In theatres: 'Desolation of Smaug' | SPOILERS

Wow Sin much more positive than I thought you'd be!

honestly if you don't know the source material its a entertaining film, but as far as adaptations go its not a very good one IMO and could have been much better. i will say I was happy to see Bree again but it was a rather poorly written scene. So much could have been better. But like I said if you ignore the book completely the film is good mindless entertainment...

Sadly I don't think we'll get the talking ravens or thrush Bard can understand. And I am gonna say told ya so now about the ballista firing the black arrow, so when its a major point next year I was right... AGAIN!

As a film: generally mediocre.

As a prequel: highly disappointing.

As an adaptation: barely qualifies.

Verdict: duuuuuuuuuuumb.

Review to follow.

malickfan wrote:
Wow Sin much more positive than I thought you'd be!

Like I said you have to completely throw the source material out the bloody window.    Forget anything about Tolkien's book and its enjoyably mindless and slightly entertaining. But don't get me wrong there were a ton of things that I despised. But I'm sick and will need to see it one more time so that the badness can soak in. Then you'll probably get a crabbit attack     

Sinister71 wrote:Sadly I don't think we'll get the talking ravens or thrush Bard can understand. And I am gonna say told ya so now about the ballista firing the black arrow, so when its a major point next year I was right... AGAIN!

Way to steal from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, PJ   

Sinister71 wrote:

malickfan wrote:
Wow Sin much more positive than I thought you'd be!

Like I said you have to completely throw the source material out the bloody window.   

I might try that, if not for the fact that Jackass completely and utterly sucks.

Wow..Eldo I thought you were the 'let's think positive' bloke on this forum!

I predict a solid 'meh I don't quite know what I watched and I can't be arsed to figure out how I feel about it' reaction on my part.

i am looking forward to the behind the scenes stuff and bloopers..

 See guys! I'm not completely crazy! Sin found parts of it entertaining too! You just have to forget that it's based off of the book!

I'll never forget

Ok maybe not forget, but disassociate for the sake of your own sanity???

malickfan wrote:Wow..Eldo I thought you were the 'let's think positive' bloke on this forum!

I predict a solid 'meh I don't quite know what I watched and I can't be arsed to figure out how I feel about it' reaction on my part.

Well it's not as bad as some of the reviews I read made me fear. I can think of noticeably worse examples of any of the problems I have with DOS in other recent-ish films. The saddest thing about it is that a decade ago, Jackson was capable of making one of the finest blockbuster series ever made. Now, he's not really distinguishable from mediocre directors like JJ Abrams who churn out bland but geek-pleasing flicks.

IL need a lobotomy to forget,
Trouble is....familiarity. Once you've read the book, anything after that is recognizable, whether its film or cartoon.   is for me.

Seems like my fondness for the Rakin Bass Cartoon isn't such a bad thing after all.

I didnt find even the supposedly fun parts fun. I was bored out of my tree. Every single time I saw Thorin I yawned and every time I saw Leggy I got irritated. So pretty much 99% of the time.

I actually got my most bored round Smaug THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO TENSION.   he is stood there right in front of Smaug, Smaug could have fried him in an instant but there was far too much wasting time being smart asses. The thing about the book was that creeping feeling of being watched by an invisible Dragon that can swoop down on you from a bare desolate mountain side with nowhere to hide. of being locked IN the mountain down a tunnel while a storm of Thunder rages outside. of Bilbo creeping down the tunnel only to get singed on his heels. The book has tension it makes your hair stand on end, but this film has NOTHING. Just Smaug failing to bite Bilbo failing to just turn them all to crisp because of some idiotic plan of Thorins. its pathetic.   

Tinuviel wrote:Ok maybe not forget, but disassociate for the sake of your own sanity???

That would be hard to do as well. I've disliked almost everything I've seen of PJ (the exception being, perhaps, The Frighteners, which I don't even remember that well). Hard to think he'll hit any of the right notes this time, on any level.

Hear that? It's Professor Tolkien rolling over in his grave...

Sad to hear they even screwed up Schmwaugggggg-that is the one thing not hard to do with the book-a ferking huge dragon how can you NOT make that great?

azriel wrote:Today, I saw 2 different cinema posters on my travels, I noticed how each one was different, especially Tauriel's.

OK, probably nobody cares but me, but there are some details of these posters that are terribly wrong.  In the photo of Bard he has drawn his bow with his right palm facing away from him...his hand is thumb down instead of thumb up.  This is not done in traditional archery and is only done in modern archery by a fairly small minority who use a specific kind of mechanical release in which they use "back tension" rather than a trigger to release the arrow.  It is not done at all by those who shoot with their fingers instead of a mechanical release.

On Tauriel's poster look at the difference in her left hand vs. Legolas.  She has her index finger over the arrow while she is at full draw.  She would not do this.  You might do it if you had an arrow nocked but were not ready to draw, but once she began to draw she would not do this (if she knew what she was doing).  Also her right elbow should be up higher and her right wrist should be straight, but it is bent sharply.  This is what it looked like the first time my 3 year old tried to shoot a bow.  Also that very crooked head on Tauriel's arrow would never fly straight.

beleg wrote:OK, probably nobody cares but me, but there are some details of these posters that are terribly wrong. In the photo of Bard he has drawn his bow with his right palm facing away from him...his hand is thumb down instead of thumb up.

it's a long bow. holding it like that will make you able to draw your hand further back making more potential energy without the arrow striking your face at release.

i agree about Tauriel though, i imagine it's a mistake due to the fact that she is posing rather than actually shooting something. But maybe she has strong enough upper arm mucles to draw the bow with a bended arm.

I'm still wondering why neither poster features neither a hobbit or Smaug...

There were like four other posts in that series featuring various characters, including Bilbo.

Smaug wasn't featured in the marketing materials (for the most part) because they wanted to keep his design a secret.

Yeah, true, but there seem to be posters for every character. Like, who gives a crap about this poster?



As for Smaug, they could have at least had a poster showing his eye.

They did.

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/08/16/77224-new-desolation-of-smaug-key-art-poster/

I stand corrected   

Eldo where is your review? I'm dying to know how badly my childhood is being ruined!