Film: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

[dimejinky99]

Production video. Pretty good. Especially Gandalf dropping the F word:)
http://youtu.be/KAJ_YCe4YsM

[dimejinky99]

This is empire magazines report on the 20 minutes of footage of four or five different scenes.
Please don't read if you don't want to know stuff. Though a lot of it is infuriating and intriguing.

Spoiler: show

Last night's Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug fan event linked cast and fans in multiple locations around the world via the Eye Of Jackson. Empire was on hand to witness excitement levels soaring through a number of roofs with the introduction of Peter Jackson, Andy Serkis, Orlando Bloom, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace and Jed Brophy in Wellington, London, LA and New York.

The highpoint of the evening - aside from a nail-biting cosplay contest that pitched one lady dressed as a barrel against another clad as Bilbo's front door - was a full 20 minutes of footage from the second Hobbit adventure. Jackson cautioned that a few of the effects from the five showcased sequences remained unfinished, but the show reel gave an impressive flavour of a movie that's a whisker from completion. [NB Highlight the hidden text for spoiler detail]

The first sequence showed Bilbo in the treetops of Mirkwood. A peek through the forest roof shows the company's destination, the Lonely Mountain and Long Lake, in the middle distance. Bilbo's glee is short-lived, however, as a sinister rustling heralds the approach of the wood's spidery denizens. Battle joined, the hobbit displays his new-found fighting prowess, with the Ring offering the dual advantage of invisibility and

Spoiler: show

the ability to hear the spiders' conversation. As one is dispatched the forest floor, it cries out "Argh, it stings!". And, lo, Sting is christened.

Spoiler: show

As action sequences go, it's comfortably the best we've seen in The Hobbit trilogy so far: tightly-paced, with Jackson marshalling the effects work and camera moves into a nightmarishly gothic scenario from which there seems no obvious escape. But clearly there is, because we next see Bilbo freeing the dwarves from their wood-elf jailers and ushering them into barrels and out of the cellars via a Heath Robinson-esque system of levers and trapdoors. As two drunk (drugged?) elves snooze obliviously, the alert is raised and chase given.

The serene menace of the elves, and their animus towards orc and dwarf alike, shined through in this and one other sequence in which Thranduil (Pace) and Tauriel (Lilly) subject an orc pathfinder to 'enhanced interrogation'. Just in case anyone saw Tauriel as just a watered-down Galadriel facsimile, this scene should disavow them of that notion. Her aggressive, impetutous side comes to the fore as she lunges for orc blood and is stopped only at Thranduil's command. It doesn't do the orc much good, mind you.

Spoiler: show

His head and body soon part company

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, though not before he spits out an ominous warning. "You know nothing," he spits at Thranduil. "Your world will burn. The flames of war are upon you." The hint here is that Thrandruil may be missing the bigger picture: that Smaug is far from the greatest of his worries and that the real menace lurking just over the horizon is the Necromancer / Sauron.

Then we were treated to another fiddly relationship the dwarves must negotiate - doesn't anyone have a soft spot for the poor wee blighters? - with Bard the Bowman carrying them across wintry waters and into Lake-town via some very fishy barrels. Money changes hands. This is no noble gesture. Gloin isn't happy about any of it.

Last, but definitely not least, was a scene in which Bilbo is farewelled by Balin and left to tiptoe timidly down Escher-like staircases and into Smaug's lair to locate the Arkenstone. A little timidity is probably forgiveable in the circumstances. The dragon in the room, awoken by the inevitable chink of gold and crunch of jewels under the hobbit's feet, stirs as Baggins searches forlornly for a hiding place.

The effects work in the scene is remarkable - think Gringotts' multiplying treasures, multiplied by a thousand - and the slow-burn tension of the sequence and swooping camerawork replaces An Unexpected Journey's whimsy with something more gripping and, well, self-assured.

Among many other nuggets unveiled by Jackson during the night was news that Ed Sheeran has stepped into Neil Finn's songwriting shoes to pen the movie's end credits theme. A debut play of his song 'I See Fire', a slow-burning folk anthem that will be your Christmas earwyrm, went down a treat with the assembled throngs.



Still on a musical note, a deleted scene from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was also debuted. If you loved the washing-up song, this scene, in which Bofur (James Nesbitt) leads the company of dwarves in a singalong of the pub tub-thumper 'Man In The Moon', is definitely for you.

Jackson also hinted that the final Hobbit / Lord Of The Rings box sets will feature a long blooper reel, the franchise's first. Judging by some of Ian McKellen's swearier outtakes currently doing the rounds, it will be well worth looking out for.

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug will be with us on December 13. Check out the new trailer right here or, better yet, pick up a copy of Empire's new Hobbit-filled issue, onsale right now.

[stip]

New hobbit trailer is pretty kick ass.
http://youtu.be/lfflhfn1W-o

well fuck if that didn't just wipe the taste of the first film right out of my mouth

[bada]

There are really only two things that bother me from that trailer. The actor who plays Bard and Smaug's voice. Both are rather blah. All the the obvious changes from the book in the trailer don't bother me at all. I guess I'm mellowing. I do wish they went with practical creature effects for the various villains. CGI monsters aren't scary but what can you do.

[dimejinky99]

Bought the extended edition boxset today. Watching the appendices and seeing all the effort and love and time that goes in really makes it special. There's 9 hours of extras.
Gonna just watch a few bits and the Watch the extended version of the film later.
The bits I've seen online look great.

[E.H. Ruddock]

whatever. If Evangeline Lily is in it I'll see it.

[stip]

Bought the extended edition boxset today. Watching the appendices and seeing all the effort and love and time that goes in really makes it special. There's 9 hours of extras.
Gonna just watch a few bits and the Watch the extended version of the film later.
The bits I've seen online look great.

shit, I'll probably end up getting this after the holidays. I loved the extra features in the LOTR movies but I just don't care enough about the hobbit to be excited for this. Maybe seeing the next one will help.it looks great

[darth_vedder]

So this may have been addressed, but I don't follow these movies that much...Why did Peter Jackson make three Hobbit films, when the book is much shorter than the LOTRs? Pompous wankery?

[stip]

the studio needed to make money to recoup the enormous expense, which is why a third was added. Most of the extra material is plot outlined by tolkien but not put into the books--set up stuff for LOTR (probably written after the hobbit and possibly LOTR--I bet dime knows)

[Peeps]

id like to see the hobbit movies but all i see when i look at bilbo is jamie kennedy

[Rangi Guy]

id like to see the hobbit movies but all i see when i look at bilbo is jamie kennedy

[harmless]

So this may have been addressed, but I don't follow these movies that much...Why did Peter Jackson make three Hobbit films, when the book is much shorter than the LOTRs? Pompous wankery?

Basically yes.

[epilogue]

whatever. If Evangeline Lily is in it I'll see it.

[dimejinky99]

So this may have been addressed, but I don't follow these movies that much...Why did Peter Jackson make three Hobbit films, when the book is much shorter than the LOTRs? Pompous wankery?

Cash grab kiiiiinda. But they also so an opportunity to really fill out the whole tale and explain a lot that takes later in LOTR.

When the Hobbit was initially published it had one version of bilbo&gollum and riddles in the dark. Upon the publication of LOTR, when JRRT really started exploring the whole of middle earth and realising as braod a compilation of histories and stories that it was, it needed I centre thread.

He went back and rewrote the riddles in the dark section to fit into the LOTR. Storyline.
Subsequent editions up to now, carry on that version.

But it's not just that as a cash grab. There really was a whole lot going on in middle earth at the time that does actually justify its being brought to film , aka the film adaptations being 'expanded' into three films. The white council and their deliberations over the possible resurrection of Sauron, chief among them.

This next movie is the big one. It's all hanging on this. And having watched the extended edition of the first chapter, I'm confident it'll be great.

[Mecca]

So is the third one just going to be the war?

[dimejinky99]

To be honest, I'm a little lost about film three.

There are three huge elements to deal with.

1. Bilbo infiltrates Smaugs hoard and they have words. The dragon attacking Lake Town and being defeated

2. Battle of the five armies at the gate of Erebor(much chaos) and the fall of Thorin.
2a. (Beorn sequence)

And most importantly in terms of the canon yet not the Hobbit as the story stands,
3. The White Council (Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, and Saruman(?)) attack Dol Goldur to banish the Necromancer who they have discovered, is Sauron, after all. He feints defeat and retreats to Mordor and regains his strength there.


Sadly, Legolas and his father(only barely mentioned and relevant) seem to be the focus of the next film. We'll see what happens.

[dimejinky99]

I'm watching the extended edition with Jacksons commentary on.

They should rename it excuse notes


Watching the EE Boyens 'lets slip' the battle of Dol Goodur will feature in the upcoming films.
If that's the white council assaulting, remains to be seen. It should be though.

[surfndestroy]

Bought the extended edition boxset today. Watching the appendices and seeing all the effort and love and time that goes in really makes it special. There's 9 hours of extras.
Gonna just watch a few bits and the Watch the extended version of the film later.
The bits I've seen online look great.

I'd buy this now as I love the extras from LOTR but I also learned from LOTR that the best collection will only be available after all three movies are on disc.

I wish that series like this had a subscription type service where you can pay once, get the movies and extras as they are realesed and know that you are going to eventually get everything. I think the LOTR blu-ray set is about as good as it gets.

[Alex]

the first hobbit movie was one of the most tedious movie experiences of my life

[dimejinky99]

Really?

This next one is getting great reviews.
From Time
Who could guess, after the meandering first feature in a seemingly unnecessary eight-hour trilogy of films based on a novel of less than 300 pages, that Peter Jackson had such a vigorous and thrilling middle episode in store? With Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and the dwarves finally done with introductory dawdling, they dive into a nonstop adventure among the noble Elves, the rough-hewn humans of Laketown and the ferocious dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch).

This time, Andy Serkis has not lent his presence to Gollum, but his work as second-unit director is spectacular. Each complex encounter, especially a flume-ride escape of the dwarves, boasts a teeming ingenuity of action and character. A bonus: the budding romance of the warrior Elf Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and the dwarf hunk Kili (Aidan Turner). In all, this is a splendid achievement, close to the grandeur of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films.