The Battle of Five Armies

[HorusZA]

Saw the movie last night.. IMAX, 3D HFR...

Really enjoyed it. Not as much as "Desolation" but good fun. It didn't feel as drawn out as Part 1, in fact the ending was a little abrupt. It just seemed to end with no real sense of closure (especially regarding the aftermath of the BotFA).

I don't want to give away any spoilers, but here a few general thoughts:
* Not enough Beorn
* Galadriel (especially), Elrond and Saruman kick ass
* Dragon Sickness was really well portrayed
* The fighting wasn't too drawn out and well interspersed with the plot moving forward.
* Various departures from canon, but that's cool with me.
* The bizarre giant earthworms are in fact there, and rather unnecessary IMHO
* Overall a fitting end to the trilogy.

[Majestic]

I'm really looking forward to this one, and am seeing it Wednesday morning. How did you see it so early, HorusZA?

[HorusZA]

I'm really looking forward to this one, and am seeing it Wednesday morning. How did you see it so early, HorusZA?

Opened here in South Africa on Friday... some places got it even earlier: Germany & France for example already had it on Wednesday.

[Hirobumi]

I watched it on Wednesday. I think it is the best of the 3 Hobbit movies. Of course there are some typical, unnecessary, stupid or slapstick PJ sequences. But less than in the other two movies, in my opinion. I am not sure however what I should think about Tauriel and Kili...

[Brandiwise]

Can someone confirm who the Five Armies were? Dont have books to hand etc. From my recollection:

1. Elves (Mirkwood)
2. Dwarves (Thorin's Company and Dain's Iron Hills party)
3. Men (Lake Town)

4. Orcs (Misty Mountains) - I'm including goblins here who gathered following the death of the Great Goblin
5. Wolves -allied to the orcs of the Misty Mountains

No place for the Eagles, or Beorn
Obviously Bilbo is NOT a 'hobbit army'!

I think the film appears to replace wolves with great bats from Gundabad, while still having warg riders somewhere. Oh and can anyone tell me where Thorin finds Rams to ride into battle? Dain had a War-boar (which was amusing even if he was traditional 'Scottish dwarf'), but didn't see any sign of anything else?

In other news, Galadriel was particularly awesome. Behold the power of a Noldorim Elf Lady! Reminds me of the ICE CCG Card "Elf Lord Revealed in Wrath" which represented Glorfindel at the Fords of Bruinen. Just wow!

[Arkat]

Going from memory here, but I think the list was:

Elves, dwarves, men, eagles and orcs/bats/wolves. So all the bad guys count as just one army. They don't deserv anything else

[Glorelendil]

So began a battle that none had expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was very terrible. Upon one side were the Goblins and the Wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves.

[Brandiwise]

The Curse of Jackson strikes again?

Poor wolves. They just don't get a look-in do they? It was the same with Out of the Frying Pan / Into the Fire. He changed that too...

[ali69]

Unfortunately i share Christopher Tolkiens opinon about the films of PJ:
"Invited to meet Peter Jackson, the Tolkien family preferred not to. Why? "They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25," Christopher says regretfully. "And it seems that The Hobbit will be the same kind of film."

This divorce has been systematically driven by the logic of Hollywood. "Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time," Christopher Tolkien observes sadly. "The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: to turn my head away."
http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-soci ... O1jp3fTp8H

[Beran]

A far as The Lord of Rings movie trilogy goes I don't feel the Tolkien family has much to complain about. A movie based on a book cannot be 100% faithful to source material. I feel the LoTRs movies was about as close as Hollywood could/will get. And the fact they snubbed Jackson was just plain rudeness.

However, when it comes to what was done to the Hobbit they have a bit more of a case. Now, as I have stated I haven't read all of the Hobbit, but as far as I can see Jackson has turned into Saturday morning cartoons. I'm all for a movie not taking itself seriously, but these last movies have been down right silly in most places.

Now having said that I will say that I have gone to see all of them and probably see the new one. But, I watch them from the POV of a medieval fantasy movie divorced from the base material. In other words I'm not watching the Hobbit; I'm watching a regular fantasy movie. Once I do that I can enjoy them for what they are.