221 replies to this topic

[Mathijs]

 

 

Yeah that second army got about 20 seconds of actual screen time in the battle. Felt entirely pointless. 

Where's the scathing review?

 

Indeed, in these topics you really become GrumpyMathijs. 

 

No that's just my regular MO.

 

Review is coming.

[GhostOfDurin]

Just got back from the movie.

 

 

My new favorite character is Dain.

his accent is great, hes funny, and the most important part: He is a bad. Ass. Mother. F*cker.

Edited by GhostOfDurin, 18 December 2014 - 03:34 AM.

[MattTheLegoman]

Does he drop the f word? =p

[Lauri]

Almost. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he did in EE later on.

 

I'm seeing it again tomorrow. In 2D this time. I have to know if it's good or not, being unsure about my own opinion

[Bofur]

I liked it a lot better my second time, in 2D.

[Lauri]

I'm still not sure what I think. It's okay. Some awesome parts, some poor. I'm really hoping for good scenes in the EE cut.

[GhostOfDurin]

I saw it in 2D my first go and it was good.

[Bashkuga]

I saw it for the second time today and I liked it 100 times more than the first time! This one could be my favorite of all 3 movies. And despite the hate against 3D hfr, I really loved it! Going tomorrow for the third time.

[Bofur]

HFR 3D is awesome, it makes it seem as if the screen is a window into Middle-Earth!

[Bashkuga]

Exactly!

[Mathijs]

It's too bad visual spectacle doesn't make up for bad writing, though.

[Bashkuga]

The only thing I disliked was that the Human race was yet again portrayed as a bunch of incompetent rabbles. Elves, Dwarves and Orcs looked so awesome and disciplined, like the synchronicity of the Elves and the great formations, shield walls and war cries (which gave me goose bumps) of the Dwarves and Orcs. I understand that the Human army mainly consisted of fishermen, farmers, etc. but come on the only thing what the Humans did was fleeing and accidentally run upon a group of Orcs, where every Orc had the privilege of killing 3 Humans before being killed by another Human who probably stood behind him (I'm exaggerating ofcourse). This issue was also present in LOTR, f.e. the retarded Gondorian archers who shoot at the fricking towers instead of the Trolls, if Captain Obvious Gandalf the Bright wasn't present they probably would've kept firing at the lifeless objects. Oh well, except for that the movie was great imo, and I've already seen it 3 times!

Edited by Bashkuga, 22 December 2014 - 11:26 PM.

[Echo]

The only thing I disliked was that the Human race was yet again portrayed as a bunch of incompetent rabbles. Elves, Dwarves and Orcs looked so awesome and disciplined, like the synchronicity of the Elves and the great formations, shield walls and war cries (which gave me goose bumps) of the Dwarves and Orcs. I understand that the Human army mainly consisted of fishermen, farmers, etc. but come on the only thing what the Humans did was fleeing and accidentally run upon a group of Orcs, where every Orc had the privilege of killing 3 Humans before being killed by another Human who probably stood behind him (I'm exaggerating ofcourse). This issue was also present in LOTR, f.e. the retarded Gondorian archers who shoot at the fricking towers instead of the Trolls, if Captain Obvious Gandalf the Bright wasn't present they probably would've kept firing at the lifeless objects. Oh well, except for that the movie was great imo, and I've already seen it 3 times!

 

You must not forget that most Dwarves have centuries of experience through fighting/training, most Elves milleniums of that.

 

That, and remember the condition of these people. They've barely had food over the last weeks, they just lost their hometown to a dragon, they just fled to Dale with everything they had left AND most of them are fishermen and were not really trained for fighting. Gondor in RotK was in a bad state, their leader was corrupted and bitter at that time, which of course also affected the soldiers in one way or another. Of course, not really a reason to desperately shoot at towers instead of trolls.

Rohan was awesome in RotK, but had someone tried to attack Edoras while Theoden was poisoned by Grima, how much ressistance do you think the men of Rohan would have shown? It all depends on the circumstances. The Elves and Dwarves were prepared for battle, more or less. The men just seeked refuge and had to fight and try to push the evil forces back.

[Bashkuga]

It's not that I don't understand the conditions the Men had to live through, it's more about the fact that the Human race had just one badass moment in the movies, and that was the charge of the Rohirrim at the Pelennor Fields. They were badass for only a little while, and then decided to frontal charge with full yolo against an army of Mumakil, sacrificing half of the Rohirrim just to get behind the enemies lines. Well, the end justifies the means right . Gondor might have had a corrupt leader, but they still remain the greatest enemy of Mordor, and like Boromir said: Middle-earth is kept safe because of the sacrifices that Gondor has made. I didn't see much of that in the movies though.

 

Edoras under rule of poisoned Theoden was never attacked because it didn't have to. Theoden was under control of Saruman, who probably planned a civil war by making the king look like an ass. Even if that wasn't the case then Saruman probably wouldn't have enough men to assault it until the events of Helms Deep.

 

But yeah I agree with the fact that Dwarves and Elves had a lot more training than any Man, except for maybe Numenoreans. But it doesn't matter, my favorite race are the Orcs/Uruks anyway .

[Lauri]

The men of Lake Town were fishermen, probably not much more fighters than the hobbits of the Shire. They didn't have a strong position, so nobody had any reason to attack them either. They had guards and hunters, probably. Like Elrond says, men are weak.

[MattTheLegoman]

Spoilers from the Art & Design book that might be useful for modders.

Spoiler

• Nice alternative armour design for Bard (could be used for one of his ancestors)
• An actual layout mud map of Dol Guldur
• 16 dress designs for Galadriel (one is armour), four are evil
• Hints at a cut scene of Beorn in Dol Guldur
• Not much for Elrond's or any for Saruman's designs
• 26 pages of Erebor, including the armoury and the craft guilds
• Dale, including detailed designs of the capital building
• A helmet for Thranduil
• Iron Hills Dwarves, and the Company of Thorin Oakenshield
• A picture of Gimli
• Azog's Orcs, Azog's helmet, Orc Berserkers, Trolls, Ogres, Bats, Goblins of the High Pass armour, 
• many different designs and creatures for the orc mounts, including armoured wargs
• a creature I will not name for fear of bringing darkness to the day
• A ghastly image of an elf dying from Bilbo's perspective in the ring-world
• The designers wanted Beorn to carry Thorin out of battle =/
• Bilbo in dwarven armour

 

I'm watching the movie at Imax this Friday. =D

[Stokstaartje95]

 

There you go.

[Mathijs]

I own this book too. Nick Keller is a legend. Great designs, though I shudder to think how much worse this film could have been had PJ approved some of those monster designs. And thank Jello we didn't get Iron Hills dwarves using golf as a weapon (yes, that idea is in there, courtesy of PJ).

[njm1983]

I really enjoy reading everyones thoughts. It does put some things into perspective. While some folks found certain things to be over the top and annoying, other found those same things to be less so.

 

I was bothered by the scene with bard and the smaug. it felt very opposite of what a father would do. his son really shouldnt have been there. on top of that using a broken bow and his sons shoulder to aim that iron arrow just wouldnt work.

 

Legolas acrobatics didnt bother me in this at all, they did in DOS. Him being able to climb the falling stones of that tower, was another way to show how light footed and quick he is. it was unnatural but no more than him walking on the snow on caradhras while the fellowship was buried wast high.

 

Alfred was annoying, probably because he was carrying all the comedic value. So he just became forced down your throat everytime he was on screen.

 

Dol gulder was a highlight for me, it was very enjoyable to see how exactly Sauron was cast out. 

 

I really hated the gundabad reference, and the special trip by legolas and tauriel to not only to see the fortress but the orc army coming from there with bolg.There are some major traveling time issues with this. I know in TT the elves at helms deep had the same problem - some of this could be explained by the elves leaving much earlier to aid rohan "off screen" and diverting to helms deep. Bolg meets up with Azog after he has fled laketown, and azog has already left dol gulder to attack erebor, How the hell does bolg get all the way through mirkwood and north to the misty mountains and back in what appears to be 3 days....

[Bofur]

If Dain can do 250 miles of marching in less than a day, then I think Bolg can do 900 miles in 3 days, with 450 at his Warg's top speed.

Distances are guesstimated from the map of Middle-Earth, and Gandalf saying the Mirkwood path to the top of Mirkwood is 200 miles.