I think most people who saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey would agree that it was overlong and a little too video gamey in some of the action scenes. Tolkein purists will object to the addition of Legolas… but they probably haven’t been on board with much about this trilogy (and some didn’t care for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for that matter).
Well, what we see here in this first trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug looks a bit like more of the same, but at least we’re past the slow, introductory bits and into the meat of the story, so perhaps it will be more fun. In any case, as a movie tech nerd, I’ll see it for the high frame rate, which I thought looked wonderful outside of some very brightly lit scenes (a shortcoming of the cameras Jackson used, not high frame rate as a technology, I think).
The film hits theaters on December 13th.
As has been pointed out, Tolkien wrote the hobbit before he conceived of LoTR. Thanduril, a significant character in the Hobbit has a son who is an even more significant character in LoTR and who knows Bilbo. Thus it makes more sense for him to be present in the Hobbit than to be absent, overcoming what amounts to a continuity lapse in the books.
Was that Orlando Bloom in 2 roles?
I enjoyed the first film. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit for children, and somewhat regretted the ‘voice’ he used. The movie filled in the gaps in storytelling he would have done himself, such as more character development and scene setting. Of course, then there are the bits that are pure Jackson.
No, he’s just Legolas. That other dude I think you’re thinking of is Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman.
Thanks! :)
I enjoyed it as a movie, and as a follow-up to the previous movie, but I would have liked a bit more time with Beorn and/or in Mirkwood (though the spiders were done well). I think too much time was spent with Smaug in the Lonely Mountain. In the book he has a conversation with Bilbo, finds out that the dwarves were helped by Laketown, and then goes down to wreck it. I liked Tauriel as a character, though it wasn’t necessary for there to be a romantic subplot between her, Legolas, and Kili. I think An Unexpected Journey was better.