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The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five ArmiesFollow

#1 Dec 15 2014 at 10:57 AM Rating: Good
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Tonight theaters all over will be having a special showing. You can see this last PJ Middle Earth Movie on an early release, along with the first two Hobbit movies, in a 10 hour movie marathon. Ticket price is $27.00 in my theater.

As much as I'm excited for this movie, I'm not that excited. I am going to try and bust of work early on Weds though, it's regular release day, and go see the matinee.

For any that missed it, Colbert's interview with Smaug:

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#2 Dec 15 2014 at 1:01 PM Rating: Decent
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I'm going to see it this weekend at the Imax. They were doing the marathon there too, but I didn't want to miss a day of work to see it.
#3 Dec 15 2014 at 1:01 PM Rating: Decent
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I'm going to see it this weekend at the Imax. They were doing the marathon there too, but I didn't want to miss a day of work to see it.
#4 Dec 15 2014 at 3:01 PM Rating: Decent
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So going to see it, and that interview was awesome!
#5 Dec 15 2014 at 5:28 PM Rating: Good
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Thirty bucks for ten hours of movie theater is a pretty good deal.

For other people. I'd go batty, even with interventions intermission.

Edited, Dec 15th 2014 6:39pm by lolgaxe
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#6 Dec 15 2014 at 5:31 PM Rating: Decent
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The place that I was looking at that had the marathon was going to have discounted concessions (to prices that were almost reasonable), and apparently a special opening message from Peter Jackson. I seriously considered going. If it had been on a weekend, I probably would have.
#7 Dec 15 2014 at 5:33 PM Rating: Excellent
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Yeah all three movies in a row is way too much for my taste. Watched the first two last week to get in the right mood and now I can't wait for an opportunity to go see the Battle of the Five Armies.
#8 Dec 19 2014 at 8:00 AM Rating: Good
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I went and saw this Wednesday. Opening day 3:30pm show and must of been all of 20 people in the theater. I was expecting greater fandom for this.

I enjoyed the movie. I've enjoyed every bit of what Peter Jackson has down with Middle Earth Cinema. However, this was probably my least favorite of the three Hobbit movies. Over-all though, I liked the Hobbit movies better than the Trilogy movies.

The orcs were awesome. The interactions between Azog and Bolg and even the dwarfs lent a bit more humanoidness to the creatures. Also the various giant greenskin critters that were used in the battle were pretty neat.

The Dragon slaying was ok, but there could have been way more Smaug dialog and way less Alfrid. Alfrid was overdone adding nothing to the story as far as I can tell. The relationship between Tauriel and Kili made it's way to one of love, but it was just as Kili was dying. It was kind of weird, but I liked the way it played out - specially with Legolas. He was so cool about it all. In fact, it almost seemed that Tauriel's ability to care so much about a dwarf caused Legolas to care even more deeply about Tauriel ..or at least respect her more.

Imo, Thranduil gets MVP of the show. I loved the character Smiley: inlove
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#9 Dec 19 2014 at 8:38 AM Rating: Good
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Everyone else was still working to get money for Christmas.
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#10 Dec 20 2014 at 6:20 PM Rating: Decent
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I didn't like it as much as I did the last movie. While I expected the movie to spend a fair amount of time on the battle, I didn't expect fully half the movie to be taken up by it. Sure the effects looked great and the battle was very well done, but I would have liked a bit more story. Especially the bit with Sauron, that was maybe ten minutes. I headed out to a theater I hadn't been to before to see it in IMAX 3D, so I was at least in the right theater for a CGI fest. The movie should definitely win a number of technical awards, but it won't be sweeping the Oscars the way RoTK did.
#11 Dec 21 2014 at 9:55 AM Rating: Good
I'm with Turin on this movie.
Me and my Father went and saw it yesterday. 2 and half hour "ending" movie was too much imo. My Father is a fan, but he found the movie to be a chore to watch,
I liked the effect. Not a fan of what Hollywood did with the movies story wise vs. the book, but as a stand alone it is a decent pre-story to the "bigger" one.
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#12 Dec 21 2014 at 9:19 PM Rating: Good
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I didn't plan accordingly to make time to see it this weekend. And ended up having a pre-christmas family dinner and gift exchange. I'll have to see about watching it this week or sometime on the weekend.
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#13 Dec 22 2014 at 8:21 AM Rating: Good
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We're having a small x-mas dinner, just 4 of us. So we're going to go see Into the Woods x-mas evening.
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#14 Dec 23 2014 at 6:16 PM Rating: Excellent
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Just came home from the Battle of the Five Armies.

What I liked:

- Bilbo (surprising since I did NOT like him in the first two movies)
- The ending which directly leads into LotR 1; not an important aspect of the movie and not even unexpected since the opening sequence of Hobbit 1 worked the same way; it pleased me nonetheless
- Azog and Bolg
- Most of the fight between Thorin and Azog
- Some of the other fighting scenes
- Some of the dwarfs getting a bit of screen time that were only in the background for the first two movies



What I did not like:


- The whole Smaug part belonged in the second movie; it was done well enough but it felt very disconnected
- Elrond & Saruman Vs the Ringwraiths; the Nazgul having powers they do not possess anymore in the LotR movies is stupid; Elrond and Saruman being powerful and battle-experienced is fine but the way they fought did not display their strengths the way I imagined them
- Galadriel Vs Sauron; I liked how she went evil banshee queen but the hectic cuts between her and the close-up of a flickering Sauron just seemed bad
- The rest of the White Council having no part in the confrontation with Sauron; would've made much more sense if they had kicked out the Wraiths and then confronted the Big Evil all together
- Thranduil being an even bigger a-hole than Thorin but without any explanation other than "I don't like dwarfs"



I just put everything in spoilers because I'm lazy.

Edited, Dec 23rd 2014 7:17pm by TherealLogros
#15 Dec 23 2014 at 8:33 PM Rating: Decent
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TherealLogros wrote:

What I did not like:

- The whole Smaug part belonged in the second movie; it was done well enough but it felt very disconnected
- Elrond & Saruman Vs the Ringwraiths; the Nazgul having powers they do not possess anymore in the LotR movies is stupid; Elrond and Saruman being powerful and battle-experienced is fine but the way they fought did not display their strengths the way I imagined them
- Galadriel Vs Sauron; I liked how she went evil banshee queen but the hectic cuts between her and the close-up of a flickering Sauron just seemed bad
- The rest of the White Council having no part in the confrontation with Sauron; would've made much more sense if they had kicked out the Wraiths and then confronted the Big Evil all together
- Thranduil being an even bigger a-hole than Thorin but without any explanation other than "I don't like dwarfs"



- I suspect if they'd done Smaug entirely in the second film, it would have made the third even more single note than it was. Kinda on the fence with this one. If they'd done better balancing in the third film, then they could/should have finished off Smaug in the second, leaving the third to the aftermath.

- Honestly, I thought the Council fighting Sauron was the best part of the film. I wish they'd spent twice as much time on it, and trimmed the main battle a bit. I got the impression that the Nazgul were in spirit form because Sauron was. They had powers they didn't have in the LotR because Sauron was directly there empowering them (basically, reanimating them instantly versus having to take some time as in the LotR). Very much felt like a boss fight where the minions keep respawning until you defeat the boss. Dunno, it didn't bother me that much.

- Didn't notice hectic cuts. Seemed just about right to me. I saw it in normal digital. Did you see it in another format maybe? Graphics aside, I did like how they established clearly who really is the most powerful being in Middle Earth. Just in case anyone forgot. Oh! And I loved how they had Saruman gaping at Sauron's eye. Very good set up to his betrayal in LotR, right up to him repeating the very phrase that Sauron says about how the age of man is over and now it's the age of the orc.

- To be fair, he was basically a jerk for the sake of being a jerk in the book as well. And Tolkien gives more or less the same "Dwarves and Elves don't get along" rationale for it there too. Jackson actually adds in a few more bits about his back story to attempt to explain it (his wife dying, and Thorin's grandfather ******** him over), but it was in the first film (I think?) so you may have forgotten about it by the third. I've certainly forgotten all but the most basic stuff that there was some history involving the white stones, and greedy dwarves, and that being why he didn't help them when Smaug first attacked. Details are foggy though. I did like that by the end, he does more or less come around. So basically a win all around for the good guys. Kinda.


Edited, Dec 23rd 2014 6:34pm by gbaji
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#16 Dec 24 2014 at 8:03 AM Rating: Good
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I agree with the whole wizard battle scene. It was poorly done and really was disconnected from the movie. I'm not sure why it was even included except perhaps to tie things in more to the Trilogy.

Elves v Dwarves have always been the cats and dogs of high fantasy. I very much was under the impression that Thranduil's arrogance was simply him being the king of the wood elves. But his obstinance was due to extreme empathy for his people as revealed when he looked upon all the dead elves after the first part of the battle, but then really defined in his last line to Tauriel after Kili died. As I mentioned before, I thought King Thranduil was the most interesting character in this film. And of course his battle elk was really sexy.




Edited, Dec 24th 2014 3:04pm by Elinda
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#17 Dec 24 2014 at 3:03 PM Rating: Decent
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Well, if we're going to ***** about the little things in the movie, I've got a few.

1. Trolls in the daylight. They should have turned to stone. In the book, the bats flying overhead blacked out the sun, but no such thing happened in the movie. This one wouldn't bother me so much if trolls turning to stone wasn't a major plot point in the first movie.

2. Bilbo doesn't take any of the treasure with him when he leaves, but shows up in the shire carrying a chest. Bookwise, he took a small chest of silver and another of gold, and also dug up the gold left behind in the troll cave.

3. The ending being so rushed that we didn't find out anything at all that happened after the battle.
#18 Dec 25 2014 at 9:39 AM Rating: Excellent
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I wasn't too fond of them throwing around cryptic names like Angmar all the time. I read all the books repeatedly and could place most of those but not all. Seemed like bad fan service to me. "Hey look, we actually bothered to read the Silmarillion!"

The earth worms were... weird? Did they die out between Hobbit 3 and LotR 1? Or did they just leave for greener pastures?


Not going to lie. The more I think about this movie the more I dislike it. Peter Jackson has done many things right in his six movies but in the third Hobbit there were even more unnecessary dumb concepts/lines/scenes than in any of the other five. Bah :/
#19 Dec 30 2014 at 1:28 AM Rating: Good
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TherealLogros wrote:
I wasn't too fond of them throwing around cryptic names like Angmar all the time. I read all the books repeatedly and could place most of those but not all. Seemed like bad fan service to me. "Hey look, we actually bothered to read the Silmarillion!"

The earth worms were... weird? Did they die out between Hobbit 3 and LotR 1? Or did they just leave for greener pastures?


Not going to lie. The more I think about this movie the more I dislike it. Peter Jackson has done many things right in his six movies but in the third Hobbit there were even more unnecessary dumb concepts/lines/scenes than in any of the other five. Bah :/


Witch-King of Angmar, learn to LotR.

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#20 Dec 30 2014 at 5:31 AM Rating: Excellent
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Witch-King of Angmar, learn to LotR.


TherealLogros wrote:
I read all the books repeatedly and could place most of those but not all.
#21 Dec 30 2014 at 8:12 PM Rating: Good
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So if I thought 1 was alright and 2 was super boring (and eye-roll-worthy, at best), should I bother seeing 3?
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#22 Dec 31 2014 at 5:47 PM Rating: Excellent
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So if I thought 1 was alright and 2 was super boring (and eye-roll-worthy, at best), should I bother seeing 3?


No.

I finally watched it with some friends.

Could not stop facepalming and snickering.

- Alfred (?) needed to die many many many times. Pointing out how much of a lying coward he is multiple times seriously gets old, fast.
- Legolas running out of arrows and stunned that he ran out provoked the comment of "He finally ran out after six movies" from one of my friends, which just set off a giggling fit from us.
- Legolas jumping on free-falling bricks as leverage to get higher was a bit too much platform-gamey for me to not snicker.
- (paraphrased) "Oh, it's goblin mercenaries, only a 100 of them. We'll take care of it." Said two dwarves.

Now, the mass battle choreography was nice to watch, but in a Riverdance kind of way. I think they tried to inject way too much humor in that, and it detracted from the awesome for me significantly. Watching the elk/hind/horned animal thingie pick up five orcs for Thranduil to mass decapitate ended up being funny rather than awesome. Hell, he looked really bored just slaughtering orcs left and right. And let's not get into Dain there...



Edited, Dec 31st 2014 6:48pm by Ravashack
#23 Jan 02 2015 at 10:58 AM Rating: Good
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Yeah, I'll go ahead and wait. If I happen to cross paths with the movie for free somewhere down the line, maybe I'll watch it. But naaah.
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#24 Jan 05 2015 at 4:26 PM Rating: Decent
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Ravashack wrote:
idiggory wrote:
So if I thought 1 was alright and 2 was super boring (and eye-roll-worthy, at best), should I bother seeing 3?


No.

I finally watched it with some friends.

Could not stop facepalming and snickering.

- Alfred (?) needed to die many many many times. Pointing out how much of a lying coward he is multiple times seriously gets old, fast.
- Legolas running out of arrows and stunned that he ran out provoked the comment of "He finally ran out after six movies" from one of my friends, which just set off a giggling fit from us.
- Legolas jumping on free-falling bricks as leverage to get higher was a bit too much platform-gamey for me to not snicker.
- (paraphrased) "Oh, it's goblin mercenaries, only a 100 of them. We'll take care of it." Said two dwarves.

Now, the mass battle choreography was nice to watch, but in a Riverdance kind of way. I think they tried to inject way too much humor in that, and it detracted from the awesome for me significantly. Watching the elk/hind/horned animal thingie pick up five orcs for Thranduil to mass decapitate ended up being funny rather than awesome. ****, he looked really bored just slaughtering orcs left and right. And let's not get into Dain there...



You're actually hitting all the high points IMO. I liked that they put in the semi-comical stuff. Keeps it from just being one bit long boring battle.

Oh. And by random chance I was watching Hellboy 2 like two days after seeing the Hobbit. In that film, there's a scene where Hellboy does a similar "run across the bricks as the bridge is collapsing" bit. Only you could totally see the harness he was wearing pulling him up as he ran. My immediate thought wasn't how cheesy it was, but how much better they did it visually in the Hobbit film. So there's that.
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#25 Jan 05 2015 at 5:19 PM Rating: Excellent
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If the comic relief is done wrong (see: Alfrid, who was just as annoying as Jar Jar Binks to me) I'd prefer the long 'boring' battle. Since when are battles boring? They're awesome!


Edit to correct Alfrids name.

Edited, Jan 5th 2015 6:20pm by TherealLogros
#26 Jan 06 2015 at 7:36 PM Rating: Decent
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TherealLogros wrote:
If the comic relief is done wrong (see: Alfrid, who was just as annoying as Jar Jar Binks to me) I'd prefer the long 'boring' battle. Since when are battles boring? They're awesome!


To be fair, the Alfrid thing may have gone on a scene or two too long. Didn't bother me that much though. It provided a bit of break from all the serious business going on. Can't be too serious.

Oh. And I forgot to mention. The whole bit about two dwarves casually commenting that they'll deal with the 100 goblins was an awesome reference for anyone who's played lots of RPGs. PCs do that sort of thing all the time, so the though process for me was like "that's crazy to take on that many!" followed instantly by "but exactly what I'd have my characters do/say". Dunno. I liked it.

It reminded me of a particular scenario where we were playing a group of our more powerful characters. We were trying to track down the super powerful nearly deity level bad guy who was causing problems. One of which was an horde of well armed minions running about. At some point we ran into about a hundred of them, all marching with their fancy armor and whatnot. They demanded that we surrender to be taken to their leader for questioning/torture/death/whatever. This prompted a discussion where someone floated the idea of allowing ourselves to be captured so as to be taken to their camp, where presumably their commander was and where we might be able to gain some insight into where his boss (ie: the big bad) was. This seemed easier than us wandering around looking for them. After several minutes of this discussion (and the final decision to surrender) it occurred to us how this would look in any sort of real world to the bad guys. Ludicrous right? I mean, there's a hundred of them, well trained and equipped, and just a handful of us. And we weren't even wearing matching armor or anything!
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