6 years later, they’re rarely talked about, even among Tolkien fans. Not even close to as much as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is still just as beloved today as it was 18 years ago, triple the time, and probably always will be.
To clarify: Personally, at least at the time, I thought the 1st one = great, the 2nd one = also great (Up until that bullshit cliffhanger ending), and the 3rd one...was mainly where things fell apart for me.
Like I said, haven't seen any of them since they first came out (I saw all 3 of them premier night, and I'm not even a Tolkien fanboy or anything lol), nor have I watched the later Extended versions, so who knows? I may very well hate them more than I remember, or perhaps even like them more in the case of 3, since I've heard supposedly the Extended version addresses certain things left out of the Theatrical cut (Odds are it doesn't fix the flow/rhythm of the entire movie tho... Srsly, who thought it was a good idea to start the movie with what should have been the climax of the last one?!).
There's a universe out there where the series is a duology directed by Guillermo Del Toro and held in just as high of a regard as the lotr trilogy...sad we don't live there.
Obligatory link to Lindsay Ellis' 3 part "autopsy" of the trilogy , which mainly deals with the milieu of production problems it had...like Jackson and co. being given literally no preparation time as opposed to the lotr trilogy where they were given years to prepare and lovingly create it.
I liked this scene where they sang the misty mountain song, and the intricate detail they put into Smaug's iris (CW snakelike closeup), but that was pretty much it. Pretty sure I saw at least the first two in the theaters and the only other thing I remember about them was that I hated them and I'm pretty sure the Swearengin guy from Deadwood showed up at some point.
She a lib but I did enjoy Lindsey Ellis' interview with a New Zealand actor who played one of the Dwarfs. He talked about how he thought there was a good dynamic between all the guys playing Dwarfs, they had formed a good "band of brothers" relationship and how it thought it would have played out great if the film had been made in the original directors vision. But then the film got handed off to a bunch of dumb hollywood dork who made into action schlock.
I’m pretty sure the Swearengin guy from Deadwood showed up at some point.
you might be mixing it up with the live action Snow White movie from 2012
They really fucked over the New Zealand workers too. Real gross shit.
It's covered in the Lindsay Ellis videos linked by Op. Essentially the actors from New Zealand didn't have American SAG protecting them and got very fucked over compared to the American actors so they worked help create a new Zealand film union. NZ gets a shitload of money from studios shooting there and Warner Brothers higher ups straight up met with the prime minister and threatened to take their business elsewhere compelling them to outlaw the union. Studio execs strongarmed a nation over a fantasy movie.
Yeah, she actually went to NZ and interviewed people for the video. It's a really great watch. I won't even watch the second two movies now even out of curiosity cause of that and im sure they suck so it's not worth pirating .
She also does a really good monologue thing about how if it's a bank or whatever doing shitty things we don't care but when its entertainment we feel more complicit cause we connect emotionally to that product cause it's also art, it's a great rant
Not that I watch a ton of movies, but the VFX seemed so bad when I saw these in theaters. That fucking gopro shot in the barrels in the river still gives me nightmares. It's wild how quickly the studios went from "sure we will let you be in pre-production for like a decade and do tons of practical effects" with LOTR to the just "fuck it, give it to me now and we'll fix it in post" that was The Hobbit.
God that barrel scene was awful. In the books it's this great little trick that Bilbo orchestrates, not this giant garbage action sequence.
It was even worse in 60fps. That shit is fine for video games, but has no place in film. That was an awful gimmick.
I think it was Peter Jackson as well as the studios. The LOTR trilogy was fucking WORK and it's hard to remember now that Jackson was a fairly untested director and didn't have the biggest budget for them either, he probably didn't want to do all of that again and frankly I wouldn't either. You only need one opus. I don't think he really even wanted to make it. The other Jackson thing is that the success of the LOTR movies along with their length and people living the even longer special editions (which is fair, they rule) helped justify his own indulgences to himself. Dude was a very self indulgent director which is probably both his biggest strength and weakness, when I works it works, when it doesn't it's King Kong or 3 Hobbit movies where he has the gall to add his own crap to the Tolkien mythology
Guillermo del Toro was supposed to direct, but schedule conflict or something led to Jackson taking over, and allegedly Jackson himself wasn't happy with how hurried it was or how it turned out.
The first Hobbit film was the first movie that I ever left feeling really angry. I think it's because it starts off really good, but by the end has devolved into completely sterile action schlock. I fucking hated that movie so goddamn much that I never saw the others, despite Tolkien's universe being one of my favorite.
That's interesting, I was bummed out by the lack of humour in the dwarf breakfast scene. A bit more adherence to the book's humour would've been good.
I actually think the 2nd is really really good if you're willing to give it a go. The score is also pretty good.
I can't even remember if I saw the third one in the theater or not. All I remember is some uncanny CGI character. I don't think the third one even had a plot.
It should have been one movie. It has some great parts, but there's so much fucking bloat to them.
Agreed, the book is borderline an action adventure movie screenplay anyway. It's a super easy to adapt book
remember when Del Toro left and everyone was sad but then everyone was ecstatic when Peter Jackson signed on
The Rankin-Bass Hobbit is 100% unironically superior to the Hobbit trilogy
I somehow saw all three of these movies separate times on an airplane lmao.
Rankin Bass had to cut a lot, but they captured the spirit of the book perfectly. Love that film, though their foray into LOTR was pretty bad.
LOTR was Ralph Bakshi
Edit for accuracy: Ralph Bakshi did Lord of the Rings which was Fellowship and most of Two Towers and then Rankin and Bass ended out doing Return of the King
Does the universe with the Guillermo del Toro version of The Hobbit also have Silent Hills and In the Mountains of Madness? I really need to stop getting hyped over his projects in this shitty reality :(
