BOTFA Day - how was your experience (No Spoilers)

Azog · **Posted:** Sun Dec 14, 2014 9:32 am

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... off to see 'Battle of the Five Armies' today at our local IMAX in 3D. Yes, I know not everybody likes 3D but our family have always enjoyed it and I feel you need a big screen for this type of film.

It really is the end of an era for us, our lads were small when Fellowship was first on the screen and now they are 21 and 24, both with degrees and jobs and both leaving home (again), probably for the last time.

I hope it lives up to my expectations. I have a feeling it might.

It would be interesting to find out what people thought of the movie and the whole arc of films without any spoilers for those who haven't seen the final instalment yet.

Azog · **Posted:** Sun Dec 14, 2014 4:58 pm

Just got back ... one word WOW!

A fitting ending to the saga and nice foreshadowing of things to come. Most of the loose ends were tidied up and I reckon more bits and pieces will be added in the extended addition. Given the source material and rabid fans you won't be able to please everybody but I think Peter Jackson has done a fantastic job.

I know that not everybody likes 3D but I feel it added to the story at times without being in your face. Perhaps the IMAX screen helps in that regard.

As you can imagine there is fair bit of fighting involved, maybe not quite as visceral as bits of the Helms Deep battle in Two Towers, or the biggie in Return of the King but there were some excellent despatching moments. I think the pace of the film ebbed and flowed quite effectively.

Stand out performances for me were Richard Armitage as Thorin, Luke Evans as Bard, Lee Pace as Thranduil and Martin Freeman. Richard Armitage for me pulled off the performance of his career with Thorins decent into madness and heroic reprieve.

As a final song, Billy Boyd did a good job as the credit rolled.

I felt a bit tearful walking out, it might have been the 3D but I suspect it was reflecting on the end of an era. Ah well .. all good things etc.

Pindergorn · **Posted:** Sun Dec 14, 2014 9:51 pm

I was the only person in the cinema to stay back after the end to listen to Billy Boyd's "The Last Goodbye" and sit through the credits. Well, 2/3 of the credits - my bladder defeated me. :oops:

Crucium Giger · **Posted:** Sun Dec 14, 2014 10:43 pm

Was blown away, of course there were a few moments that I felt could have been expanded upon (and I'm sure they will) and a couple that I could have done without (but didn't ruin it for me), overall simply breathtaking.

Pindergorn · **Posted:** Mon Dec 15, 2014 1:03 am

It was the silliest film of the entire series.

-Dozens of trolls all walking about in daylight, not turning to stone. Whats so special about them?
-Quadruple amputee giant troll with morning stars for peg legs?
-Legolas flying with BatAir?
-A troll wearing a stone battering ram on his head and ramming a wall?
-Dain Ironfoot dispatching fully armoured Orcs with single head butts to their skulls?
-Azog's jetpack
-Beorn's 5 sec cameo.
-Bard's improved ballista using his son's shoulder to aim.
-Alfrid
-Legolas' super powers
-PJ thinking he's a better writer than Tolkien, and making up his own dialogue when he should have been using Tolkien's words almost word for word.
-Giant earth worms called "Werewyrms" that show up for 5 secs, having secretly dug tunnels for Azog's army to arrive at Erebor undetected, then disappear taking no part in the battle. Why didn't Azog use them to infiltrate Erebor?
-Alfrid

Dain riding a war pig, and Thorin, Kili, Fili and Dwalin riding their goats steeds into battle were totally plausible by comparison. The goats might have been a reference to or inspired by the LOTR Online which added Goat travel steeds with the Mines of Moria expansion.

The burning of Laketown was a magnificent sequence.

Joe5mc · **Joined:** Thu Nov 14, 2013 4:38 pm **Posts:** 74

Just back. I think it had some truly magnificent moments, but didn't quite fit together as a satisfactory whole.

I'm first really confused why the second move ended where it did, since their seems to be a better, more satisfactory ending only about 10 minutes into the third movie...

There was a bit too much silliness.

A lot of people said PJ didn't want to end The Lord of the Rings, yet, it seemed by the end here, he couldn't end the Hobbit fast enough.

And yet, I truly loved it anyway. I even got a bit misty-eyed when the ending credits rolled with Billy Boyd's fantastic singing.

I remember my father reading me LOTR when I was a kid. I remember seeing the first advert for The Fellowship at a time in life when I really need the pic me up. I remember seeing the first movie and the third (though not the second for some reason). These tales have been a huge part of my life, perhaps even one of the reasons I know live in England, in Oxford.

Thanks PJ - it wasn't perfect, but your Middle-Earth has been wonderful.

Harfoot · **Posted:** Mon Dec 15, 2014 6:34 pm

just remembered one of my favourite moments, the Dwarfs forming a shield wall and then the Elfs jumping other them into combat! Brilliant.

it was a great day and will go again over Christmas.

Alatar of Rhun · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2014 12:43 am

Harfoot wrote:

one of my favourite moments, the Dwarfs forming a shield wall and then the Elfs jumping other them into combat! Brilliant.

That was sweet

Really can't wait to see the EE next October to see the Dwarf cavalry scenes and all the other edit or deleted scenes.

Could have done with less of Alfred in a dress.

valpas · **Posted:** Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:58 am

I think I probably liked the final movie more than the previous two, and also more than the book. I have never liked Hobbit the book much, so my expectations were on a completely different scale than for the LotR movies (which are the best ones ever).

Right words were said and the battle was done very well except that I would have preferred more Last Alliance style wide open area scenes. Now most of the battle was like looking a music video... :-/ As a miniature hobbyist it was as much a feast for the eyes as the LotR movies were.

The plot was silly at times and the dialogue was mostly cringeworthy. Maybe they secretly hired George Lucas to write that part? I would have appreciated less gravity-defying tricks from Legolas. Shield surfing in Two Towers was bad enough and if we are not in ancient China, those tricks just look stupid to me. I liked how Thorin's inner struggle was shown.

Music was great again and especially Billy Boyd's last good-bye, it was probably my favourite of all the end credit songs in the six movies.

Can't wait for the Silmarillion movies! Even from Peter Jackson. :-)

And I have to say that PJ's timing was spot on. We just finished our previous role-playing campaign and will create characters for the new One Ring game tomorrow. The game is set five years after this movie, so I don't have to explain the setting to my players at all and most of the characters took part in it. :-)

-- Pasi

Draugluin · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:07 pm

It didn't feel like the proper way to cap 13 years of moviemaking. It was a satisfactory way to bridge the two books, but it didn't feel like this was meant to end the entire saga. It didn't have the same emotional ending as RotK, which makes sense, but was still somewhat of a letdown. It was great right up until the point when they stormed Ravenhill, or the Duel section of the movie if you will. The duels were kind of weird, not as quick and clean as Aragorn vs Lurtz and were just sort of uneven and not very well done. The end was SO rushed, I would have preferred to have at least 5 more minutes before Bilbo left the dwarves and at least another 5 after. The way I would have preferred it end would have been in Rivendell just having finished it, maybe discussing it with Frodo. In terms of the narrative, it made sense, but I think ending it in Rivendell would have been a more emotional ending, I don't know. It's a great third chapter out of six, but it's a disappointment as a final farewell to Middle-Earth, other than Billy Boyd's excellent song.

Draugluin · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:11 pm

I never understood the complaints about Legolas shield surfing, him running along a chain to stand on a troll's head or climbing up the arrows embedded in an Oliphaunt's hide were worse than that. The Bat-Plane was pretty dumb, as was the peg-legged troll, but I thought all the rest of the parkour was pretty believable for someone who can WALK ON TOP OF SNOW. The trolls were pretty cool, and I think we can assume that there was enough cloud cover to protect them. The Werewyrms were pretty cool, they could easily be the things that Gandalf said gnaw on the foundation of the earth.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:24 pm

I think PJ just gets carried away at times - remember they had daily rewrites at time on the LotR movies and changes of direction (Arwen at Helm's Deep for example).
Since the Silmarillion rights were never sold I could see the Tolkien Estate making sure PJ & Co never get near that one (there must be at least 6 more movies in there when you combine that with all the background material for the period).
I haven't see the film yet.

orc-archer · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:28 pm

Harfoot wrote:

just remembered one of my favourite moments, the Dwarfs forming a shield wall and then the Elfs jumping other them into combat! Brilliant.

it was a great day and will go again over Christmas.

As if the dwarven shiedwall wasn't amazing enough, the elves jumping over made my jaw drop.

Draugluin · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2014 9:28 pm

I laughed so hard at that. The kind of laugh that only comes when you see something so awesome you don't know how else to respond.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2014 10:03 pm

I watched it today and can say that I was very impressed. The film effectively was battling all the way through, or so it seemed.
A slight disappointment was the bigger battles, maybe I was expecting more but there was nothing to compete with the charge of the Rohirrim. I wanted bigger battles and perhaps less CGI with more real action.
The closer one on one fights were incredibly good and the individual fights toward the end were epic.
Some nice tying in at the the end made everything make sense for those that need it.
It seems the scene from the trailer of the ice sledge pulled by rams will wait for the extended version.
Overall, very pleased and gutted that this is the end of things.

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Thu Dec 18, 2014 2:21 am

Harfoot wrote:

just remembered one of my favourite moments, the Dwarfs forming a shield wall and then the Elfs jumping other them into combat! Brilliant.

it was a great day and will go again over Christmas.

I enjoyed all of the inane trolls, ice waterfalls and even the battle goats. :rofl:

Sacrilege83 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 18, 2014 6:46 am

I give it a 7/10 on IMDB, a 7.5 if it was possible. Wanted to give it an 8 but...

Even seeing it in regular form without the 3D, some of the VFX shots still gave me a nauseating feeling. If I hadn't known the original story probably the movie would have been better. I enjoyed the film but felt overwhelmed in VFX, and underwhelmed in character representation. There were character moments that I did enjoy, mainly Bilbo and Thorin. I liked the "boss" fights though it's reminiscent of a videogame.

I left the theater satisfied but yet at the same time disappointed. And I think it is due to the fact that it doesn't have the "realism" or grittiness that Lotr has. If it had that same tamed feeling of Lotr, then The Hobbit trilogy would've been way better. I felt the trilogy was too extravagant for its own good overall. And I know Tolkienites would be given a heart attack by these films and for good reason. They would give it a rating of 1 for sure if they don't have an open mind. I'll still buy the Extended Blu-ray, but DoS is mainly my favorite of the trilogy for the face off between Bilbo and Smaug.

Draugluin · **Posted:** Thu Dec 18, 2014 4:57 pm

The LotR was tamed because it was in the world of men, we only had 1 elf, who did a lot of crazy stunts. Add in a few thousand more just like him and you're going get a lot of crazy stuff happening.

Sacrilege83 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 18, 2014 6:34 pm

No Dragluin it's not just that, they took the action and cgi style of "Van Helsing" and transplanted it into Middle-Earth; The Hobbit. Van Helsing was a fun movie, and so are the Hobbit films, but Lotr had a seriousness about it, not that the trilogy didn't have its own ridiculous moments (mostly involving Legolas like you said). Fellowship was tamed because Peter had a restricted budget (Read Viggo Mortensen's interview critique on PJ). Peter caught the CGI bug a la George Lucas. Although I prefer the Hobbit Trilogy over the Star Wars prequels.

cuchulain84 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 18, 2014 6:38 pm

Agreed. As much as I'm sure it takes a lot of skill and craft to make so many complex CGI shots, it's just far less impressive than the real craftsmanship that went into the LOTR films.

BOTFA Day - how was your experience (No Spoilers)

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