fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3354 ]

[ SECRET POST #3354 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3354 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Yu-Gi-Oh]

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09. [ warning for homophobia / transphobia / misogyny take your pick, people seem to be divided on this one ]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 009 secrets from Secret Submission Post #479.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Inspired by the Hobbit thread we had a few days ago, I was thinking, should I watch the Hobbit? I've always loved the Hobbit book and I loved the LOTR movies, and I've gleaned a lot about the changes/padding/additions made to the movies, and so I'm not expecting a faithful or well-paced story if I watch it. And I recent started getting interested in seeing Bilbo and Gandalf and the dwarves onscreen, and I mostly just care about getting another dose of the LOTR trilogy's visuals and music and fight scenes and foreshadowing than in a good movie that stands on its own. And so I was wondering if, on those merits, you think the Hobbit movies would be something enjoyable?

Love yourself and re-watch LOTR instead.

Sounds like you want to watch it, so go ahead?

I think the Hobbit movies are objectively terrible. Badly paced, dull, cringe-worthy dialogue. but hey, maybe you'll at least have fun watching them. It's not exactly a huge commitment or serious life decision (well, besides potentially three hours of regret). Bilbo and Gandalf certainly are on screen, though honestly they are overshadowed by the dwarves, but nonetheless. Watch the first one, which is imo the least terrible, and then see how you feel?

Start watching the first one and if you get bore just stop?

The first one is the most watchable, in my opinion. It does the job of putting the wonder of being back in Middle Earth in you pretty well for... a time.

If you just want to see some more of Middle-Earth again and don't have any expectations towards anything else you'll be fine I reckon. I don't think they're unmitigatedly awful, and I still like the first one if I'm honest, they're just unfortunately dragged out too much imo.

But frankly if you really want to watch them, do(and if they're not to you're liking you can stop).

I enjoyed them, but I'll also readily admit they're nowhere near as good as LOTR. In most aspects, they are objectively worse. They also don't follow the book much, if at all. But I still really like them, mostly because of the actors and because I adore Bilbo.

I'd say, do it but lower your expectations. Don't expect an amazing epic like LOTR, but if you want to see some new corners of Middle Earth, hang out with Bilbo, see a dragon, it's mindless fun.

If you enjoy seeing the characters and places on screen: sure, watch it.

But be sure you're okay with the not faithful and badly paced.

Music - Hobbit music is a letdown. There are very few recognizable themes, and they call back to the original LOTR music in places. The Misty Mountain song from AUJ is the only really good theme (though some people like Tauriel's theme apparently).

Visuals - I was very disappointed. The character design for a lot of the characters (Beorn, Radagast, Smaug, some of the dwarves) was just bad. Some of the sets were good. Erebor is big and lovely (though there's an improbable scene with the forges). You've seen a lot of places (Rivendell, Shire) in LOTR, and I found places like Mirkwood, Dol Guldur, and Thranduil's realm to be very disappointing.

Fight scenes - Also disappointing. For the epic battle, Battle of Five Armies was a huge step back. You can't keep track of where the armies are or what tactics they're supposed to be using. If you liked the over-the-top stuff Legolas did on the elephant, then you might like some of what they did. The big battle almost immediately degenerates into a series of individual fights. They don't use the fact that they have an army of archers or have more than a handful of good guys fighting together at any one time. The battle is a series of gags.

For individual fighting, it's very repetitive. I saw a great meta where the person pointed out how in LOTR, each fight moment had three parts: set up, resolution, reaction from the character. There's none of that in the Hobbit. It's just a mess of stuff going on without any shaping. In some places, it looks like a video game. There's no character-conflict in most of the fights, and nothing to invest in. None of the characters react like they're scared so there's no weight to the danger they're supposedly in.

Characterization - The changes to a lot of the characters were infuriating to me. If you do love the book, I'm not sure you'll be prepared how badly some characters make out. Also, the few characters you do become invested in aren't given any payoff, so you end up frustrated.

Foreshadowing - The Hobbit tries to foreshadow some stuff but it fails in almost all regards. It repeats what LOTR does ALL the time, but it doesn't do it in a good way - it just makes you SO aware of LOTR and how Hobbit doesn't stand up to that. Also, some of PJ's decisions ended up making no sense for the later LOTR films.

I say skip them. (I can go deeper if you want.)

Don't have any big expectations of any kind if you do decide to watch it.

Like someone else said above, watch the first film and see if you would like to watch the other ones based on how you like the first one.

Personally, the Hobbit films were a mixed bag. There were some things I enjoyed, but for the most part, it really wasn't very good. Nothing at all on the level of the LoTR films in terms of quality.

I'd say watch them, since you know they have faults already. At the least, the familiar visual style of PJ's LotR is there, and the storyline is something one can base alternate imaginings on.

Then if you really find they were a bit daft, you can go back and have a LotR marathon to make up for it.

Doesn't hurt to give it a try, especially since you don't appear to have lofty expectations. You can always fastforward through anything that gets boring. It's not like you'll be stuck in a movie theater where your only options are leave or stick it out and hope the next scene is more entertaining. There are definitely parts I liked, they were just interspersed with parts I didn't.

Yeah. I mean, I think it's more regrettable to NOT see it than to see it.

"I mostly just care about getting another dose of the LOTR trilogy's visuals and music and fight scenes and foreshadowing"

You won't find those things in the Hobbit trilogy. I don't think they're very well made films overall for many reasons, but what stands out to me is that they're a sad come down from the gorgeous visuals of LOTR. They do a better job of the music. The fight scenes are... eh. Not as good, IMO, and the films really botch the Battle of the Five Armies in a painful way. The editing and pacing of the Hobbit movies are very poor, IMO.

I'd say watch it, but try to pretend that they're completely separate from the LOTR movies, because they kind of are.

Tbh I misspoke a bit - what I care most is seeing the CHARACTERS (both the ones I've seen on film already and the ones I haven't), and the visuals/music/fights/allusions second.

Pity hearing that the battle of five armies isn't done well though - that was one of the things I was feeling kind of curious to see what it would look like in live action.

Oh, I do have a question about the editing and pacing - is the problem mostly just that it was all padded with extra bits and scenes and action to be longer than the story warranted in order to cover 3 movies, or are there other problems with rushing/dragging/clunky cutting and timing within the scenes? Because I don't mind the former at all (I'm that person who always goes for extended/director's cuts whenever I rewatch a movie) but the latter would bug me a lot more.

The characters are mostly all right. I'd say that Bilbo, Thorin, Balin, Fili and Kili are the most well developed, while the rest of the dwarves blur together because there simply isn't enough screentime for everyone. I don't think they used Legolas well, to be honest. He gets far more screentime than he probably should (and frequently in the form of silly fight scenes) and Tauriel is a wasted character. So much potential, but they do so little with her it's a crying shame.

There's some padding and filler, but I'd say the problem mostly lies in the fact that the films feel very conspicuously designed around certain action sequences. The in between parts that link up the action sequences often feel like afterthoughts, and they can drag at times. What's insult to injury is that very few of those action sequences are as well thought out as those from LOTR, so they lack impact and often feel like they're dragged out as well... notably the barrel riding sequence, which was heavily padded.

Try out the first film. IMO, the second and third film deteriorate noticeably, with Battle of the Five Armies being a mess. Tons of padding and forced comic relief from the Master of Laketown and Alfrid, chaotic fight scenes-- I believe someone upthread said they resembled a computer game and I agree. Don't look for the tense build up of the Battle of Helm's Deep, Five Armies is just random groups of guys bashing away at one another until it's time for Thorin to die.

But look, these are just random strangers' opinions. If you have the time, try the movies. You might well feel differently and even if you don't, it's not a huge investment of time.

DA
IIRC the technical aspects are alright. The dramaturgy sucks though, and also, depending on the medium, there may be a stutter or lag with some of the tracking shots because of the original framerate.... I saw it in 3D and some scenes were near unwatchable. I don't know how they dealt with it for the DVD/BR release though

No. Don't. Unless you're JUST in it for the legolas-surfing-part of LoTR fight scenes. Seriously, the movies are like the Star Wars prequel trilogy. They kinda ruin the canon and make you cringe because you wonder how PJ could accomplish these great movies and then fuck up so bad when trying to make the prequel.

I liked it a lot. I know everybody else thought it was too padded.

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[ SECRET POST #3354 ]

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