The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Post-release)

[YenChih Lin]

I was in TDoS yesterday on my brithday, I gave myself a special present and I was TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY!!! Wow! I watched it in the HFR 3D version and I thought, I was in the movie! The clearity and details of the pictures are nothing compared to the movies in the last 3 years. The whole movie was an experience and there are some scenes, that really makes you duck, yuck and shock. Like the Spiders in the woods, that are slaughtered by the Elves everyone in the seat were going "Ewww!" or when they so close to your face, the light forcefield of Gandalf against smokey Sauron was very impressive and when his eye was present, it gives you a "Oooh, $**t!" and when Galdalf was at Erebor at the broken entrance when a bird? flew out of the dark everyone again was jumping off their seats. Smaug looks like a real dragon as well as other creatures looks so real, you won't believe your eyes! Guys, you really miss some unforgettable hours, if you don't go! :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

 

[CutThumb]

It was a bat flying out and it was not at Erebor but at some other location , I’d have guessed near Carn Durn towards the mountains bordering Angmar, where the Nazgul originally came into Eriador or even Mount Gundabad possibly ,Tolkien certainly never specified it. But it would be a long ride back down to Dol Guldor from there. Bats play a major part in “The Battle of the Five Armies”.
The Witch King served Sauron for thousands of years and had no known “tomb” , either for himself or any of the other Nazgul as far as I know. I thought it more likely they had a barrow. When Sauron fell they simply returned to the darkness in Mordor to wait in Minas Morgul I think, at least until Sauron was driven from Dol Guldur.But including it here helped with the plots structure.
I certainly appreciated the way the story now links the Necromancer and Smaug so strongly and why Thorin was set the task by Gandalf of trying to reunite the “seven dwarf tribes” (hah hah). Clever stuff and well thought out. Better than that ending anyway. I noticed PJ got his cameo in very sharply this time, must be a record.

 

[JediG60racer]

I was disappointed in the editing. Very distracted by technical blunders early on.

First off, what was with that crappy placeholder font choice for all the subtitles? May as well have been Comic Sans.

First dialogue scene of the movie, the vocal audio was completely out of sync with the picture.

Go-Pro camera footage during the barrel scene!?!?! REALLY?!?! Come on, that really took me out of it. Like being hit in the head repeatedly, after being so spoiled by beautiful camera work otherwise. I can understand using it as a source, but come on - at least put some effort into editing it so that it has the same cinematographic feel as the rest of the camera work you're using! They didn't even try. Completely different frame rate and quality level was very obvious.

Some really poorly done CGI orcs in various scenes, marching alongside practical photography orcs. Disappointing.


I did like Smaug, but I didn't like the departure from the narrative in which Bilbo remain hidden the entirety of the conversation, eluding Smaug until he leaves. It was nice that they kept the narrative dialogue mostly intact though.

All in all - undecided. I think they should have pushed it back another couple months and finished producing it - it was obviously not done in time for release.

 

[Bryancd]

I'm back from Erebor! Whew, lot's in the Desolation of Smaug, some familiar, and quite a bit brand new to create this triliogy. I had a great time, saw it in IMAX 3D, but the 3D wasn't too big a deal, so don;t feel compelled to see it that way. I loved it, although I think I may have liked An Unexpected Journey more. Spoilers below..






The elements which are in the book work very well for the most part, although I was a bit underwhelmed by the Beorn element and felt the barrel escape the elves was a bit over the top (kind of like the Goblin Town sequence in Unexpected Journey), and the spider of Mirkwood kind of feel been there down that after Shelob in LOTR. The Legolas/Tauriel inclusion works well, and she was terrifc, way better then Arwin. Some of the Laketown sequences drag a bit as well. A new element with Gandalf discovering the emerging Sauron was exciting and Smaug rocked the house.

 

[teragon]

Really like it, better than the first one IMO ! I just love being in middle-earth again. It's just a shame they use so much CGI for practical characters, like the elves, makes them look more agile sure, but a bit too fake for my taste... Smaug on the other hand was superb, props to Benedict C. !
Speaking of actors, Orlando Bloom lost his LOTR look it seems, his face looks larger than in LOTR. Found it a bit distracting, and the blue contacts weren't helping either !

 

[Bryancd]

He does seem to have put on a few pounds…and his eyes are blue.

 

[Paul Andrew]

I really had a lot of fun with it, despite the massive departures from the novel. The cliffhanger ending took me by surprise though, I was ready to see the dragon drop at the end of this flick and have an extended lead up to the battle of five armies in the next one, but that's apparently not the way PJ has it planned for us.

Has there been any announcement regarding the subtitle for the third one or a release date yet?

 

[Geniepants]

The last one is called "There and Back Again".

 

[wuher da brewer]

I really wanted the Lake Town and Smaug show down. If they had left the dwarves out of the mountain, as in the book, they could have set up for the lake town action sequence this movie should have had. I have little problem extending Smaug's ferocity with Bilbo in the mountain, it adds to the cinematic story line, but it was a bit much with all the dwarves running and fighting in the mountain too. Bilbo should have kept the ring on. He's a timid little hobbit. There's no need to try to build him up into some action star. His bravery comes from going on the quest at all, every other bit of courage on display should have been earned, not just on display for the hell of it.

The best thing about this Hobbit is the pacing. The first one was a bore through much of the movie. This one never really feels that way. The parts that are done well are amazing.

I too noticed the audio was out of sync at the beginning when the goblins were talking. Though I wasn't distracted by the barrel sequence, but I did see it in 2D at a theater that often under-projects the film in illumination. It's known more for being the place to have dinner and drinks than a fine theatrical display.

All that said, bring on the Battle of the Five Armies. I'm ready!

 

[DuneMuadDib]

He does seem to have put on a few pounds…and his eyes are blue.

I never noticed the eyes, and now that people mention it he does look a bit more well fed.

More distracting for me is that they never bleached his eyebrows to match his wig. Throwing me off seeing blonde elves with black eyebrows.

 

[Treadwell]

One minor thing that has bugged me in both films is that the Orcs are over-subtitled. Often, it is clear what is going on, and we don't need to know the exact wording of what's being said. Do we really need to read "attack"?

 

[SVTStingRay]

great movie especially in HFR, damn it looked beautiful. the scene where tauriel reaches the lake, and the camera pans across some rocks and there is blood in the water, it looked so lifelike, like looking thru a window. legolas looked constipated thru the whole movie. I guess elves outgrow their baby fat in later years lol.

 

[kialna]

I loooooved the movie, the only thing I disliked were the fightscenes. They went so quickly and shaky, I was't sure if I could follow all of it.

I do love how they actually made a confrontation with the dwarves. Much less anticlimactic. But that's a personal preference.

 

[Jeyl]

Yes! That was a great trip! I even spotted Stephen Colbert.

 

[Geniepants]

Where was Stephen Colbert? I missed him. (But, wasn't the bar maid at the Prancing Pony Peter Jackson's daughter?)

 

[SmilingOtter]

Despite my bemusement of adding in a lot while also shortening scenes (like the dwarves' showing up at Beorn's in fits and spurts) I still enjoyed it. That said, the book could have been just fine as a two movie deal. All in all though, more Tolkien on the big screen is not a bad thing.

Bombur's kill ratio during the barrel chase was just epic.

I also noticed that PJ is still hanging out in Bree. He was there in FOTR, and was one of the first folks you see in this one...

 

[DuneMuadDib]

Where was Stephen Colbert? I missed him. (But, wasn't the bar maid at the Prancing Pony Peter Jackson's daughter?)

He was one of the Lakewood spies when they were signaling to sneak the dwarves in. He was the one with the eyepatch that flipped down who tapped the stilt of a house with what I think was a pipe.

 

[Geniepants]

Ah, thanks. I'll have to keep my eye out for him upon my next viewing.

 

[Bryancd]

Where was Stephen Colbert? I missed him. (But, wasn't the bar maid at the Prancing Pony Peter Jackson's daughter?)

And I think I saw Peter Jackson walk out a door just as they cut to Bree.

 

[Kylash]

And I think I saw Peter Jackson walk out a door just as they cut to Bree.

He was in the first shot of the film, a bit pompous to me, lol

The barrel riding scene got a bit ridiculous for me, especially when Bombur started jumping around like a ninja.
The Go-Pro footage was totally out of place for me as well, looked pixelized and just really bad.

However i LOVED the spider scene, perfect, and using Smaug more made sense.