My Hobbit review (Spoilers)

[HumblePie]

Bilbo got dragged into providing dinner for a bunch of oafs. Nothing more. They did try to convince him to join, be he was never forced into coming along.

Later on you realize WHY Bilbo was there. Trust me it was not for the ring. That just happened to be a happy coincidence that worked out. Basically, Gandalf knew the stirrings of the old evil was happening. He knew that if there was going to be any real fight put up against Sauron, that every race was going to have to be apart of it. Which included hobbits who are notoriously lazy and distrustful of outsiders. It is basically a test for Gandalf to see what might have to be done to bring them into the fold and what hobbits were capable of. He picked the "easiest' one he thought he could manipulate.

Oh and the protectorate order doesn't give a damn about coercion when it comes to bringing good people into the fight against Sauron if it comes to it. They wouldn't outright conscript or enslave people to fight against Sauron, but they'll do every manipulative little thing they can to get the help they'll need. Gandalf saw the winds of change coming and was trying his best to be out in front. Meaning he knew he had to start forming what would be needed to put a formidable enough of an army together that may have a chance.

The "Hobbit" was a small adventure as a test to test really the mettle of the hobbit race. However, the discovery of the ring changes it far beyond that we later find out.

 

[darkewaffle]

im confused too. especially about the music, it wasn't the same music from LOTR at all.

and golum was in it as well. and froto (for a very brief part).

the golum part i really enjoyed seeing the origin of him and how he lost the ring in the first place, although i felt that scene dragged on quite a bit.

Out of curiosity is it different from the origin of Gollum scene in the extended edition of... it's either ROTK or Two Towers, I can't recall.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Out of curiosity is it different from the origin of Gollum scene in the extended edition of... it's either ROTK or Two Towers, I can't recall.

That is how Gollum finds it. The hobbit is how he loses it.

 

[Jaskalas]

Like I said... LOTR's 13 year old son after he just chugged 4 Red Bulls.

Damn them. Fellowship was the best of the three, cause it was more clever story. I had hoped that these new movies would follow that path.

FOTR was my favorite as well.

I hope you end up disagreeing with me on Hobbit, for your sake.

And I hope if I've lowered your expectations, that that helps...

but I fear in the end, you'll probably end up agreeing with me

Just watched it recently. Your review is 100% spot on. The CGI is very CGI-ish. The danger is not really dangerous. The escapes are ridiculous.

They tried to apply some story element revolving around Bilbo's use to the group, but it fell a bit short. Would have been nice to see him actually use the ring for combat or some heroic effort... but then Gandalf might have noticed... and we all know he isn't allowed to find out until FoTR. Sad pandas.

Perhaps if Bilbo had to struggle to find his courage all film long, and only did so at the end... we might have had something to cheer on. The way they laid it out didn't really hit the right notes. He was always off doing crazy things... so when the finale came it was more of the same. Much as I liked it they just needed better setup.

Sure it retraced the steps of FoTR, the timing and locations. Goblin town appeared to be the lower dungeons of Moria. The ending cinematic view of the lonely mountain mirrored that of Mordor. I can't say that bothered me, was a nice grounding of familiarity as we broach new subjects moving forward.

I am hopeful for the next movies in this new series. They have a chance, and opportunity. What they started with The Hobbit can be made grand. I'm just sad it fell short on Film Master, and I greatly fear for their use of CGI moving forward. It risks to consume the franchise and spoil the story.

In short, it was pleasant though a bit spoiled. There's room for salvation ahead - not sure I expect it to get better though. Prognosis... good enough, 4th ranked LOTR movie.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

That is how Gollum finds it. The hobbit is how he loses it.

That is incorrect. In LOTR they show Bilbo crawling along in the dark, and find the ring; he exclaims "A ring!". IIRC you hear Gollum screaming in anguish about it. That is how it went down in the book. In the Hobbit film, they changed how Bilbo acquired it.

 

[Anubis]

How he finds it in the book - he does not exclaim anything

"Very slowly he got up and groped about on all fours, till he touched the wall of the tunnel; but neither up nor down it could he find anything: nothing at all, no sign of goblins, no sign of dwarves. His head was swimming, and he was far from certain even of the direction they had been going in when he had his fall. He guessed as well as he could, and crawled along for a good way, till suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel. It was a turning point in his career, but he did not know it. He put the ring in his pocket almost without thinking; certainly it did not seem of any particular use at the moment. He did not go much further, but sat down on the cold floor and gave himself up to complete miserableness, for a long while. He thought of himself frying bacon and eggs in his own kitchen at home—for he could feel inside that it was high time for some meal or other; but that only made him miserabler."

 

[purbeast0]

i couldn't care less how it went down in the book compared to the movie. i just thought it was cool in general how they showed how he aquired it, and how he found out about the power it had.

 

[Sureshot324]

It seems like they put like 2/3 of the story in the first movie. I wonder how are they going to extend the rest into 2 more movies.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

i couldn't care less how it went down in the book compared to the movie. i just thought it was cool in general how they showed how he acquired it, and how he found out about the power it had.

Not into the books, no BFD. Film is fine in its own right. But he really has not found out about its power. Invisibility is sort of a default power, if you will, for the untrained. That is why in LOTR, when beings that understand its real power come near it, they act like reformed crackheads that are offered a rock. They even explained that if they had the ring, it would corrupt them, and they would end up being worse than Sauron.

And thanks for the refresher Anubis, my memory was close but not exact.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

It seems like they put like 2/3 of the story in the first movie. I wonder how are they going to extend the rest into 2 more movies.

Hopefully they spend a good amount of time on the spiders. And the battle of 5 armies is long and epic.