TH:TBO5A

[dreamflower]

Finally a chance to put down a few of my thoughts about the movie. I really hope to get a chance to see it again soon!

SPOILERS behind the cut:

I like that the movie jumps right into the action; no recaps, no prologues--we get right into the terror of trying to evacuate a town as it's being flamed by the dragon.

I was glad that the Dwarves who'd stayed behind were able to rejoin the others quickly and with a minimum of fuss. I didn't care for that sub-plot in DOS, I was afraid they'd draw that all out with more drama. I'm glad they didn't--I still don't know what the point of splitting up the Company was.

The evacuation was really suspenseful; I liked that the addition of Bard's children made the whole thing more personal.

In the book, the Dwarves did not even know that Smaug was dead, which made for some suspense. But here, they actually see the dragon fall--something that makes sense in this version.

Thorin falling to the dragon-sickness made me cringe, in a good way! Like the Dwarves and Bilbo, I winced every time he talked about the Arkenstone, every time he said that he would not share the treasure. And the part when he began to rant and his voice morphed into Smaug's voice gave me chills! His hallucination with drowning in the gold was also very effective.

Meanwhile, Bilbo was perfect, as he worried about what to do with the Arkenstone. I swear, Martin Freeman was amazing; not a word, not an expression, that wasn't Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit, and the descendant of Tooks. I cannot say enough how much I admired his performance.

I have been saying for months that for me personally my opinion on the last movie would be based on three key scenes: Bilbo turning over the Arkenstone to Bard and Thranduil, Bilbo's leave-taking of Thorin, and finally, his return to the Shire. While not identical to the book all three scenes were handled very well, especially the death scene. But I found many other great scenes that I did not expect and I really liked.

Every scene with Bilbo and Gandalf made me both smile and tear up. The chemistry between them has been good all through the series, but in this last one the friendship seemed so real and so deep. Ian McKellan made Gandalf his own in a way no one else ever could.

Speaking of Gandalf, I have to say I didn't expect the situation at Dol Goldur to be resolved so quickly. I had imagined PJ would have made much more of that battle than he did. I was pleasantly surprised that he followed canon, and let it be the White Council be the ones to evict Sauron. (And even the relative "ease" of that eviction follows canon, in that Sauron let them chase him out.) I still dislike the whole Angmar sub-plot, but it was really awesome to watch Elrond, Galadriel, and Saruman throw down! I have to admit it was great to see Galadriel use her full power! And Elrond with a sword was impressive! The foreshadowing with Saruman saying leave Sauron to him was clever. None of the others would understand that he was simply putting them off the trail, but the audience would.

Other things I liked:
-Dwarves riding pigs and mountain goats into battle.
-Thranduil thawing out a little. He was still arrogant and haughty, but he wasn't
quite as despicable and cruel as in DOS. I especially liked the scenes in which he showed respect for Bard.
-Radagast rescuing Gandalf with the rabbit sled. I confess to a great fondness for that thing!
-Beorn changing to bear form mid-air! Totally implausible, but very cool!
-Young Bain getting his chance to fight, and also I know it was corny, but I did like bit when his father aimed the arrow over his shoulder. Not the same thing at all, but it sort of reminded me of William Tell.
-There were several overhead shots of the battle that were breathtaking.
-Loved the little nod to Aragorn in the leave taking between Thranduil and Legolas, partly because that bit of dialogue felt VERY fanficcish.
-Bilbo's total failure to slip away without a farewell. Beautifully handled. BTW, have I mentioned yet the terrific friendship chemistry between Bilbo and Balin?
-The Shire. The auction. Bilbo'expressions. And using the Contract as his proof of identity! What a perfect touch! Lobelia and the spoons! :D !
-Ending with "old" Bilbo and with Gandalf at the door!

Now, there were some things I didn't care for at all:

-I thought there was too much Alfrid. The character really wasn't funny enough to warrant that much screen time. I kept hoping he'd fall in the lake and drown.
-I completely lost interest in Tauriel and even Legolas. I know they did their part in the battle and all, but mostly it seemed like a desperate effort to make their characters seem relevant to the story. It's a shame, because I liked Tauriel's character as warrior, but the whole romance thing just dragged and never really felt real.
-The battle went on and on and on and on and...I was SO glad when the Eagles made their appearance; I was really tiring of the fighting by then.

Finally, the thing that capped the entire experience: "The Last Goodbye". Billy Boyd's song was so haunting and ethereal, I felt like he was back in character as Pippin, singing to honor his own lost kin and friends as well as to honor Bilbo's story. My only regret was that I couldn't properly appreciate Alan Lee's beautiful portraits, since everyone decided to get up and walk in front of me! You'd think the movie was over or something.

Comments

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I love this review and agree with all of it. Tauriel and Alfrid were my least favorite portions of the film. Alfrid was just silly. When he was wearing the dress, I kept thinking about the man who escaped the Titanic wearing a dress, or supposedly did. It took me away from the action in this photo and off to ships sinking. As someone else said, it would have been better if Alfrid had been crushed when Smaug fell along with the mayor. He wasted too much time and made Bard look a bit silly since Bard kept trusting the idiot with jobs. I like to think that Bard was way smarter than that!
Sadly, Tauriel was wasted. A female character that could hold her own in battle and perhaps shared a friendship with Legolas would have been fine with me. I just hate that they thought we had to have a romance and that this new female character was basically there to be the center of the world's dullest love triangle. *sigh* Lilly can act so they really missed out there. Also it took away Fili and Kili dying protecting Thorin.

PS Don't tell Sam that I hated the romantic triangle.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Agree with much of what you've said, especially Martin Freeman's performance--he WAS Bilbo!--and Thorin's dragon fever madness. That really was cringe-worthy in a good way, seeing his breakdown.

I did actually like the romantic scenes with Kili & Tauriel. They could have greatly shortened her scenes with Legolas for more of that, in my opinion! I fear Legolas just left me cold in these movies. I much preferred him with his friendship with Gimli in LOTR to TH.

, partly because that bit of dialogue felt VERY fanficcish.

Which is actually what I *disliked* about it. I'm not incensed about it as some are, but as someone who's never bought into the fanon about Legolas and Aragorn being lifelong friends (you know me, I reserve that role in Aragorn's life for Halbarad and the Twins), it made me roll my eyes a wee bit. Still, I appreciated the *idea* of the nod to fanfiction, and I was glad to see Aragorn at least get a mention. I still would have preferred an actual glimpse of him, even at a different age than he would have been in canon. Yet another thing that I can't help wonder if only PJ had just killed off Alfrid, we might have seen.

I'm chuckling a little this morning because, having just rewatched Thor 2 last night, I remember sitting in the theater listening to Billy's song (thankfully, no one was blocking my view of the art) and thinking, "Oh, we have to stay for the post-credit scene!" Oops. Wrong franchise. LOL

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

And even in the Titanic with the man who dressed as a woman, there is something about it that made you sad rather than cringey -- as it indicated a tragic character, someone who has sunk so low after helping to create the crisis (I think he was supposed to be Bruce Ismay, the owner of Titanic, but history is clouding up with whatever they did in the movie :)). With Alfrid it was just sort of cringe-worthy... He wasn't even enough of an interesting character to be tragic or even comic.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything you said here! I just saw it for a second time last night (in 3D) with my sister, and I was still riveted, although I did get restless during some of the very endless battle!

With the rabbits, I noticed that one of them was rolling around on its back at one point - so cute!

I really couldn't stand Alfrid's character at all. I have no idea why so much time was spent on him.

And with Tauriel, I have to agree completely. I liked her as an Elf warrior and I loved the idea of there being a strong friendship between her and Legolas, but yeah, the thing with Kili felt forced and weird. Just unnecessary.

[dreamflower]

PS Don't tell Sam that I hated the romantic triangle.

*giggle*

I think originally Alfrid was meant to be "Wormtongue-light". But he just didn't have what it takes to be that significant. He sort of served a purpose in DOS, but he had none at all in this one except as a time-wasting distraction. He certainly wasn't funny enough to be comic relief.

I liked her original conversation with Kili back in DOS, and I could see it as a kind of fascination/friendship. But then they decided to turn her into Arwen and to save him and make it romantic, and that just ruined it for me. I liked more her skills as a warrior and her integrity in standing up to Thranduil; I would have liked it even more if she'd just been standing up to him because he was wrong, and not because of her being attracted to one of the Dwarves.

[dreamflower]

Actually the more restrained Legolas of this set of movies made sense to me: his character development in LotR was yet to come, so he was still a little clueless in this one. But it made it hard to care much about his storyline--especially since we know he had to survive TH.

I'm fine with that particular fanon (to read) though my own headcanon is that he only met Estel once, when he was quite young and Legolas made a visit to Rivendell as emissary for his father.

Yet another thing that I can't help wonder if only PJ had just killed off Alfrid, we might have seen.

Yup. Alfrid was a big time-waster.

[dreamflower]

I knew there'd be a lot of battle, since that's what they changed the name to, but honestly it really did drag on forever.

The rabbits are awesome. And I really like them a lot, because someone who races sled dogs wrote a whole blog once about how they were actually plausible.

I don't know. Alfrid was the worst OC in the movies.

It did seem forced and not natural at all. Kind of sad at the wasted opportunity to show a female character who was NOT tangled up in a tragic love.

[dreamflower]

He wasn't even enough of an interesting character to be tragic or even comic.

Exactly.

[shirebound]

Meanwhile, Bilbo was perfect, as he worried about what to do with the Arkenstone. I swear, Martin Freeman was amazing; not a word, not an expression, that wasn't Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit, and the descendant of Tooks.

Absolutely.

I completely lost interest in Tauriel and even Legolas. I know they did their part in the battle and all, but mostly it seemed like a desperate effort to make their characters seem relevant to the story.

Absolutely.

"The Last Goodbye". Billy Boyd's song was so haunting and ethereal, I felt like he was back in character as Pippin, singing to honor his own lost kin and friends as well as to honor Bilbo's story.

Absolutely.

Whatever the movie was, and wasn't, it truly was a wonderful finale.

*holds you tight*

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

All agreed. Billy singing and Lee's art were the most beautiful ending. Great beginning. Loved Bilbo being Bilbo. Loved the White Council smackdown. I love the rabbit sled, too, and any chance Radagast got to be awesome and not comic relief. Lobelia and the spoons. I would have liked if Sigrid got as much attention as Bain, but I was glad Hilda got to lead a women's militia and that Laketown continued to have diversity. Less Alfrid, more Bofur, though, please.

[periantari.livejournal.com]

I love Balin and Bilbo friendship and we got two moments of that in which i am pleased. I liked Beorn's half second moment and as i mentioned wished that he would've kicked more orcs out of the way. I did not like the nod to Aragorn because that is movie verse timeline in which i thought shouldn't have been, but obviously if you're going with TTT timeline in which Aragorn did mention he was 87 at the time of the War of the Ring it would make sense. I thought all the Elvish dialogue felt contrived and yes, fanficcish. :p

Missed Thorin funeral, missed Fili and Kili defending their uncle to the death though i knew they were going to change it. :p

Billy's song was amazing. I'm sorry to hear that so many people were in your way. THat happened to me the first viewing then i went twice more to make sure i can actually see the credits and also take pictures of the beautiful drawings. :)

[periantari.livejournal.com]

Freeman's Bilbo really was a highlight i think. he is so hobbitish in all the right ways and he really asserted himself in this movie and i'm glad he didn't get shafted to the side. I even mentioned that i like him as a hobbit and his performance even exceeds that of the 4 main hobbits. However, i guess that is unfair assessment for all the 4 hobbits have hobbitish features as well and its' different story so theyr'e doing different things. But Bilbo here was REALLY Bilbo and i appreciated PJ keeping the hobbity essence of Bilbo.

What did you think of the scene between Gandalf and Bilbo at the end? I do not think that took place until Bag End 60 years later because Gandalf only guessed at what Bilbo had but not really knew. I think they fast forwarded this conversation so that i could be filmed?

[periantari.livejournal.com]

PS Don't tell Sam that I hated the romantic triangle.

hahaha i won't tell! ;)

[dreamflower]

(((hugs tightly back)))

[dreamflower]

Yes, about Sigrid and Hilda--I'd have preferred to see more of those two and less of Tauriel. And definitely less of Alfrid.

[dreamflower]

Well, it would not have made much sense for PJ not to follow the movie-verse timeline in the movie. He took out the seventeen years after Bilbo's Party, and that skewed everything from then on.

I would like to have seen the funeral. I heard they filmed it, so maybe in the EE.

I have always been one to watch the credits after movies, even before filmmakers started putting special things in them to hold people. It annoys me no end that others can't sit still just a few minutes longer to see who worked on the movies.

[dreamflower]

I think it was an essential scene and bit of dialogue to have. I didn't mind that they shifted it out of place; PJ has a habit of doing that, but as long as it makes sense when they have it (remember Gandalf's conversation with Frodo in Moria, shifted there instead of in "Shadow of the Past"?), I don't mind as long as Tolkien's words get in there somehow.

Bilbo truly is the quintessential hobbit. Each of the four hobbits of LotR represents a different quality, but Bilbo has them all. He's so very Tookish, and yet such a Baggins as well! MF captured that perfectly.

[pippinfan1.livejournal.com]

I think you hit the nail on the head with the "dislikes". I, too, quickly tired of Alfrid (drown in the Lake, lol), and Tauriel/Legolass/Kili love thingy.

I was more looking forward to the particular scene in the book where Bilbo wrapped himself in a blanket and wept over the entire war and loss of life, not just Thorin, although that was a sweet scene. I hope PJ includes that in the EE, because if he wanted to pull some emotional heart strings, that's the scene to do it with, and with ease.

All in all, I enjoyed all three movies. I watched each movie as *a* movie, *loosely* based on "The Hobbit". Then the proverbial pill was easier to swallow . :-P

[dreamflower]

All in all, I enjoyed all three movies. I watched each movie as *a* movie, *loosely* based on "The Hobbit". Then the proverbial pill was easier to swallow . :-P

Yep.

I'd love to see that scene in the EE as well. It was so touching; I remember using it as the opening of my story "Concussion".