The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey reactions (SPOILERS)

[Morrus]

I personally could have done without the whole "Thorin charges and gets saved by Bilbo" business

For me, having three of those in a row in under 60 seconds was a little painful. Bilbo saves Thorin, Dwarves save Bilbo, Eagles save Dwarves; all in a sequence of similar "allies rushing in from offscreen at the last second" beats in about a minute of film.

 

[Umbran]

Where do I have this jumbled memory in my head that Gandlaf found out it was Sauran before the Hobbit, and that's where he found Thorin's dad in captivity and got the map and key from him? Or am I mixing that up with something else?

Yeah, I was a bit off on the timeline myself. Earlier on, the Wise all figure that the Necromancer is a Nazgul, or some other servant left behind. Gandalf figures out it is Sauron in TA 2850. Saruman talks the council out of acting openly at that time (Saruman wants his own search for the One Ring to go undisturbed). It is in 2941 they finally get their acts together, but by that time Sauron was about ready to re-inhabit Mordor anyway, so he just flees when pressed.

Sauron sets himself up in Mordor, actually announcing himself a decade after the quest. The Wise leave him be for 50 years, because they don't have a weapon against him until Gandalf finally decides that Bilbo has the One Ring, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy begins...

 

[Hand of Evil]

On the topic of the movie, anyone have issue with the OOPS 48 frame rate?

 

[Spatula]

If you mean the 48 fps, I didn't have any issues with it. I thought the picture looked great. The only real "mistake" that I noticed was that the CGI of Bilbo's plates being bounced around by the dwarves when they were cleaning up looked obviously fake. But that was less about the framerate and more about how the effects were positioned, I think. I wonder if it would have looked better in 2D, come to think of it...

 

[MarkB]

No, that won't work at all.

In the original, it is Gandalf who discovers and investigates the Necromancer, where he encounters Thrain - Gandalf knows what is up before the quest even begins (90 years before, even), and it is reasonable to think that maybe the quest is in part a convenient cover for Gandalf's movements.

In the movie, they've shifted the discovery of the Necromancer at Dol Guldur to Radagast. But Gandalf has met Thrain - so that meeting cannot have been at Dol Guldur. I expect they won't touch on where it was at all, honestly. Thrain simply entrusted the key to Gandalf, and that's it.

Gandalf's meeting with Thrain in Dol Guldur need not be their first ever meeting, and the way they've left Thrain's fate hanging unresolved in the first movie is highly suggestive that he'll have a part to play later.

I'm not so certain that his appearance will play into Thorin's quest as it did in the original, but it might - after all, Thrain is Thror's son, and he may yet have some key piece of information about Erebor that could affect the party's chances. Alternatively, he may simply be an ally at need for Gandalf.

 

[GSHamster]

On the topic of the movie, anyone have issue with the OOPS 48 frame rate?

No problems. But it did look more like theatre than film. It looked more real, but I think my mind identified the "more realness" as watching a theatre production on the stage.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I pesonally give it a solid 8 but only at 6 pages on it, that seems to indicate 6 to 7 rating.

 

[jasper]

On the topic of the movie, anyone have issue with the OOPS 48 frame rate?

i saws in 2d or normal mode. Yes at the start of movie during the dragon attack run some of the crowd looked blurry and out of focus.

 

[Umbran]

Gandalf's meeting with Thrain in Dol Guldur need not be their first ever meeting, and the way they've left Thrain's fate hanging unresolved in the first movie is highly suggestive that he'll have a part to play later.

To me, it is more highly suggestive that they want that they just needed to maintain a reason why Thorin hadn't tried before this. I see no particular need for them to refer to Thrain again.

 

[Siberys]

The movie made me realize that I'd had Beorn and Radagast conflated for a very, very long time. :|