One of the main reasons i haven't updated the website has been out of pure dread for this review (and ridiculous amounts of work). It had to be my next post, yet I was honestly far too afraid to even begin writing it. It has been subject to an extremely varied response, ranging from absolute adoration, to pure loathing. Honestly that is also how I felt, I loved the film for itself, yet saw many flaws in it and detested what PJ did with the story, but we will get into that in a second.
Truth is no one has the "key" or "truthfull" review. Everyone saw something different to love and hate about this film.There is no way to predict what you, as an individual, will love or hate about this film. If you want a very positive review, I recommend Elessar's one on the OneRing.net : Right Here. If you want a more critical but intelligent one (and done by an actual fan rather than most), try TOR's : Right Here. The only thing I can promise ? Eagles ... Let's dive right in.
Oh and I'll leave a spoiler free version later on, but for now ... SPOILERS
Truth is no one has the "key" or "truthfull" review. Everyone saw something different to love and hate about this film.There is no way to predict what you, as an individual, will love or hate about this film. If you want a very positive review, I recommend Elessar's one on the OneRing.net : Right Here. If you want a more critical but intelligent one (and done by an actual fan rather than most), try TOR's : Right Here. The only thing I can promise ? Eagles ... Let's dive right in.
Oh and I'll leave a spoiler free version later on, but for now ... SPOILERS
Smaug and laketown
Let's talk about what I, and many others, looked forward to the most : Smaug's attack on Lake-Town. I think it was honestly one of my favorite parts from the book, 'fire and water' being my favorite chapter after 'an unexpected party'. So many expected this to be a part of the build up towards the climax of the film, the battle of five armies. No one thought it would be the center of the action, but seeing it wrapped up and Smaug dead right before the title even rolls is quite painful. Don't get me wrong, the scene was (almost) done masterfully, and it only left a bad taste in the mouth because we dived into the action so fast ; the complete opposite of the first film ; I was upset at the notion of not seeing bard's bow, which is an honest shame and somewhat hampers the epic confrontation between Bard and Smaug. As for Bard using his son as a ballistae ? I honestly don't know what to say about it. Some people love it, others hate it, it was a ... unique approach by Peter Jackson. Still an awesome scene that was a tad bit rushed in my opinion, yet the high point for many fans of this film. Most people apparently enjoyed this and I can see why.
After the attack
Never skipping a beat ; okay a few, maybe just not right now ; Jackson gives us an immediate follow up on the intense attack, with even more intense salvaging ! And then ? Organising ! (detect the sarcasm) It felt a bit, anticlimactic, the after-attack. I mean one of the most action packed scenes in all of the Legendarium being followed by boring bureaucracy, corrupt officials being shamed and Bard being a very cool guy and as such being elected chief of the men of the lake (he might also have killed a dragon). It was still necessary to explain the aftermath of Smaug's attack, although not immediately after the attack, and it does serve one major purpose ; it is, in my eyes, an indication that PJ will talk about the refounding of Dale in the extended edition, a subject which is quite touchy with many book fans who saw it's omission as a form of sacrilege. This is quite controversial and many people felt the ending was ruined because we only saw Bilbo's ending and a farewell from the dwavres. People did complain about the end of the RotK but this was something else and I will talk about it later on. Since I'm not sure that it will appear in the extended edition, and it should have appeared in the cinematic cut, I don't know if I can disagree with them. What I can say is that this is one of the rare 'build up' moments, seeing how over 99% of the film is pure action.
Dol Guldur
I was enjoying the film up until here, and I will keep enjoying it afterwards. A lot, and I mean A LOT of people really liked this scene. It was to be the 'apendices' part, the casting out of Sauron by the White Council (which is not racist BTW) should have been a Tolkien fan's dream scene, while being a lore nightmare for most, who wouldn't really understand where it came from without much build up. It was anything but a simple 'bridge' between LotR and Hobbit. Me and my friends were almost laughing ... at how BAD it was. It was painfully bad. If you disliked Saruman vs Gandalf 's mortal kombat Kung-Fu in the first trilogy ... you are not going to like this scene, you are going to loathe it. Between Galadriel looking like a saturated female villain from the 90s, covered in dark and spectral 'energy' and Saruman and Elrond teaming up to destroy, and I do mean destroy, Sauron's most powerful lieutenants, the nazgûl. One wonders both how the White Council didn't win the war of the ring single-handedly, or why Christopher Lee doesn't organise self-defense courses. I mean between his war service and his amazing Kung-Fu he must be an amazing teacher. Also Gandalf, granted he was locked in a cage for months but he is still a Maia, grovelling like a child, half-dead, during the entire scene wasn't what I expected from one of my favorite characters ever or one of the most powerful forces of good in Middle-Earth. Seriously, this scene was horrific in my eyes, and it was just as bad (if not worst) for a lot of fans. But in general viewers and critics praised this scene for being 'epic'. I can understand why, it was built up (to my surprise) in previous films and did give Gandalf a much deserved and more important role in the film rather than being an Eagle-Ex Machina.
Thorin's madness
This though, completely made up for it. Thorin going mad was amazing to watch, and I was truly afraid of Richard Armitage's acting. He did an amazing job, as did Martin Freeman. It is one of those rare times where Peter Jackson meddling with the original story has awesome consequences. Taking on a whole Macbeth storyline, Thorin's growing lack of trust in his own people is so well done that it made up entirely for Dol Guldur, and possibly any other fault the film has. While in the book, Thorin is just greedy, here his "dragon's sickness" is one of the main plot elements, and is a nice way to give a role to Bilbo, who has been pushed aside for this last film.
Anyway, sorry for making this review a two-parter, when it honestly shouldn't be, I've just been having mounds of work and had this half review floating in my folders for weeks. I will begin updating more often in the future (I hope).
- The Mad Hobbit
- The Mad Hobbit