The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

WGH · « **on:** 24 Dec 2013, 04:56 am »

Don't drink any water for a couple of hours before the movie and pee before too because once the movie starts you won't want to leave. We all agreed we like it more than the first Hobbit with plenty of edge of your seat action. Smaug steals every scene he is in.

Wayne

guf · « **Reply #1 on:** 24 Dec 2013, 05:28 am »

The worst part was the 25 minutes of previews...and we got there 30 minutes early to get a good seat. I agreed better than the first and i loved the first one.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 Dec 2013, 07:41 am »

I love the previews! I always get there early in part to get a good seat (only a few I will sit in) but also to see the previews. As for the film, it was great. Better than the first installment IMO, and no dwarves juggling plates.

To be honest I've never read a word of Tolkien so the fact that Jackson seems to be pretty loose with the adaption doesn't bother me at all. Evangeline Lily is beautiful and I liked her character a lot. Beyond that what can I say? As a kid I was a big fantasy fan and played D&D a lot, so it's like being ten years old again to see those types of characters come alive on the screen.

dflee · « **Reply #3 on:** 24 Dec 2013, 01:13 pm »

Am hoping to see it real soon. What venue did you see it in?
Do you think I-Max 3D would be worth it?

Don

WGH · « **Reply #4 on:** 24 Dec 2013, 02:47 pm »

We saw it in 2D because the HFR 3D has gotten such poor reviews and tends to make some people throw up.

Scotlynn · « **Reply #5 on:** 24 Dec 2013, 03:13 pm »

I saw it in 3D when it came out last week and really enjoyed it, particularity the scenes under the mountain with Smaug. I thought the 3D rendering was well-done and effective in those scenes. My son is home from school this week and we're going to see it in 2D today since he hasn't seen it yet and he doesn't like 3D.

I was a big fan of all of Tolkien's books growing up and have been a big fan of all of Jackson's LOTR and Hobbit movies to date. Yes, he has strayed from the text at times, but he hasn't done anything that alters the characters or the overall storyline. He may meander a bit, but always gets back to where it needs to go. In some cases he's merely incorporating other of Tolkien's Middle Earth storylines from other books into the film, and in other cases, perhaps in this film more than any other, he's taking a bunch of creative license to infuse new plot twists. But the sets, scenery, script and characters are so good that the added plot twists don't bother me at all. As far as I'm concerned, no harm, no foul.

Now another year for the final installment....looks like it'll be 3 hours of nonstop battle!

fejnomit · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 Dec 2013, 05:26 pm »

Yes - hard to imagine that they are going to squeeze 3 hours out of the Smaug attack but on the other hand I really liked the way they slowed things down for this second installment - meaning the way they were able to really linger on each plot element and let the action sequences really play out without needing to jump to the next beat so quickly (which is what was difficult about the Lord of the Rings for me). Anyway, this film provided a very enjoyable escape. But I would try 2D next time - the glass are still uncomfortable, have limited viewing range and tend to get very grimy over time...

wushuliu · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 Dec 2013, 06:24 pm »

Quote from: dflee on 24 Dec 2013, 01:13 pm

Am hoping to see it real soon. What venue did you see it in?
Do you think I-Max 3D would be worth it?

Don

See it in 3D but I don't recommend the HFR (48fps?) version. You'll know because the theater lists HFR and it's more expensive. HFR makes the film look like 3D video basically, so the CGI looks amazing but everything looks like it was shot on digibeta. Biggest frickin' mistake Jackson made was shooting in HFR.

Other than that it was enjoyable if overlong.

wushuliu · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 Dec 2013, 06:27 pm »

Quote from: Rob Babcock on 24 Dec 2013, 07:41 am

I love the previews! I always get there early in part to get a good seat (only a few I will sit in) but also to see the previews. As for the film, it was great. Better than the first installment IMO, and no dwarves juggling plates. To be honest I've never read a word of Tolkien so the fact that Jackson seems to be pretty loose with the adaption doesn't bother me at all. Evangeline Lily is beautiful and I liked her character a lot. Beyond that what can I say? As a kid I was a big fantasy fan and played D&D a lot, so it's like being ten years old again to see those types of characters come alive on the screen.

Too bad we also have to put up with 40min. of ads before that for a good seat. I got a hold of some great budget IEMs so now I just pull my cap down and listen to tunes til the movie starts. Or roll eyes with my gf at the ridiculous ads.

BobM · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 Dec 2013, 06:35 pm »

Definitely see it in 3D. Yeah, I agree that I enjoyed it better than the first one. Smaug is awesome.

However my digital design and 3d rendering college student daughter noticed some things in the movie that she says must have been rushed. Especially in the Smaug scenes in the coin vault, she says some things just looked incomplete. In one place she says there was a sword sticking up next to Bilbo that just disappeared as she was looking at it.

But then she was the only one who noticed this in our group, probably because she is trained to see that stuff.

bpape · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Dec 2013, 06:41 pm »

Going to go see it tonight.

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Dec 2013, 07:12 pm »

Quote from: guf on 24 Dec 2013, 05:28 am

and we got there 30 minutes early to get a good seat

We have reserved seating at our theater, along with full livingroom type recliners.

dflee · « **Reply #12 on:** 28 Dec 2013, 07:10 am »

Wife wanted I-Max 3D and thus it was. Really enjoyed the 3D, especially Smaug. My wife is a
Tolkien fanatic having read the book countless times and was really miffed. She said at times
she had to remind herself this was the Hobbit. I feel Jackson did take liberties on this one and
it left me with a taste in my mouth. Even Smaug was a little long in tooth.

Don

Mudslide · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 Dec 2013, 03:05 pm »

Hi guys. I'm a huge fan of the books and Peter Jackson's presentations. I believe that the original three Ring movies were among the best movies ever made.

That said, I respectfully disagree with previous assessments. My wife and I went to the theater this week to see it in 2D. While the CG was awesome as usual...we thought it not as clean as the other flicks in the series. But the killer for us was that this episode was quite non-Tolkein and so disjointed in its story line, that we went away pretty disappointed. It was just .... another movie to see as an excuse to eat too much popcorn. I sure hope the last installment saves the trilogy.

For us, the first four Rings/Hobbit deserved 5 stars out of 5. This one rated a 3 from us. YMMV.

rooze · « **Reply #14 on:** 28 Dec 2013, 03:07 pm »

I loved the LOTR trilogy and I understand that the Hobbit is the prequel, but it really feels like a sequel and that Smaug is #5 in a long drawn-out epic where nothing much ever changes.

None have captured the magic of the first LOTR where we were introduced to the Shire and the wonderful characters and we marveled at the special effects and the grand scale of the production.
It all just feels like more of the same, a rather weak attempt to prolong the life of the cash-cow long after she should've been put out to pasture. I doubt I'll even bother with the next installment.

fsimms · « **Reply #15 on:** 28 Dec 2013, 03:38 pm »

I saw it in IMAX 3D. I thought it was better than the first Hobbit. It was really good.

It is said that making good sequels is very hard. A lot of freshness and surprise is lost on a sequel just by nature. George Lucas stopped making Star Wars after 3 for a very long while. He had 9 movies that he envisioned. George said that it almost killed him trying to make each sequel better than the previous one just to be as good. I guess starting with one of the best movies ever made is a tough act to follow. LOL

Bob

ctviggen · « **Reply #16 on:** 28 Dec 2013, 07:00 pm »

What I don't understand is why are there three movies for one book? That seems overkill.

ptmconsulting · « **Reply #17 on:** 28 Dec 2013, 10:40 pm »

One word ... MONEY!

mg8 · « **Reply #18 on:** 28 Dec 2013, 11:52 pm »

I saw it in 2D last week. It was not what I had hoped but it was enjoyable. Much of the story line seemed just an opportunity to impress the latest CG animation craft. This episode seemed to get the balance between drama and action wrong somehow. I walked out thinking that Peter Jackson could have accomplished the Hobbit story in two movies. At nearly 3 hours each, the story would not have felt "compressed". Just my $0.02.

JackD201 · « **Reply #19 on:** 29 Dec 2013, 07:09 am »

I think it was way too long with some action scenes being borderline gratuitous. I still find it hard to identify with this band of heroes. Not enough Dwarf blood in me perhaps? LOL.

Saw it in 3D but had bad seats. It was not a nice experience. I should have watched it in 2D. I can't complain about the sound in ATMOS though.

I'll no doubt watch the 3rd installment but I couldn't help but feel that everything could have been tied up in 2 movies quite easily. This felt more Peter Jackson's King Kong than LOTR to me.