Warning:
-For those of you that have watched the movie, you may not like this review.
-For those of you that have not watched the movie and plan to, there are several major spoilers ahead.
-For those of you that have not watched the movie and do not plan to, proceed and learn. You are missing out on nothing. Read the book and be satisfied.
Getting ready to see the movie.
I went with some friends, Tuesday night, to see The Battle of The Five Armies (the last installment of The Hobbit).
The best part was that it was IMAX 3D - I'd never seen one before, and it is totally awesome!!! Very expensive though. I loved how the fire and snow seemed real, and to be coming towards you, and quite often logs, rocks, and arrows would be "coming" straight for you.
The movie had a glitch, and we had to wait like 45+ minutes for it to work, so pretty much every one was given back their money.
To the movie itself.
If you like movies and have read the Hobbit book you may or may not like this movie (obvious statement ;D).
But really, it's true.
I wanted to see the movie, mostly just to see how Kili, Fili, Thorin and maybe Tauriel all died. Liking the book, I wanted to see it, expecting to hate it a little. And I was very curious how they were going to end the Kili-Tauriel-Legolas thing.
First off the book is ten times better. The movie was only good in the aspect of the Imax, scenery, actors, and battle sequences.
The plot was terrible, and it was rather dark. I didn't like how they portrayed Galadriel. She was just too freaky, I thought.
And Tauriel didn't really have an "ending." Kili died. Legolas realized she didn't love him, so he walks away. Tauriel can't believe she lost Kili (why did she have to like a dwarf!!). Thranduil forgives her with comforting words saying her pain is because her love was real. And no more Tauriel!
I just thought that part was not done well. And when Thranduil sends Legolas away, directing him to Stryder. Yeah, a lot of people liked that. But I didn't. It wasn't time for either of them to know about Stryder yet, and Legolas wasn't searching for Stryder, if I remember right in the books. Just happened to be there at the time on an errand.
Last night I was ranting to a friend on how I wished they would have killed Tauriel. It would have made a lot of things less complicated. (Normally I'm not for people dying, but I wanted 4-5 people to die in this movie. All did but Tauriel).
It just doesn't make sense to let her live. Where is she in LOTR? And if Legolas liked her so much, how could he just walk away, and be so care free in LOTR? If she is in Mirkwood as some people say, what happened to her patriotic spirit? Why isn't she on the battle lines fighting against Mordor?
Besides that, I like most of the rest of it. I liked how the three dwarves died. Pretty heroic, sad, and real. And Bilbo was so good. Loved his feet ;). And it was pretty funny when he arrived home to an auction - his own home, with people (relatives) caring away his things.
I liked the part about the acorn/tree.
So, over all, it was decent for a movie ruined by Hollywood. I doubt Tolkien would have been pleased ;b.
Who else has watched the movie?
First of all, I AM SOOOOOOO JEALOUS!!!! I wanted to see it 3D!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd well I don't exactly agree with all of your views I do see where you are coming from.
I can't decide quite yet which I like better, the book or the movies. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are one of those situations where I like the movies as much as I like the books.
I thought the plot was good and I didn't think it was that dark. I thought they portrayed Galadriel well, not exactly the way that I would have portrayed her(I would have made her become bright and shining instead of growing darker like that)but I thought that they still did a good job. And I loved seeing Elrond and Saruman come in. "You should have stayed dead" and "Are you in need of assistance, My Lady". It was nice to see Saruman half way good. Because although he is fight for the good right there you can also tell that he is already turning bad.
I liked how they handled the whole Tauriel/Kili/Legolas thing. And though it doesn't tell exactly what happens to Tauriel, I got the impression from all the events that she went back to Mirkwood and lived out her days maybe eventually marrying. I thought they ended her story well.
And Thranduil sending Legolas to find Strider. First of all, although Aragorn was only 10 then and didn't become 'Strider' for another 10 or more years, you have to remember that Thranduil was an Elf and would have had the gift of foresight so he would probably have known some of what would happen And although in the book Legolas comes to Rivendell on an errand from his father and he didn't previously know Aragorn, the whole 'sending Legolas to find Strider' totally fits in with the Aragorn/Legolas friendship in the movies. Remember at the council of Elrond it is Legolas who stands up and says to Boromir, "This is no mere Ranger, this is Aragorn, son of Arathorn, you owe him your allegiance".
I didn't want anyone to die!!! Well except for Azog and Bolg of course! I didn't want any of the other to die but I knew that 3 of them died and I was expecting Tauriel to to die as well and I was SOOOOO happy when she didn't!!!! When I first found out about her back when stuff from DoS was first starting to float around the web I thought, "Seriously Jackson?!" and I didn't think that I was going to like her. But she quickly became one of my favorite characters!!! Well, she isn't in LOTR because she went back to Mirkwood and married and has a family(or at least that's what I like to think!)and she wouldn't have to go to the Black Gate to fight. Remember what Legolas says to Gimli when Gimli is asking why he and Legolas didn't wish for some of their own kin? "They have no need to march to war, war already marches on them". And Legolas can walk away because he knows that she doesn't love him and he eventually gets over the feelings that he had for her. Though remember, he never marries.
Bilbo was the BEST!!!! He was sooo good!!! And the auction!!!! I was so hoping that they were going to have that in there!!! "You know very well who I am Lobelia Sackville-Baggins!"
I know!!! That scene was SOOOOO sweet!!! If I had to pick a favorite scene in the whole movie that would
be it!! When he was saying that he was going to plant it when he got home, Mel and I leaned towards each other and said simultaneously, "The Party Tree"!!
So as you can probably guess, I don't think that they ruined it!! As for whether or not Tolkien would be pleased with it, we will never know and I don't think I'll bother my head thinking about it!
So yeah, I don't agree with you on pretty much everything but, as I've said before, 'Different strokes, for different folks'. You are fully entitled to your opinion of it and I am not going to try and covert you to my opinion!!
P.S. Please tell me if I offended you with anything that I have just said!!!
You have officially won "The Longest blog comment" award!!! For this blog at least;)
ReplyDeleteNot offened. Nor converted. But I am convinced that Hobbit / LOTR is like a religion.
You've got those that are just for the books.
Those just for the movies.
Those for both.
Those that lean more one way, but still a little another way.
Those against the movies and books.
The different "denominations" could keep going on! Lol.
Thanks!!!! Good!! Yeah!!! They so could!!!! Just yours and my conversations could go on and on and on!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete