One Hobbit Good, Two Hobbits Bad

[Macalaure]

The fifth film really does smell a bit like it's only going to be made for the sake of money-making, along the lines of "As long as there's some material left that could make a buck or two, we're going to use it." It's a bit sad.

There surely is a decent amount of interesting material for that second film, but how all that is going to form a continuous storyline, with climax and everything, is a mystery to me. Yet worse, almost the entire dialogue would have to be written new by the screenwriters, who didn't do the best job at capturing Tolkien's language when inventing something for the LotR.

If they know a way to manage themselves through these obstacles, then, sure, why not? But I can't imagine they'll be able to. The film might turn out to be passable, but you have to think about how it is going to measure up to the other four films. It seems like even in the best case, the 'franchise' is going to end with a disappointment, especially for those who haven't read the books and don't know that the film-makers are working with source material which is, in all probability, unsuitable for such a film.

In another thread, somebody suggested that the Appendices would make a good 'Animatrix'-type collection of short films. I would very much prefer that.