B

Better that it could have been, worse than it should have been.

I fucking loved this movie. My expectations were pretty much at the bottom but after a few minutes they were all gone. It's not as epic as Lord of the Rings but it's still a great adventure film. Freeman is excellent as Bilbo, I liked the dwarfs much more than I thought I would and McKellen is as good as Gandalf as he ever was. Despite it's long running time (about 155 minutes without credits), I never felt bored for a second. About the HFR.. It is distracting every now and then, some scenes seemed like they were on fast forward. But overall it didn't bothered me much, and the quality of the images is breathtaking. Also this has probably the best use of 3D I've ever seen. Easily the biggest positive surprise of the year for me. A

Wait till you see Life of Pi.

Well, I'll be damned. I was very pleasantly surprised. I loved it. I think the last time I've been this pleasantly surprised with a movie I was anticipating at least a bit was with Rise of the Planet of the Apes in August 2011; and even then it wasn't to this level.

Let me start by saying that I saw it in HFR 3D. The HFR felt very odd at first, but I got used it eventually, to the point of forgetting about it sometimes. All in all, it isn't as big a problem as some critics have said, but I'm pretty sure the movie is more enjoyable in standard frame rate. HFR doesn't add anything positive to the experience, it only makes it a little bit less enjoyable. I hope HFR will be dropped in the movie industry. Then again, I think something similar of the 3D bullshit. I will go see Hobbit again, in 2D and standard framerate.

With that said..... well, almost everything felt right in this film. The pacing had some problems (it did have lengths in some parts), but overall it isn't anything seriously bad. The tone was just right: I can't imagine Jackson having given his film a more spot-on tone. It's lighter than LotR, but just serious enough for me to give a damn about what's going on. I cannot emphasize too much how the tone is, really, just right.

I loved the dwarf backstory at the start. I loved the humor that was in the right places. I loved the action. I loved the characters. I loved how they set up the Necrmoancer thing. And I loved how the movie ends: I can't wait for part 2. It's nice that we haven't seen the full dragon yet.

I guess the fact that it's gotten average reviews helped me enjoy it even more, it lowered my expectations. Even LotR uber-fanboy Nazgul9 was disappointed.

Can't wait to see it again. (long live 2D and standard frame rate)

I'd give it 4.5/5 or 5/5. So obviously: A.

I liked it a whole bunch. It's slow to start (the stretch between leaving the Shire and meeting the trolls feels quite a bit longer than it is), but once the group gets to Rivendell everything moves at a great pace.

I have high hopes for the next two, as this thing gets better as it goes. Riddles in the Dark as well as the cliffside stand against Azog are every bit the equal of Lord of the Rings, and I'll admit to getting a might teary when Thorin embraced Bilbo.

I give Jackson a lot of credit when it comes to tone. He managed to make this a clearer fit with Lord of the Rings than the book is, without sacrificing what makes The Hobbit so much fun on its own.

My only complaints are that the action, especially in the goblin tunnel, felt a bit repetitive, and I'm not totally sold on the portrayal of the goblin king and Azog.

Otherwise I thought Bilbo, Thorin, and of course Gandalf were excellent. I thought the pace of the movie was excellent. I loved the backstory at the beginning. Riddles in the dark was the clear highlight though.

For trailers, I got Star Trek Into Darkness, The Croods, Escape From Planet Earth, Jack The Giant Slayer, and Man of Steel.

By far the best reaction was for The Croods. I think there is a big hit coming with that film. On the other hand, Escape From Planet Earth is going to bomb hard.

THE HOBBIT

As I said in the screenings crowd thread, I loved the film. It fits perfectly into the Lord of the Rings world. It just brings you right back into what people enjoyed from the trilogy. I haven't read the Hobbit and that's probably best since I don't have to complain about this or that being added or changed. What I viewed tonight was pure entertainment. It was a 2D showing so I'm not sure how good or bad 3D or 3D HFR will be when I check it out in that format. I loved the opening sequence with the dwarf city and later the ruin of it by Smaug. I like how they just so glimpses of it but that's expected. Don't show too much, no need. I enjoyed the flashback to Thorin's past and the fight sequences were well done. I enjoyed seeing characters we know and new ones like that Brown wizard. The only couple parts that bothered me to a minor degree was the sequence in the orc city in the mountain. I think they were orcs. Some of the action in there was pushing it. Reminding me of the video game action in some of the Lord of the Rings with Legolas and Gimli. The other thing is the damn eagles. Why are there eagles in this world. It just makes you ask in the trilogy why they don't just fly Frodo and Sam to Mt. Doom and in this one why they dropped them off what seems like miles and miles away from the dwarf city. Why not just fly them over there? Anyway, that's a quibble and I enjoyed how it ended. As far as the acting, Bilbo was great awesome, Gollum great, Thorin awesome and Gandalf is like he never left. I don't disagree with three movies anymore because this makes me glad there are two more movies to further show us more of this world which is something I'm craving for now. Bring on the next film I say!

Grade - A

Me too. A bit watery there.

Well it turns out that I can't sleep, so I'll just keep talking about the movie (remind me to never go see a movie so late). Spoilers ahead.

I thought Bilbo was very well presented. He has more charm than any hobbit from LotR ever had. I love how Gandalf presented him his ancestors as adventurers in order to convince him. I'm in love with the character (literally.....well, almost). I also found some of the Bilbo scenes later in the movie very touching, like when he explained why he decided to stay with the company.

The chemestry between the Dwarves was just great. You really develop an emotional attachment for them.

Thorin was also quite well developed. You can see that he's a bit like Boromir: he has a good heart, but he is too proud and it will lead him to his downfall. I was re-reading the Hobbit book this summer, and that's one aspect I remember thinking I'd like to see developed in the Hobbit movies. Mission accomplished.

I liked Radagast. I don't remember him being in the Hobbit book, but he's a nice addition. He contributed to the light-heartedness of the movie.

And I agree with the person above who said that some of the action was repetitive particularly in the Goblin caves. Nothing serious, but it does get a bit repetitive.

One other thing: it's weird that in this movie the Trolls can speak and not in LotR. Again, it's nothing dramatic, but it's worth noting.

The HFR....... in the very best case scenario, it doesn't add anything to the movie and it doesn't take anything from it either. So why not just drop it entirely? However, I am still convinced that James Cameron will use it on Avatar 2 and it will become really popular afterwards. I'm 100% sure that he didn't go to the Hobbit premiere just because he wanted to see it. It was part of own little marketing campaign for Avatar 2, like when he went at the bottom of the ocean.

Anyway, I really need to see it again soon.

Agreed 100% on both counts.

You're not alone on this.

The more I think about the movie, the more I like it. Definately going to see it again.

You heathens! Bradley will burn you all at the stake.

I expect the words in this review to come true in the fullness of time:


Don't get me wrong - - I fully understand the psychology behind the early positive reviews in this thread. People invest a great deal of emotional energy in believing that their beloved franchise will be good, and like just like grieving a death, it takes a certain amount of time to accept that they were wrong. It's okay... it's not your fault... anyone can be the victim of this kind of hype and circumstance. The important thing to remember is that the community of WOKJ will be here to support you when you awaken from this terrible fog.

I know you're just trolling, Bradley, and that your comments do not deserve answers, but I can't stop myself. I honestly wasn't expecting much. I was expecting a pretty good movie, but a huge drop from LotR. When the movie ended, there was a huge smile on my face.

We're here for you Choubie.

Sorry. I saw TPM 6 times when it came out. This is NOWHERE NEAR the dread of TPM. The only quibble you might have with it is one song early on and maybe the action in the goblin area and the eagles. That's it. There's no Jar Jar, no poo doo jokes, no stone cold acting. It doesn't even compare. The film completely fits in with the LOTR world Jackson put to screen and Adds to it in a positive way. You'll see when you watch it if you haven't read so many reviews that they've tainted your own conclusions subconciously.

I bet he went to the midnight premiere with his plastic hobbit feet bought at Wal-mart.

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I hate to say it but I agree with Algren. Isn't Bradley the one always giving people shit for posting in review threads without having seen a movie?

What a fascinating troll.

Critics are going to hear about this. There will be a backlash. This movie rocked, pretty surprised. 2012's amazing big blockbusters continue with The Hobbit.

What are the other amazing big blockbusters of 2012? I have been searching for exactly that, but haven't been able to find a single blockbuster of at least good quality all year. I wonder which ones I might have missed.

Also, I haven't seen 'The Hobbit' yet because I currently live in some godforsaken crap area that does not have a single theatre. There are at least 5 big home-improvement markets though.

There haven't been any amazing big blockbusters in 2012. Big blockbusters have been shite for years.

There has been one "of at least good quality", though, and that was The Amazing Spider-Man. The rest sucked.

I don't have an issue with the eagles being in the film. But for whatever reason, in both LOTR and The Hobbit Peter Jackson elected not to go into them with detail like everything else he did in the series. In Return of the King one of the Hobbit's yells, "the eagles are coming!" That would have meant more if they had taken even 30 seconds to explain who the eagles were. The best place to do this would have been back in Fellowship when Gandalf was explaining to Frodo why he was held up by Saruman.

Again in The Hobbit, Gandalf summoned the eagles to help, but it was not explained, not even the king of the Eagles or why they would partially help but not get overly involved (I'm pretty sure it is in the book though). This did irritate me, but in the grand scheme, it doesn't impact the story much.

The biggest blockbusters of the year are The Avengers and The Hunger Games. The Avengers I loved. The Hunger Games I thought was good on first viewing, and I liked it a bit more on second viewing.