The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

[Sammy Boy]

My wife and I saw this today. We loved it!

Okay, so it was really quite thin plot-wise, but the film is called "The Battle of the Five Armies", so we were expecting battle scenes.

Personally I think some scenes could have been expanded upon, so I eagerly await the extended edition for home media.

[the_wolfs_howl]

This was an awesome movie...but a horrible adaptation :/ If this wasn't The Hobbit, if it was an original fantasy story that was new just with this movie trilogy, it would be the coolest thing ever and I would love it to bits and pieces. It's a really good movie. But because it's impossible to forget that it is The Hobbit, there's always that smidgeon of disappointment.

The battles were awesome, as I knew they would be (especially the one against the Necromancer!), and though I'm still scratching my head over why the bats and the worms (*coughDunecough*) were necessary, that was quite an exciting trip. But my favorite parts were the character stuff and...basically every second Bilbo was on screen. MARTIN FREEMAN WHY ARE YOU SUCH AN AMAZING ACTOR. I loved what they did with Thorin's "dragon sickness," and Bilbo's frustration with the whole situation. And while it never affected me in the book and I don't feel particularly attached to any of the characters, SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Thorin's death brought tears to my eyes. Mostly because I have never seen such raw, believable acting as what Martin Freeman did in that scene. It was staggering.

And that credits song! T_T Oh my heart.... I'm really glad they got Billy Boyd to sing it; it was like he was the spokesman for everyone involved in LotR, telling us all farewell.

But I was really hoping Tauriel would die in this movie

[Kilvakar]

Actually, the bats were in the books, but not the worms, lol!

But I agree, on the whole I loved the movie, but as a die-hard Tolkien fan I couldn't help but be a little disappointed at some of the changes they made not just in the final movie, but the whole Hobbit trilogy. But definitely an awesome movie all-around!

[Crossfire]

Welp, I'll be the first here to say that I absolutely hated it. I can understand making some changes from the book, as with the Lord of the Rings... but the additions of zombie Azog, the elf chick and her 'romance', while shoehorning in the other Sindarian... nope. Can't deal with it. GG Mr. Jackson, never thought I'd say it before now but I'm happy the Tolkien estate prevented you from molesting The Silmarillion.

[MomentOfInertia]

The problem with the Hobbit is that it was made after LOTR was, and because of that Jackson needed to stretch what was a whimsical little adventure into the next big blockbuster trilogy. Padding it out ridiculously with additional side stories from the Tolkien lore(necromancer etc.) and new content made up for the purpose of either providing some equivalent to each subplot in LOTR or just to check off a few more popular movie cliches(rooooooomance).

The end result being something that is no longer a faithful adaptation of the source materiel, but but not quite far enough from it justify describing it as being 'loosely based'.
All out of a desire to make a major epic out of something that was never intended to be more that a light adventure novel, part of a larger fiction but still just a short tale itself. Kind of as if they decided to go back an adapt the first few Harry Potter books after doing the big finish for the series.

[ClaecElric4God]

I'll be the second to say that I absolutely hated it. Though it really has nothing to do with poor adaptation or changes or any of that (since I've never read any of the LOTR books). I simply felt like the whole thing was discursive and confusing and chaotic and lacked any sort of cohesion. It felt dragged out and repetitive and overall borish. I just felt like the atmosphere of the whole thing was unnecessary frustration and aggravation and bah. I was tense and irritated the whole time, and halfway through the movie I just wanted it to be over so I could go home. I get that it's about a battle and fight scenes and whatnot, but I dunno.

[mechana2015]

I was also greatly disappointed. It was fun to make fun of, but the changes they made really undermined the entire story. And outright ruined some of the best moments. Bards shot and kill on Smaug? Made both less meaningful, and completely rediculous. Thorins big fight? Less meaningful, rediculous, and he acts like an idiot. Beorn? He's in the movie for LESS THAN TEN SECONDS. Thor ins funeral and the cool things that happen there? Nope, decided to spend time on a romance between two charachters that aren't even in the book and the worst comedy sidekick since JarJar, also not in the book.

[Yuki-Anne]

Agreed. five seconds for a legitimately awesome character like Beorn so we can spend like, thirty minutes on Unibrow Creep. Yay?
Cartoony, cringe/giggle-inducing action sequences (Bard's Wagon Adventure, Legolas's Batman phase). Exciting...?
A full-blown "I AM THE KWISATZ HADERACH" moment with those weird Dune worms. Destiny...?
Gandalf and Galadriel's weirdly romantic subplot. "Tell me, where is Gandalf, for I MUCH desire to speak with him" explained?
Although a couple of people have put up "Tolkien edits" which cut out all the superfluous stuff. I'd post links but I think it might be against the rules...
I haven't watched them but I SUPER SUPER want to.