So Long, PJ, And Thank You For the Visuals...

[perelleth]

...but please, please, do stay away from The Silmarillion.

So I went to see The Battle of the Five Armies on Christmas Day.. The she-balrgogling loved it. Me, I almost fell asleep in places.

Comments

[dawtheminstrel]

I enjoyed the movie, probably because I went with fairly low expectations. No one brings ME to life better than PJ. My favorite were the scenes of Bilbo and Gandalf traveling back to the Shire with the changing flowers and seasons in the foreground and background.

I averted my eyes from Thranduil, Legolas, and pretty much all the wood elves, sad to say.

But I loved the scenes in Laketown.

[dawtheminstrel]

Another scene I liked took place between Bilbo and Gandalf after the battle. There's no dialogue. They're just sitting next to one another. Gandalf fiddles with his pipe. Bilbo swings his feet. And yet it seemed a comforting moment between them.

[perelleth]

yes, I got what they were trying to do but seemed a bit poor, taking into account what had just happened... Anyway, I guess I didn't expected to be bored through much of it.

[perelleth]

I found that low expectations helped a lot. The scenery is incredible. I'm glad they put visuals to what one has been imagining for years.

[clodia_metelli]

I just got back from this! Agree on all counts, and I rather fear the way my sister and I howled with laughter at the back may have undercut some moments that were probably meant to be serious. I will add a couple of things

[elliska]

The elves jumped OVER a dwarven SHIELD WALL!!!! (?!)

My husband lost it when they did that. He almost left the theater. PJ definitely didn't hire a military consultant and thank God he never fought in a war himself.

And I agree about the HD too. The makeup really was bad for that. Especially on Legolas.

[clodia_metelli]

I am glad someone else felt strongly about the shield wall. For a supposed "battle of five armies", it was really just a disappointing brawl. Particularly disappointing from the elves, who seemed so well trained and disciplined when they first showed up. Did you notice how Principal Orc Antagonist directed his side from his command post, showing a grasp of generalship and tactics that was totally missing on the other side? I thought he deserved to win for the semaphore system alone. (Though his battle-orcs were very badly designed. How on earth does it help to replace all four limbs with maces? Especially when you're not fighting and they need constant help with basically everything?)

I thought Tauriel's makeup was distractingly obvious too. And I always notice when the roots of the hair aren't the same colour as the rest. (Come to that, some of the dwarven beards looked a little carpety, and I'm not sure about all the blonds with thick black eyebrows.)

[perelleth]

lolol. Yes. There are many things I didn't even mention... and that's one of them. So ridiculous, it got us laughing so helplessly someone made us shut up!

[elliska]

I agree with every point. Basically, though, if I closed my eyes every time elves came on the screen (and this is me saying that), I really liked the movie

[perelleth]

I was overall bored, which surprised me. I don't think it was a good fanfic, and there were too many disconnected scenes that were there for the sake of being, IMHO. And what with the pseudo Wormtongue? For Eru's sake, he got nearly as much screen time as Frodo!

Also, the ending, linking with LOTR in such an obvious manner, sounded very heavy-handed, patronizing to me. I would have much preferred a glimpse of Bilbo using the ring sparsely during his comfortable life afterwards, and Gandalf visiting, and even Balin, coming to visit, telling of his plans to resettle MOria... The ending was rushed, to me. BUt, as I said before, the visuals are gorgeous.

[frenchpony]

So now I'm wondering if I should save a few pounds and wait for this to come out on DVD or on Netflix. Especially since I'll want to see Into The Woods in January, too.

[perelleth]

well, you are far more positive than I am, so you might enjoy it. I was surprised that I was bored in parts, that I didn't expect. But I suppose that seeing all that on an extra large screen at least once is worth the bucks.

[dot_o_choillmor]

Ooh, all really interesting! I'll see it sometime in January. I'll have to come back here afterwards and read people's reactions again!

[perelleth]

Oh, Dot, I'm sorry for the spoilers, I really thought I was the last one in seeing it!
Anyway, I think I'm going through a grumpy phase, so don't take my word for it. And after re reading the Hobbit I'm going to start a re reading of Daw's fics, just for the sake of having a good time in Tolkien's playground.

[dot_o_choillmor]

Oh don't worry, I love spoilers! I can never resist.

Besides, I've read the book ;-D

[perelleth]

OMG, Is there a book? I was sure they couldn't just "invent" all that stuff ;-)