The Hobbit: Battle of The 5 Armies Teaser Trailer

[Nutso]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSzeFFsKEt4

From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” the third in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town.

Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo’s frantic attempts to make him see reason drive the Hobbit towards a desperate and dangerous choice. But there are even greater dangers ahead. Unseen by any but the Wizard Gandalf, the great enemy Sauron has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain.

As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide – unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance.

Official Trailer

[Teaos]

I have been supremely disappointed with the new hobbit movies. Part of it is dues to them not using Jackson from the start which was a a huge fuck up, the other guy just didnt have the right vision for this universe.

[Graham Kennedy]

I've liked them both so far, though with a couple of reservations. I never read any of the books (Hobbit or LOTR), so I don't have any issues with changing stuff from the source material. My main complaint is that the films feel too long and slow.I get that they wanted to pad it out to a trilogy for the $$$$, but did it really have to be three three hour films? Why, just because the LOTR movies were three hours each?

The first two Hobbits could have done with 30 mins or more being cut out, I thought. It would make them a lot pacier and more engaging.

[Nutso]

I have been supremely disappointed with the new hobbit movies. Part of it is dues to them not using Jackson from the start which was a a huge fuck up, the other guy just didnt have the right vision for this universe.

According a a Cracked article today:

#5. The Hobbit Production Diaries Show That Peter Jackson Is Tired and Old

When The Lord of the Rings came out, it totally changed my understanding of what movies could be and why I should go to the theater. It means just as much to me as Star Wars means to people of the previous generation -- and like the original Star Wars, learning that it isn't real doesn't diminish the magic, because the effort that went into making each scene absolutely perfect actually makes the movie even more mythic. The extended-edition "appendices" found on the extended-edition DVDs are the gold-standard for special features, in my mind. Those are some of my favorite movies, and when you watch the interviews with the cast and crew, you can tell that they had as much fun making these movies as I had watching them. They also went completely insane, which should become totally clear in this video around the time the guy making chainmail starts threatening the gagged Smurf doll on his desk.

But now we're doing The Hobbit and ... I mean, it's pretty whatever, right? Those are all the words I wanna expend on those movies right now.

So, naturally, I checked out the special features, to see if they could explain why this movie is that thing it is and ... well, here are some quotes, taken totally at random, from the production diaries and "The Appendices" found only on the extended Blu-ray:


"This is a nightmare." -Peter Jackson

"I asked Peter Jackson if he was going to do The Hobbit and he said, 'No, I'm not interested in doing that.'" -Elijah Wood.

"[This movie] made me feel like I should stop acting." -Sir Ian McKellen


Sure, all those lines are said as jokes -- but it's the only type of joke anyone is making. If you read between the lines, it's clear that the pre-production for The Hobbit was going great -- until Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hell Boy) had to leave. So much money was invested that Jackson had to take over despite not wanting to at all -- seriously, they mention how Jackson isn't interested in this series, like, 15 goddamn times. Which is probably why his motivational speech on the first day is delivered with the enthusiasm of a man who just found out he has to fumigate his garage:

"For a long time I thought that going back to the amazing experience of Lord of the Rings would be a good idea. But, ultimately, I've come around, because films are stressful and hard to make ... if somebody came up to me and said, 'You know, we can carry on pre-production for another six weeks,' I would just say, 'No, no, hell no, let's just start shooting.'"

This totally explains why these movies are so disappointing: Both Hobbit movies so far have been imaginative and almost good interpretations and expansions of the source material, but are held back by lazy visual effects (due to the shortened pre-production time that makes the level of care put into the first film impossible -- kinda like what happened with King Kong) and an apparent inability to edit out extraneous bullshit (because editing is emotionally exhausting, and Jackson looks like he's on the verge of tears in every scene he's in).

I mean, I'm still going to see the new one when it comes out. And so are you, don't fucking lie to me. But at least now we know why we're going to leave the theater feeling like our souls just went through a cheese grater.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-behind-th ... ent-wrong/

[Mikey]

It seems to me, as a fan of Tolkien, that the material with which they padded the Hobbit films - in order to stretch the one novel into a trilogy - not only wasn't necessary (it was background material from LoTR, not from The Hobbit itself,) but actually detracted from the cache and the air of underlying depths of mythos that was the hallmark of Tolkien's work. In addition, of course, to making the films cringe-worthy by the adjunct of McCoy's ridiculous caricature of a character.*

* I'm not blaming McCoy, I'm sure he played Radagast faithfully to the way he was written.

[Nutso]

Official Trailer

Great trailer.

"Leave Sauron to me!"

gave me chills even knowing what happens later.

[Nutso]

It seems to me, as a fan of Tolkien, that the material with which they padded the Hobbit films - in order to stretch the one novel into a trilogy - not only wasn't necessary (it was background material from LoTR, not from The Hobbit itself,) but actually detracted from the cache and the air of underlying depths of mythos that was the hallmark of Tolkien's work. In addition, of course, to making the films cringe-worthy by the adjunct of McCoy's ridiculous caricature of a character.*

* I'm not blaming McCoy, I'm sure he played Radagast faithfully to the way he was written.

Maybe because I didn't read the books, I enjoyed Radagast. Didn't realize he was played by Sylvester McCoy, and when I found out I did a fangirl squeal. I'm not ashamed to admit that.

[Mikey]

I was happy to see that McCoy was cast in the films too, until I saw in the first one what a crap part he'd been given. Even more than the LotR films (which is a lot,) these films make a mockery of the book rather than an homage.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

The thing for me is...

1. Three movies. No. It's one fairly short book. At best, two. But not three!

2. it's all so serious! The Hobbit, IIRC, wasn't as grim as these movies.

3. Tying it into LOTR. I know it was turned into a prequel by stuff in LOTR and addendums and whatnot, but the book wasn't. It's padding.

[Nutso]

Is Saruman more powerful than Galadriel? In the trailer above, it looks like Galdriel was wounded before Saruman commands, "Leave Sauron to me."

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Is Saruman more powerful than Galadriel? In the trailer above, it looks like Galdriel was wounded before Saruman commands, "Leave Sauron to me."

Do you mean Gandalf? Initially it seems so; in the first book/movie of LOTR Saruman (by then twisted by the influence of Sauron) defeats Gandalf in a duel. Later, after Gandalf slays the Balrog in Moria (as he falls at the end of that first book) he is returned as a slightly different wizard as is seen in the course of the second book of LOTR. Gandalf the many-colored he is called at that point in the books seems more powerful than before, and Saruman is left powerless after the fall of Isengard.

Sauron individually was the most powerful magical being - until he was brought down by a mere hobbit.

[Nutso]

Is Saruman more powerful than Galadriel? In the trailer above, it looks like Galdriel was wounded before Saruman commands, "Leave Sauron to me."

Do you mean Gandalf? Initially it seems so; in the first book/movie of LOTR Saruman (by then twisted by the influence of Sauron) defeats Gandalf in a duel. Later, after Gandalf slays the Balrog in Moria (as he falls at the end of that first book) he is returned as a slightly different wizard as is seen in the course of the second book of LOTR. Gandalf the many-colored he is called at that point in the books seems more powerful than before, and Saruman is left powerless after the fall of Isengard.

Sauron individually was the most powerful magical being - until he was brought down by a mere hobbit.

In this official trailer for the third Hobbit movie we see an unconscious Gandalf being consoled by Galadriel, then a few seconds later Saruman says, "Leave Sauron to me," and in the background a fallen Galdriel is being tended to by Elrond.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Ah, I missed that detail in the trailer. When the scene cut from Galadriel tending to Gandalf to Saruman my eye went to Saruman. I guess it's hard to tell since there weren't too many direct showdowns between magical creatures in all this, aside from the Saruman-Gandalf duel and Gandalf's confrontation with Sauron. Gandalf is mainly featured as the wise mentor to first Bilbo then Frodo (just a mentor who happens to have great magical powers), and the elf leaders less prominently featured wise beings also. In particular the magical abilities of Elf vs Wizard wasn't fully detailed in the material I've seen.

[Nutso]

Ah, I missed that detail in the trailer. When the scene cut from Galadriel tending to Gandalf to Saruman my eye went to Saruman. I guess it's hard to tell since there weren't too many direct showdowns between magical creatures in all this, aside from the Saruman-Gandalf duel and Gandalf's confrontation with Sauron. Gandalf is mainly featured as the wise mentor to first Bilbo then Frodo (just a mentor who happens to have great magical powers), and the elf leaders less prominently featured wise beings also. In particular the magical abilities of Elf vs Wizard wasn't fully detailed in the material I've seen.

I just remember that Galadriel in Fellowship did this speech to Frodo where she was radiating light. This thing all shall love and despair. And it looks like she, ELrond and Saruman are coming to fight Sauron and save Gandalf. She seemed to be a thing of power when she was scaring Frodo, but she's beaten in the trailer, and then Saruman is real confident looks like he put himself between Sauron and Elrond/Galadriel.

I take it this doesn't happen in the book?

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Ah, I missed that detail in the trailer. When the scene cut from Galadriel tending to Gandalf to Saruman my eye went to Saruman. I guess it's hard to tell since there weren't too many direct showdowns between magical creatures in all this, aside from the Saruman-Gandalf duel and Gandalf's confrontation with Sauron. Gandalf is mainly featured as the wise mentor to first Bilbo then Frodo (just a mentor who happens to have great magical powers), and the elf leaders less prominently featured wise beings also. In particular the magical abilities of Elf vs Wizard wasn't fully detailed in the material I've seen.

I just remember that Galadriel in Fellowship did this speech to Frodo where she was radiating light. This thing all shall love and despair. And it looks like she, ELrond and Saruman are coming to fight Sauron and save Gandalf. She seemed to be a thing of power when she was scaring Frodo, but she's beaten in the trailer, and then Saruman is real confident looks like he put himself between Sauron and Elrond/Galadriel.

I take it this doesn't happen in the book?

A lot of what's in the Hobbit movies wasn't in the book. Some of the material seems to have been drawn from the supplemental material Tolkein later published (which I haven't read) but a lot also embellished by the film producers. It's inferred that the elf leaders have some magical ability but exactly how it compares to those of wizards really isn't a focus here, as it's not relevant to the plot. Maybe it's addressed in some of that supplemental work.