Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I agree, I really liked that part too!
However I do recall having read that somewhere before, isn't the story of Thorin's naming in the books somewhere?

I successfully downgraded my expectations enough...

It didn't suck as much as I expected.

In fact, I really loved some parts. Cleaning up after dinner was awesome. There was a whole lot of music and poetry which is really key to me. Oddly, the quirkiness/d&d styling of the dwarves didn't bother me as much as I expected.

I wasn't happy with the treatment of Elrond and Rivendell, and what was up with the Slayer at the Battle of Azanulbizar? At least his mohawk and beard weren't orange.

Over all, I was happy with it. It went much faster than I expected. When it ended I was ready for another hour or two.

caedmon wrote:When it ended I was ready for another hour or two.

I agree! I saw mirkwood looming in the distance, and expected them to cover it through to the barrel-riding, as we saw in the photo spread released a few months ago. That probably got nixed when they split it into three...I suppose we'll get mirkwood and barrel-riding along with kicking Sauron out of Dol Goldur in the next one for one film, and then everything else from that point on for the third.

[quote="caedmon"] ...what was up with the Slayer at the Battle of Azanulbizar? At least his mohawk and beard weren't orange.
quote]

Heavens to Warhammer yes! I saw that too and chuckled a bit!

The whole slayer/Berserk thing is pretty well engrained now in the minds of Dwarven enthusiasts. Even Lotro gives you the ability to customise the Dwarven mohawk thing on your character.

To be fair though, much of Tolkien's inspiration for dwarves are steeped in Norse culture and mythology, and Berserkers bound by honor (or the recovery of it) is rather well known there.

I largely agree with what's been said here. I did have my gripes, but overall I was VERY VERY PLEASED. I had already lowered my expectations about a few things, so maybe this helped, but honestly, I was mostly blown away.

I was annoyed that they didn't match the finding of the ring to the prologue better, as has been said already, sure. I think that may have been my biggest complaint. I was a little disappointed by them changing the troll scene to Have Bilbo be the one who distracted them instead of Gandalf - just because it's such an iconic scene from the book - but I can completely understand the reasoning behind it from a filmmaker's perspective. Firstly, it would have been difficult to portray it in such a way as to make the audience understand fully what was going on, and secondly, they wanted a chance to show that Bilbo was already useful to the company, and could think on his feet. So I let that one slide. Also, not talking to the eagles was kind of disappointing, though not very crucial I suppose, and placing the warg attack on the edge of a freaking cliff instead of just in on the mountainside in the trees was completely unnecessary. But such is Hollywood.

In the end, they really didn't change all that much, for which I was VERY grateful. I mean, they didn't bring the Elves to Helm's Deep - figuratively speaking. Sure they tweaked some backstory, but it all came together pretty much just as it did in the book.

My other big complaint is probably an obvious one. That being: Radagast. I feel the character was unnecessary, and played too much for sillyness. He wasn't Jar Jar bad, but he wasn't a ton better either. The only useful things he did were to assist the dwarves in their escape from the wargs on the way to Rivendell (which of course, never happened in the source material), and to give some exposition about the Necromancer. Which, I suppose, was probably the biggest piece of mythology Jackson et al. decided to tweak. I wasn't thrilled with the idea that the Necromancer was a "new" power in the "Greenwood," and that it was only JUST now being referred to by some as "Mirkwood." To me this greatly lessens the sense of deep darkness and menace that I got from Mirkwood in the book. But... well... meh. I'll live with it.

At the end of the day I was far more impressed with the cool things about the movie than I was disappointed by the dumb things. I absolutely loved it - both times.



P.S. Thorin, surrounded by flames, Orcrist in one hand, oaken-shield in the other, with a look of dead-set determination on his face as he charged his far-stronger enemy was freakin' BADASS. Of course, the fact that he then immediately gets his dwarven posterior handed to him was a bit disappointing, and where did the oak-branch shield come from at that point, anyway? I didn't see him carrying it the rest of the journey until thin, so I didn't get how he suddenly had it, as if he had been carrying it since the first time he used it against Azog. Oh well, I digress. That was still a wicked cool moment.

Ringulf wrote:I agree, I really liked that part too!
However I do recall having read that somewhere before, isn't the story of Thorin's naming in the books somewhere?

Yes, in the appendices at the end of the LOTR it mentions his shield being destroyed during the battle of Azanulbizar, after which he cuts a limb from an oak tree to use as a shield.

Brian

Thanks Brian! I knew it was not Deja Vu! I am creative but not that creative!

Can I just say that Martin is my new favorite straight-man actor? Whether here or in the BBC's "Sherlock," when something crazy happens, he has such a great "What the what now?" face. He was the perfect casting choice for Bilbo.

Just saw it this morning. As a rule, I didn't like anything that is a deviation from the lore. I was getting excited at the beginning when they started quoting Tolkien word for word, "In a hole in a ground there lived a Hobbit..." but if only they could have finished that purely. I cringed when I heard "...a Hobbit hole, and that means blah blah blah." No. A Hobbit hole means Comfort, and that is all. I could go on, but of course we all know what was changed. I didn't like that bit. I was extremely pleased that they fit in What Bilbo Baggins Hates. Tra-la-la-lally and Down, Down to Goblin Town would have been amazing, but at least they got some poetry in there.

All that aside... I thought that Erebor was beautiful, and that Riddles in the Dark was very nicely done.

And I cried for Sebastian.

It's ok Ernildir! He comes back in the Two Towers as the White Hedgehog, after visiting the Undying hedges of Aman and proceeds to rid Myrkwood of it's vile creatures next to Radagast and Grimbeorn the Old!

(Hey...It could happen!)

My wife and I saw the late show on opening night. It's hard to get me to stay awake past 11pm, so for the movie to keep me awake till 1am, says something. It was fanatastic, haven't been this pumped up over a movie in a long time. saw it in 3D...didn't really add anything for me. I thought Pete did a great job with the story translation, considering the huge amount of charaters. It wrapped up nicely....no cliffhangers. Sir Howard's score was masterfull. I can't wait to next December and BARD THE BOWMAN!

I dunno... the pic they released of Bard is... questionable at best.

We said the same thing about the Dwarves when we first saw them and now most folks are rather well disposed towards them, I think we need to suspend our judgement of the films when viewing stills of future movies. I find that until you see the actor in the context of the story with the personality you really can't make a proper judgement.

We said the same thing about the Dwarves when we first saw them and now most folks are rather well disposed towards them, I think we need to suspend our judgement of the films when viewing stills of future movies. I find that until you see the actor in the context of the story with the personality you really can't make a proper judgement.

I got my third viewing in and it got even better. I looked, but I couldn't see this dwarf everyone's been talking about at the battle for Moria.