A Middle-earth Movie Marathon

[Boromir88]

This past weekend was one of the few times I had the entire weekend with absolutely nothing to do or any commitments. What's the best thing to do? Naturally, I decided to watch all 6 movies. Since I've been posting my opinions about all of them on Facebook and they've garnered more conversation than I was expecting, I decided I might as well share on here. (After some prodding from Pitchwife, wilwa and others. Thank you!)

I believe including all the extended editions it comes to about 23 hours. My years of all-nighters is well past so that definitely wasn't going to happen, so I did it over Friday night (watching AUJ), Saturday, and Sunday. I had just this year finished reading The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, so I had my Tolkien fandom saturated. It was fantastic not watching the films or reading the books in a long time, because I felt that "first time reader experience" again, as I was amazed by how much I forgot. My overall feelings over the weekend was "Are these movies Tolkien? No, but I have all the books and I'm always going to have those. So, am I enjoying these movies?" And for the most part...I actually did.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Reading the books first, in an odd way I ended up liking the movies more than I was expecting, particularly with The Hobbit. I can’t remember last time I’ve watched any of The Hobbit movies. I remember being really disappointed by them in theaters because I knew how much time and effort went into making the LOTR trilogy. Despite all the changes from the books, I could really see the passion and commitment from everyone that was involved in making those movies and I just never got that same feeling from The Hobbit. However, not having watched The Hobbit in a long time and not trying to hold them up to the lofty LOTR standards, I was rather happy with An Unexpected Journey. I mean just as your get your mind off stuff for a few hours, entertaining fantasy flick.

-I liked all the scenes in Bag End, and that's a bigger chunk of the movie than I remembered. I particularly liked they included the 2 songs from the 1st chapter. I wish they shot the entire party together though, instead of filming the different actors in different locations and then plugging in CGI dwarves

-This is the first time I’m watching the extended editions and the added Rivendell scenes add some good depth to the characters. Bilbo’s taking in being in Rivendell and being awed by a place that anyone would want to stay. There’s an extra scene between Elrond and Bilbo where Hugo Weaving shakes off the “Agent Smith” stereotype I had every time I see his LOTR Elrond. It’s a touching scene where I get the same impression Bilbo has first meeting Elrond in the book, a warm and “kind as summer” Elf-lord. Then Bilbo tries to slip out in the Misty Mountains and says he wants to go back to Rivendell, that scene makes much more sense, because of the extra scenes in Rivendell.

-I dislike Radagast's outfit and his aesthetics, I don't think he looks like an Istari, especially compared to Gandalf and Saruman. I do like his character though, and Sylvester McCoy. I think it was a good blend of Gandalf calling him a "worthy wizard, in his own way" and Saruman's snobbish disregard of Radagast's worthiness. So, yeah, take out the bird poop in his hair and I'd completely love the character. The rabbit sleigh was cool...which many (at least on my social media pages) disagreed with, saying that it's too far from Tolkien. But my counter argument is The Hobbit has a more whimsical/unrealistic fantasy element to it: the talking troll purse, Beorn's dogs walking in on hind legs and serving food. The Hobbit is a different story from Lord of the Rings and I would give the same rope to the movie and suspend a bit of realism. The Hobbit was a different story, that never completely aligned with Lord of the Rings and there's nothing wrong with that. There's also nothing wrong if talking troll purses and rabbit sleighs aren't anyone's cup of tea. But I do think the criticisms have to be consistent.

-Andy Serkis always puts in a first class performance and The Riddles in the Dark Scene remains the best, and my favorite from all the Hobbit movies.

-The ending is sort of meh, but at least we see Bilbo accepted by Thorin and company now. I’m still left wondering if Azog has a cardboard mace and his warg rubber teeth? Because those two really smashed up Thorin and he just gets up a few minutes later without a scratch. It probably would have been better, and made more sense to kill Azog at the end of the first movie, then Smaug at the end of the 2nd (sorry spoilers)
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I think I'll pause and conclude for there. That's basically my comments from watching AUJ. I'm curious to read what everyone's thoughts and opinions are. Basically, a free for all, anything and everything about An Unexpected Journey. And after a bit of time, I'll continue with the rest of the movies, but this opening post got very long, very fast.