I can't recall if I watched it before--I must really not have been in the mood for it, if I did, apparently--although I knew of its existence. While I was bored for the first ten minutes or so, I ended up quite liking it. For regular shmucks on a budget, it's quite a decent piece of work. I actually really loved their orcs, they still looked orcish but not monstrous (I realize this is probably just a function of not having a massive makeup and wardrobe budget, but I liked it). My biggest complaint is that these folks, who are clearly talented, could have made it their own thing instead of trying to pretend they're making Peter Jackson's films. It does suffer a lot from that "oh, cheap copy of Peter Jackson's work," which I find jarring as a viewer. If you've seen it, what are your thoughts?
Click to viewMy thoughts on the trailer.
- You know what I totally fangirled over? The shot of Bilbo in the treetops with the butterflies. I absolutely love that scene in the book. Hell, I love that scene in the Rankin-Bass film. I love that scene in this film as well.
- I fangirled more over Gandalf and Radagast on principle, although Gandalf needs to fricking enunciate, as this short tumblr post aptly demonstrates for me. [Just googled it: "It's undoubtedly a trap."]
- EREBOR.
- I'm not -too- irked at PJ for turning everybloodything into an action scene. That's what the man does and he's set in his ways. No one's interpretation will bear out my own in all ways, so I'll just use one of those pointless action sequences as an opportunity to visit the restroom like I did during the first Hobbit film.
- Surprisingly enough, I like Legolas here. I also like Tauriel. I like them because they BOTH serve a useful purpose: they give us a glimpse into how Thranduil's folk may have viewed the growing darkness around them, into the sort of dialogue that may have taken place around those issues. Also, this might be a chance to show Legolas grow into somebody more concerned for people outside his own realm, and i think I'd like him a bit more with a backstory like that.
- LAKETOWN.
- B a r r e l s
- Smaug, however, was a let-down. He looked like a pretty generic dragon to me. After all the clever not-quite-showing-Smaug-directly business in the first film, I was expecting that A) they would not ruin that anticipatory buildup by showing us Smaug in the freaking trailer and B) Smaug would look cooler.
_______*_______
Right after viewing the trailer, I ran into the fan film The Hunt for Gollum on youtube, so I went ahead and watched that. I can't recall if I watched it before--I must really not have been in the mood for it, if I did, apparently--although I knew of its existence. While I was bored for the first ten minutes or so, I ended up quite liking it. For regular shmucks on a budget, it's quite a decent piece of work. I actually really loved their orcs, they still looked orcish but not monstrous (I realize this is probably just a function of not having a massive makeup and wardrobe budget, but I liked it). My biggest complaint is that these folks, who are clearly talented, could have made it their own thing instead of trying to pretend they're making Peter Jackson's films. It does suffer a lot from that "oh, cheap copy of Peter Jackson's work," which I find jarring as a viewer. If you've seen it, what are your thoughts?