Monday, December 30, 2013
There Be Dragons
I finally got the chance to go see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug tonight. And I very definitely enjoyed it. It's got some really exciting parts and some parts that are a bit silly but a lot of fun; the whole thing looks incredible, as usual; and Smaug is sixteen different kinds of awesome. Unlike the first movie, though, this one did feel as long as it actually was. I must say, I am increasingly questioning the necessity of extending this thing out into three movies (and not just because this one ends suddenly at the most annoying possible moment, although that probably does have something to do with it). All the added material is interesting, and I have no fundamental problem with any of it. Heck, when it's all finished, people with lots of time to spare are going to be able to watch all six movies back-to-back and get some kind of coherent, unified story out of it, which is probably pretty cool. But I'm not entirely sure that's worth the all the added length.
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Personally, I felt every one of the three hours in the first one, so if you think this second movie feels longer... I suppose I'll have to watch it when it finally comes around on cable, but I really think Peter Jackson has overdone and over-padded these things. You would easily tell the basic Hobbit story in a couple of hours, and a single three-hour movie would still leave you time for some sightseeing and digressions. I found An Unexpected Journey mostly tedious, even more so by the knowledge that, when I was done, it was still only a third over.
ReplyDeleteThe first one really did kind of fly by for me. This one... Well, like I said, I enjoyed it, but it did not fly. :) There is probably something to be said for being given more and more of something you're enjoying, but there are limits to that, and I think Jackson is at least pushing up against them.
DeleteIf he can get three films out of [i]The Hobbit[/i], let us pray that he doesn't move on to [i]The Silmarillion[/i]!
DeleteThat might keep him busy for life!
DeleteI wish I could remember which blogs require square brackets and which need angle brackets!
DeleteYou know, it's been ages since I was anywhere that used the square brackets. And I think that was mostly forums. Are there still a lot of places that require them?
DeleteAnd I should add that back when I was semi-regularly posting on forums that required that code, I used to mix them up all the time, too. So you can at least rest assured that it's not just you. :)
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