Critics review 'Desolation of Smaug' | POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Wish he's spent more time filming LotR instead of Zulu.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:
How come Legolas is a one elf killing machine but a couple of hundred elves are cannon fodder?

For argument's sake (because I don't disagree with you at all, I just want to play the devil's advocate again   ): The same reason Eomer and Aragorn kick more arse than your average man of Rohan - they're "heroes" (for lack of a better word to use). Gandalf says something like this in RotK "And we have names among us worth a thousand spears". So there you have your answer to that question at least

Do Tauriel and all the tree leaping, spider web swinging, barrel leaping elves in TH also all have a name worth a thousand spears then?

Yup

So if they only had had Tauriel at the Battle of Helms Deep they wouldn't have needed all those other elves?

Hindsight's a bitch, eh Peter.   

On a more serious note, no, of course not. I should have mentioned that I didn't take TH into account. Tauriel is an invented character, and the Mirkwood elves are just ridiculously overpowered (is that a gaming term only, by the way?). I think Jackson shot himself in the foot there - he can't have an army of warriors like that present at the Bo5A, that would be all but tense or exciting. Legolas, while his tricks and ninja skills are ridiculous as well, is after all a powerful elf in the books too, so it's not that far-fetched. Like I said in my first reply, though, I agree with you. Just thought I'd put in an argument for the fun of it

Regardless of the books, when you have a hero in a story, they always are more extraordinary than the others. If they weren't, then they aren't worth our time. And extraordinary doesn't always mean super powered. In an action flick (which TH is at its core) the heroes have to be good fighters, rather the best fighters. What worked in LOTR was that the heroes weren't above injury or harm, but in TH we all know they aren't going to get hurt because there is no such thing as mortality in those films!

Recoveryanonymous wrote:

bungobaggins wrote:Okay.

Wait a minute, Saul's not dangerous...

It may be time to update the custom rank.

Pettytyrant101 wrote: <snip> its just the ones at Helms Deep presumably couldnt be arsed and preffered just to stand there and get slaughtered!

But the main prolem is ruins all the tension instantly- we have an excellent set up where Theoden tells Aragorn "we are not so lucky in our friends as you" setting up the odds they re against and then they ruin it.
PJ says in the commentary he wanted Helms Deep to feel like the Zulu- except in Zulu right before the attack a large force of crack British elite soldiers dont turn up to fight for them- and if they had Zulu would have been ruined too.

I agree there mate. But A) I LIKE Haldir turning up now,
                                  B) I HATE Haldir Dying (The music always makes me think I'm gonna see Valinor any second and it stops short.)
                            And C) I HATE Zulu with a passion. Apart from the sergeant/surgeon (?) shouting 'Youre a soldier now Hooky ! in that crazed voice. Hate it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc32YdEWHzo

-one of my fave AUJ reviews


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOIi9SjJvgU

 

HT is great. The best thing to have come from these movies

I Lurrrrve 'Honest Trailers', always so funny & they spot such bloody obvious mistakes & embellish them. I never get bored with watching these   And the name change at the end ? someone had fun thinking them up !
Gwyneth Paltrow...for Leggy !

azriel wrote:And the name change at the end ? someone had fun thinking them up !
Gwyneth Paltrow...for Leggy !

I also like the names given to the dwarves.

Me to Raddy ! hysterical