Post by thyarchery on Jul 6, 2015 21:12:13 GMT
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Rating it is a bit complicated for me because-just like the third Hobbit movie- that film is an endless delivery of mixed feelings. On one hand, we have the horrid changes to the original story so it fits to the Hollywood standards (love story, etc) and the fact that Orlando Bloom's acting is not at his best in this movie; after watching the movie for the second time, I've understood that his acting is not that bad-still, nothing compared to his portrayal of Legolas in LOTR or even his part in POC- but his make up, hair and general appearance are so distracting that you just cannot appreciate anything else. On the other hand, however, I love some of the additions to the original plot, like how it shows why Gandalf wanted Thorin to slay the dragon and recover his homeland (from The Quest For Erebor) or how Radagast and Gandalf go to Dol Guldur to investigate about the Necromancer-I even liked another major change to Tolkien's story, the Nazgul being woken up from their tombs in the mountains (by the way, did any other Tolkien freak notice that, as the camera is approaching to Dol Guldur for the first time, the text written on the One Ring is read by an off-voice in Black Speech?-I loved that) or Bard's background. Same with the continuous insistence on the importance of the Arkenstone, which is not that much present in the book-but it definitely should. I've got also to love the photography and attrezzo work, it's just so lavish and delicate that it keeps you in awe, and most of the cast's performances; Sir Ian McKellen is as good as always, but Richard Armitage makes him run for his money as Thorin Oakenshield and Martin Freeman seems to have been born to play Bilbo Baggins. And even if I hate Tauriel's character to death, I must say Evangeline Lily makes a good job playing it. Not outstanding, but good enough. The side stories are somehow inserted seamlessly within the true book's story, and I do believe that someone who has not read the book can distinguish between which parts are in them and which aren't; Peter Jackson did a very good job there. He also managed to keep the somehow playful, lighthearted spirit of the book-in contrast with the magnificence and solemnity of the Lord Of The Rings, which he also captured in all its grandeur-and it lacks from the excess and gratuitous display of special effects in the Five Armies one. All in all, I guess it's an 8/10 for me. Had it not been for Legolas and Tauriel, it would be probably a ten.
Rating it is a bit complicated for me because-just like the third Hobbit movie- that film is an endless delivery of mixed feelings. On one hand, we have the horrid changes to the original story so it fits to the Hollywood standards (love story, etc) and the fact that Orlando Bloom's acting is not at his best in this movie; after watching the movie for the second time, I've understood that his acting is not that bad-still, nothing compared to his portrayal of Legolas in LOTR or even his part in POC- but his make up, hair and general appearance are so distracting that you just cannot appreciate anything else. On the other hand, however, I love some of the additions to the original plot, like how it shows why Gandalf wanted Thorin to slay the dragon and recover his homeland (from The Quest For Erebor) or how Radagast and Gandalf go to Dol Guldur to investigate about the Necromancer-I even liked another major change to Tolkien's story, the Nazgul being woken up from their tombs in the mountains (by the way, did any other Tolkien freak notice that, as the camera is approaching to Dol Guldur for the first time, the text written on the One Ring is read by an off-voice in Black Speech?-I loved that) or Bard's background. Same with the continuous insistence on the importance of the Arkenstone, which is not that much present in the book-but it definitely should. I've got also to love the photography and attrezzo work, it's just so lavish and delicate that it keeps you in awe, and most of the cast's performances; Sir Ian McKellen is as good as always, but Richard Armitage makes him run for his money as Thorin Oakenshield and Martin Freeman seems to have been born to play Bilbo Baggins. And even if I hate Tauriel's character to death, I must say Evangeline Lily makes a good job playing it. Not outstanding, but good enough. The side stories are somehow inserted seamlessly within the true book's story, and I do believe that someone who has not read the book can distinguish between which parts are in them and which aren't; Peter Jackson did a very good job there. He also managed to keep the somehow playful, lighthearted spirit of the book-in contrast with the magnificence and solemnity of the Lord Of The Rings, which he also captured in all its grandeur-and it lacks from the excess and gratuitous display of special effects in the Five Armies one. All in all, I guess it's an 8/10 for me. Had it not been for Legolas and Tauriel, it would be probably a ten.