The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

[A Marvel Fanboy]

Gravity is so overrated.

[Crusader]

 

A squandering of money, talent, and goodwill. 

 

This. 

 

In LOTR there was like 3 times more scenes shot on location which lends some credibility to the effort to make all this fantasy fairytale feel more real 

 

Here Jackson managed to make Mckellen's now inconic portrayal of Gandalf totally irrelevant and instead focuses on everything around him ... same if not even more can be applied for Freeman's Bilbo who also owns the role and yet he's also sidelined here to enormous extent 

 

Cumberbatch as always delivers with his magnificient voice work 

 

The more I think about the ending the more I find it insulting ... seriously did someone manage to come up with a movie that ended DURING its climax ? yeah keep trying ... just proved the fact that these aren't real movies ... more like PJ's version how Hobbit should be adapted that Tolkien quite frankly wouldn't have been fond of at all 

[Noctis]

Yea, way too long and bloated. I just can't understand how Peter Jackson's thought-process works with these films. Honestly, they have no emotional resonance whatsoever, and there are way too many characters. Are we supposed to care about them? I couldn't feel for any of them. Tauriel was actually a good addition and she made the film better...but again, it's just too dull. Her romance didn't work.

 

Smaug was decent, but not great. It just wasn't nearly as exciting as I thought it was going to be. The ending of the film didn't really frustrate me, but I can completely understand why so many others are bothered by it. Yea, PJ is the king of bloats.

 

C

 

Marginally better than AUJ, but that's not saying much at all. It really is such a waste of money and talent.  

[MovieMan89]

Gravity is so overrated.

Pfft. You might as well say oxygen is overrated.

Edited December 16, 2013 by MovieMan89

[Noctis]

What a frustrating film. Unlike the tedious AUJ I constantly saw what could have been a tight, effective action vehicle that delved into the themes of power and corruption that LOTR reveled in. The production value is great too--even if there's an overload of CGI--so it really bugged me that so much of the film feels like busywork. There's no humanity or storytelling in this movie. I didn't care about Bilbo (neither did the movie apparently) or Gandalf or the elves who captured my attention in LOTR. Even the best action sequences are immediately undermined by a lack of any meaningful purpose emotionally or narratively. So it's almost worse because I could feel how much better and fulfilling Jackson and company could make this film and I didn't get any of it. 

 

A squandering of money, talent, and goodwill. 

Perfectly said. 

[MovieMan89]

the triangle wasnt PJ's idea

It was reported in multiple articles how Evi signed up for DOS & TABA b/c she was promised NO love triangle

It was WB's who pressured them

again we dont know what realy happened so I cant be sure100%

Hmm, I did not know this. I wondered why PJ would do something like that. Like I said, I can always understand where he's coming from at least with this franchise, but not with that. Why did WB want that I wonder?

[Leyla]

Hmm, I did not know this. I wondered why PJ would do something like that. Like I said, I can always understand where he's coming from at least with this franchise, but not with that. Why did WB want that I wonder?

well I guess b/c it sells

Twilight, THG, Vamp Diaries have these awful triangles

+they cooked this triangle with the most handsome dwarf (& not someone ordinary looking)

they want teenage girls' money (& for some reason they think only triangles can achieve that  )

as a female I was pretty pissed they went with such cheap trick & in Middle Earth no less

Edited December 16, 2013 by Leyla

[Heretic]

LOTR is one of the most emotionally resonating trilogies ever. That is something The Hobbit trilogy so far lacks, which is why I gave it a B rather than an A.

[ChD]

So far, Thorin is my favorite character from the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings universe. It might be partially the fact that he is played by Armitage (who I think is a great choice), but damn, that dwarf is a bad ass.

[Gopher]

I've also had it up to here with this 'you can't review The Hobbit films as individual movies!' garbage. Each LOTR film works as its own entity and as part of an epic story. DOS isn't a movie and neither is AUJ despite both clocking in at over 160 minutes and they don't even feel like satisfying parts of a larger tale. All I've seen so far is 5 and a half hours of some semblance of a plot undermined by extraneous bloat, CGI boredom and fan wankery. The Hobbit should have been one movie. Maybe then it would have some narrative momentum.

[Lumos]

Saw this last night. The last 45 min are on a completely different level from the rest of the movie. If they trimmed up the middle a bit this could have been a really great film. Smaug was stupendous, but he doesn't really redeem the film which was kind of a chore to get through. And I love the characters and the whole middle earth universe so I'm sure it was even more tedious for the uninitiated First 100 min: 2.5/5Last hour: 4/5Overall: 3/5

Edited December 16, 2013 by Lumos

[Crusader]

I would have been fine with 2 movies ( albeit 2 movies that clock in under 140 minutes ) but I think that given the structure of the story first part was always going to be inferior due to all major stuff happening in the second movie 

 

Still though now there are 2 movies with no purpose whatosever artistic wise 

 

Sure yeah the studio will make more money PJ will satisfy his fetish for this world and will also make more money but see LOTR had a lot of pedigre and these movies are kinda shitting on it somehwat 

[lilmac]

I didn't catch that. Clever.

On second viewing it was Thorin.  

[IndustriousAngel]

I've also had it up to here with this 'you can't review The Hobbit films as individual movies!' garbage. Each LOTR film works as its own entity and as part of an epic story. DOS isn't a movie and neither is AUJ despite both clocking in at over 160 minutes and they don't even feel like satisfying parts of a larger tale. All I've seen so far is 5 and a half hours of some semblance of a plot undermined by extraneous bloat, CGI boredom and fan wankery.The Hobbit should have been one movie. Maybe then it would have some narrative momentum.

So you would say that for instance FotR or TT are standalone films?

We never watch only one of them, we always watch all 3 back-to-back (maybe one an evening, and once a year the marathon)

[Killimano3]

This movie would be considered way better if LOTR hadn't happened yet...

 

everyone who reviews it or talks about it always like "Yeah that was cool i guess... but it's still not LOTR"

[Dementeleus]

the triangle wasnt PJ's ideaIt was reported in multiple articles how Evi signed up for DOS & TABA b/c she was promised NO love triangleIt was WB's who pressured themagain we dont know what realy happened so I cant be sure100%

I really doubt that. The head triumvirate of PJ/Walsh/Boyens makes all creative decisions.

[baumer]

I've also had it up to here with this 'you can't review The Hobbit films as individual movies!' garbage. Each LOTR film works as its own entity and as part of an epic story. DOS isn't a movie and neither is AUJ despite both clocking in at over 160 minutes and they don't even feel like satisfying parts of a larger tale. All I've seen so far is 5 and a half hours of some semblance of a plot undermined by extraneous bloat, CGI boredom and fan wankery.

The Hobbit should have been one movie. Maybe then it would have some narrative momentum.

 

[Gopher]

Another baumer/Gopher teamup for the ages. 

[DAR]

I've also had it up to here with this 'you can't review The Hobbit films as individual movies!' garbage. Each LOTR film works as its own entity and as part of an epic story. DOS isn't a movie and neither is AUJ despite both clocking in at over 160 minutes and they don't even feel like satisfying parts of a larger tale. All I've seen so far is 5 and a half hours of some semblance of a plot undermined by extraneous bloat, CGI boredom and fan wankery.The Hobbit should have been one movie. Maybe then it would have some narrative momentum.

 

 

Now this is me addressing the film sight unseen. Is this a case like  Bay or Verbinski, there's nobody to tell Jackson no because hey why would you say no to a filmmaker that brought billions of dollars to your studio. 

Edited December 16, 2013 by DAR

[4815162342]

DOS isn't a movie and neither is AUJ despite both clocking in at over 160 minutes and they don't even feel like satisfying parts of a larger tale. All I've seen so far is 5 and a half hours of some semblance of a plot undermined by extraneous bloat, CGI boredom and fan wankery.The Hobbit should have been one movie. Maybe then it would have some narrative momentum.

It is rare to see such an intelligent poster skilled in the cinema universe, be so very wrong.