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Dec. 17th, 2012 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hathycolHOBBITSES PRECIOUS.
First things first: this will contain the spoilers, and if you're like me you will want to avoid these. Not the "WAIT THERE'S A DRAGON WHAT" spoilers but... stuff you don't want to know right now.
Secondly, a moan: it's a 3pm showing on a Sunday. There will be kids in the audience, most of whom who were well-behaved and I can deal with the odd 'MUM WHAT'S HAPPENING'. If you are a grown fucking adult then dude, the tickets are about a million quid for the cinema in London, SHUT UP SHUT SP SHUT UP YOU ARE RUINING MY BORDERLINE TRANSCENDENTAL EXPERIENCE. Because, right, I love these stories. I have loved them since I was 12. And then Lord of the Rings came out as a film and changed so, so many things for me, got me so many new friends (and ladies, you all know who you are) and I get so emotional about them, and I still can't watch the last 30 minutes of Return of the King without wailing in genuine distress at the sheer emotion and the fact that it's nearly over, by the credits it's basically mourning for the end of a story I know so well (I read the books when I was 12, yo!) but will miss so heartily.
And I was excited about The Hobbit as a film, I really was, but I was worried by some of the reviews so I was quite chilled out waiting for the film, and I was bored during the adverts and then suddenly the music started and I nearly started bawling because the magical amazing experience I remembered wasn't over after all.
And dude, the film hadn't even started yet.
No, really, this is about to be a massive big ass spoiler and you don't want to know.
Honestly.
Okay?
LINDIR! LINDIR! I totally said that Figwit was Lindir! And I WAS RIGHT! And I don't care if I am the only one excited about this!
Okay, no, let's actually try and take this in a rough order.
1. I didn't mind the prologue with Bilbo and Frodo, mostly because Elijah Wood has blatently not aged and we should start looking at him to see if he has a portrait in an attic somewhere. Basically, it was beating me about the head, saying "YOU REMEMBER THOSE FILMS? AND THE LOVE? WELL HERE'S SOME MORE." I didn't see it in 3D or the random different screenrate, because Wood Green Cineworld ain't that posh and also 3D gives me migraines, so I can't comment on the effects, but it all looked just as lush as I remembered. Plus, the sets are created so beautifully again, and oh, just oh.
2. Martin Freeman is a marvellous Bilbo. Too often, Martin Freeman just plays... well, himself. I fully believed him as Bilbo, and it's only in this right up now I've even remembered he's even in Sherlock.
3. OH OH OH THE DWARVES. All very well done, and very obviously individuals. I have a right soft spot for Balin - always have - and he was played beautifully. I have a very slight argument with Aiden Turner being Kili because he is far too attractive and the short beard reminds me far too much of Mitchell but hey, amongst all of the various Celtic accented dwarves he gets to be Northern. As a relation of Thorin, that makes sense, though?
4. OH HAI THAR RICHARD ARMITAGE. Even excluding the fact that I love Richard Armitage, he is a wonderful Thorin Oakenshield, really convincing and still, well, a dwarf, if that makes sense?
4a. I particularly enjoyed the prologue on his backstory, and the view of Erebor. It's nice to be reminded that dwarves had and have a very real and unique culture.
5. Also, the film is funny! Which I think works, because The Hobbit is a lighter book. Parts of it genuinely tickled me.
5a. Particularly when Gandalf was talking about the other wizards, and 'couldn't remember' the names of the blue wizards. I laughed. By myself. APPENICES JOKE, YO. Yay for Gandalf, and Ian McKellen in general.
5b. SPEAKING OF OTHER WIZARDS. Yay for Sylvester McCoy! I thought that was very well done, and it was nice to see some of Radagast - and show that he has very real power himself, in this own way.
5c. Christopher Lee, you are a magnificent human being and all I hope for in life is to be a fraction as awesome as you. I know he's a big Tolkein fan, and his portrayal of Saruman was beautifully done. We, the audience, know he's evil - or on the way to it - but none of the characters do, and his reasoning for notlooking into the Necromancer is entirely sensible, if you don't know why he's doing it.
5d. Not technically a wizard, obviously, but that bit in Dol Guldor (I refuse to believe that was a 'true' Nazgul, because they don't come about for another sixty years, but that's by the by) with the Necromancer was genuinely quite spooky. Which, really, it should have been. Hurrah!
6. Trolls = awesome. Well, you know what I mean.
7. I'm not sure where they're going with the Azog storyline? We'll see. It worked in this film, though.
8. ELVES! MANY MANY ELVES! I kept on peering in the background to see if I could see a set of twins. One day, we will see Elladan and Elrohir and I will be delighted. But LINDIR YAY DID WE MENTION THE YAY. I don't care how shallow this is, elves are hot. Also, nice dress Galadriel.
8a. Thranduil is growing on me, particularly his decision to have a battle stag. A little bit of Legolas in the background would have been a treat, but I am aware we don't get everything we ask for in life. I will continue to hope that he and Thorin (and Kili, why the hell not) all have a scene together in one of the next ones and then I will possibly just die.
9. The bit with the mountains was very good, with the stone giants and the Goblin King. (Dame Edna, you've changed.) I would have liked less CGI goblins, though, but it's good to see that there are distinct substrains of orcs and goblins.
10. Gollum! When, exactly, the general public decided Gollum was a hilarious comedy character I have yet to work out (delighted chortles from various children in the audience when he appeared, SERIOUSLY IT'S DISCUSSED HE WILL EAT PEOPLE THAT IS NOT COMIC RELIEF) but it was very well done, and the CGI seems to have improved. The game of riddles was absolutely perfectly done, as was Bilbo's moral decision that has such weight in the future.
11. I am very pleased we didn't get to see Smaug. It leaves me something to look forward to, and to make him the big 'TA DAH!' that he deserves to be.
I still have a lot to talk about, I think, but that's the main points. I'm going to so and see it again next week, hopefully up north where the cinemas are cheaper.
HOBBITSES YAY.
First things first: this will contain the spoilers, and if you're like me you will want to avoid these. Not the "WAIT THERE'S A DRAGON WHAT" spoilers but... stuff you don't want to know right now.
Secondly, a moan: it's a 3pm showing on a Sunday. There will be kids in the audience, most of whom who were well-behaved and I can deal with the odd 'MUM WHAT'S HAPPENING'. If you are a grown fucking adult then dude, the tickets are about a million quid for the cinema in London, SHUT UP SHUT SP SHUT UP YOU ARE RUINING MY BORDERLINE TRANSCENDENTAL EXPERIENCE. Because, right, I love these stories. I have loved them since I was 12. And then Lord of the Rings came out as a film and changed so, so many things for me, got me so many new friends (and ladies, you all know who you are) and I get so emotional about them, and I still can't watch the last 30 minutes of Return of the King without wailing in genuine distress at the sheer emotion and the fact that it's nearly over, by the credits it's basically mourning for the end of a story I know so well (I read the books when I was 12, yo!) but will miss so heartily.
And I was excited about The Hobbit as a film, I really was, but I was worried by some of the reviews so I was quite chilled out waiting for the film, and I was bored during the adverts and then suddenly the music started and I nearly started bawling because the magical amazing experience I remembered wasn't over after all.
And dude, the film hadn't even started yet.
No, really, this is about to be a massive big ass spoiler and you don't want to know.
Honestly.
Okay?
LINDIR! LINDIR! I totally said that Figwit was Lindir! And I WAS RIGHT! And I don't care if I am the only one excited about this!
Okay, no, let's actually try and take this in a rough order.
1. I didn't mind the prologue with Bilbo and Frodo, mostly because Elijah Wood has blatently not aged and we should start looking at him to see if he has a portrait in an attic somewhere. Basically, it was beating me about the head, saying "YOU REMEMBER THOSE FILMS? AND THE LOVE? WELL HERE'S SOME MORE." I didn't see it in 3D or the random different screenrate, because Wood Green Cineworld ain't that posh and also 3D gives me migraines, so I can't comment on the effects, but it all looked just as lush as I remembered. Plus, the sets are created so beautifully again, and oh, just oh.
2. Martin Freeman is a marvellous Bilbo. Too often, Martin Freeman just plays... well, himself. I fully believed him as Bilbo, and it's only in this right up now I've even remembered he's even in Sherlock.
3. OH OH OH THE DWARVES. All very well done, and very obviously individuals. I have a right soft spot for Balin - always have - and he was played beautifully. I have a very slight argument with Aiden Turner being Kili because he is far too attractive and the short beard reminds me far too much of Mitchell but hey, amongst all of the various Celtic accented dwarves he gets to be Northern. As a relation of Thorin, that makes sense, though?
4. OH HAI THAR RICHARD ARMITAGE. Even excluding the fact that I love Richard Armitage, he is a wonderful Thorin Oakenshield, really convincing and still, well, a dwarf, if that makes sense?
4a. I particularly enjoyed the prologue on his backstory, and the view of Erebor. It's nice to be reminded that dwarves had and have a very real and unique culture.
5. Also, the film is funny! Which I think works, because The Hobbit is a lighter book. Parts of it genuinely tickled me.
5a. Particularly when Gandalf was talking about the other wizards, and 'couldn't remember' the names of the blue wizards. I laughed. By myself. APPENICES JOKE, YO. Yay for Gandalf, and Ian McKellen in general.
5b. SPEAKING OF OTHER WIZARDS. Yay for Sylvester McCoy! I thought that was very well done, and it was nice to see some of Radagast - and show that he has very real power himself, in this own way.
5c. Christopher Lee, you are a magnificent human being and all I hope for in life is to be a fraction as awesome as you. I know he's a big Tolkein fan, and his portrayal of Saruman was beautifully done. We, the audience, know he's evil - or on the way to it - but none of the characters do, and his reasoning for notlooking into the Necromancer is entirely sensible, if you don't know why he's doing it.
5d. Not technically a wizard, obviously, but that bit in Dol Guldor (I refuse to believe that was a 'true' Nazgul, because they don't come about for another sixty years, but that's by the by) with the Necromancer was genuinely quite spooky. Which, really, it should have been. Hurrah!
6. Trolls = awesome. Well, you know what I mean.
7. I'm not sure where they're going with the Azog storyline? We'll see. It worked in this film, though.
8. ELVES! MANY MANY ELVES! I kept on peering in the background to see if I could see a set of twins. One day, we will see Elladan and Elrohir and I will be delighted. But LINDIR YAY DID WE MENTION THE YAY. I don't care how shallow this is, elves are hot. Also, nice dress Galadriel.
8a. Thranduil is growing on me, particularly his decision to have a battle stag. A little bit of Legolas in the background would have been a treat, but I am aware we don't get everything we ask for in life. I will continue to hope that he and Thorin (and Kili, why the hell not) all have a scene together in one of the next ones and then I will possibly just die.
9. The bit with the mountains was very good, with the stone giants and the Goblin King. (Dame Edna, you've changed.) I would have liked less CGI goblins, though, but it's good to see that there are distinct substrains of orcs and goblins.
10. Gollum! When, exactly, the general public decided Gollum was a hilarious comedy character I have yet to work out (delighted chortles from various children in the audience when he appeared, SERIOUSLY IT'S DISCUSSED HE WILL EAT PEOPLE THAT IS NOT COMIC RELIEF) but it was very well done, and the CGI seems to have improved. The game of riddles was absolutely perfectly done, as was Bilbo's moral decision that has such weight in the future.
11. I am very pleased we didn't get to see Smaug. It leaves me something to look forward to, and to make him the big 'TA DAH!' that he deserves to be.
I still have a lot to talk about, I think, but that's the main points. I'm going to so and see it again next week, hopefully up north where the cinemas are cheaper.
HOBBITSES YAY.
