What is the main thing this movie serves to do? It hypes the third one up tremendously; but does it in a very entertaining way.
What did I want more of? Mirkwood - the chapters involving Mirkwood described a much more fairly-tale darkness stylized Mirkwood than what appeared in the movie. The party was not stalked by Elves, and the darkness imagery in the book did not exist in the film; the Spiders in the book spun webs of darkness, identifying them as being in the lineage of Ungoliant. Also, to end it where it did, that just felt evil! Evil for theater goers at least, because we have to wait a year.
Lake Town - I have heard people who felt this part of the movie did not have enough action; in my opinion, is a bit numb-skullish =P
Personally, I felt the town was a really great setting. It was the main portion of the film I was looking forward to, probably overall. Somehow the town I found it really reminded me of a city-sized version of Moga Village from Monster Hunter 3.
What surprised me: 1. Tauriel and Legolas, 2. the barrel riding scene, 3. Smaug. 4. Thranduil
1. Tauriel and Legolas - seemed like they would feel like shoe-horned characters similar to the Arwen stuff in Lord of the Rings... The two characters felt far less-shoe-horned in than the Elves showing up at Helms Deep - in fact, they integrated very well into Peter Jackson's version of the story. Now, in Lord of the Rings, Saruman scenes aside, Peter Jackson's additions usually didn't seem to work very well... They work VERY well in this movie. Tauriel and Kili's storyline has me VERY interested, I'll explain why this is later.
2. The barrel riding scene was AWESOME. Way better than I thought it would be. Sorry River Wild, but you got smoked in terms of best scene taking place on rapids. The "Do a barrel roll!" scene was classic
3. Smaug, I thought the scene was really awesome when Bilbo first stumbled upon him. He sees the head come around, and then way way over there, he sees gold moving where his tail is. For whatever reason, I thought Smaug was going to end up looking really cheesy based on the trailer and the shot in the first movie; but no! I was surprisingly mistaken. Smaug is like a big massive demon-dragon who just seems damn tough. The battle scene was long, but well done because it felt like each bit of it was telling a bit of a story of how they were going to trap and kill him. Although the molton gold seemed a little too perfect of a set-up... Even though it was not nearly enough... But it explains Smaug's golden scales!
4. Thranduil, something about this guy just spoke "I am SO above you." He was menacing like Galadriel was in the Fellowship, but even more sinister. They cast this guy perfectly. It will be interesting to see him leading the Elf army into battle.... Riding a moose.
My predictions for part 3 based on the storyline in the book and what Peter Jackson seems to be doing.
1. Bolg kills Kili and Fili. Tauriel gets revenge by killing Bolg in the battle of five armies... Although I am sure Legolas will factor in somehow since the last movie ended with him chasing down Bolg on horseback.
2. Thorin battles Azog, and kills him, but is mortally wounded.
What did I want more of? Mirkwood - the chapters involving Mirkwood described a much more fairly-tale darkness stylized Mirkwood than what appeared in the movie. The party was not stalked by Elves, and the darkness imagery in the book did not exist in the film; the Spiders in the book spun webs of darkness, identifying them as being in the lineage of Ungoliant. Also, to end it where it did, that just felt evil! Evil for theater goers at least, because we have to wait a year.
Lake Town - I have heard people who felt this part of the movie did not have enough action; in my opinion, is a bit numb-skullish =P
Personally, I felt the town was a really great setting. It was the main portion of the film I was looking forward to, probably overall. Somehow the town I found it really reminded me of a city-sized version of Moga Village from Monster Hunter 3.
What surprised me: 1. Tauriel and Legolas, 2. the barrel riding scene, 3. Smaug. 4. Thranduil
1. Tauriel and Legolas - seemed like they would feel like shoe-horned characters similar to the Arwen stuff in Lord of the Rings... The two characters felt far less-shoe-horned in than the Elves showing up at Helms Deep - in fact, they integrated very well into Peter Jackson's version of the story. Now, in Lord of the Rings, Saruman scenes aside, Peter Jackson's additions usually didn't seem to work very well... They work VERY well in this movie. Tauriel and Kili's storyline has me VERY interested, I'll explain why this is later.
2. The barrel riding scene was AWESOME. Way better than I thought it would be. Sorry River Wild, but you got smoked in terms of best scene taking place on rapids. The "Do a barrel roll!" scene was classic
3. Smaug, I thought the scene was really awesome when Bilbo first stumbled upon him. He sees the head come around, and then way way over there, he sees gold moving where his tail is. For whatever reason, I thought Smaug was going to end up looking really cheesy based on the trailer and the shot in the first movie; but no! I was surprisingly mistaken. Smaug is like a big massive demon-dragon who just seems damn tough. The battle scene was long, but well done because it felt like each bit of it was telling a bit of a story of how they were going to trap and kill him. Although the molton gold seemed a little too perfect of a set-up... Even though it was not nearly enough... But it explains Smaug's golden scales!
4. Thranduil, something about this guy just spoke "I am SO above you." He was menacing like Galadriel was in the Fellowship, but even more sinister. They cast this guy perfectly. It will be interesting to see him leading the Elf army into battle.... Riding a moose.
My predictions for part 3 based on the storyline in the book and what Peter Jackson seems to be doing.
1. Bolg kills Kili and Fili. Tauriel gets revenge by killing Bolg in the battle of five armies... Although I am sure Legolas will factor in somehow since the last movie ended with him chasing down Bolg on horseback.
2. Thorin battles Azog, and kills him, but is mortally wounded.
-Insert Inspiring Quote-
